Page 24 of The Duke and the Unwanted Bride

Was she toying with him again? Was she testing him as she had the other night? Or was this real? It was hard to tell, where Lady Hannah was concerned, for the way she looked at him right now was half-seductive, half-mischievous. Oh, he wanted to believe that she was simply teasing him… but it felt more than that.

Again, Frederick was reminded of that night when he backed her up against the door, when he leaned in to kiss her, when her lipsparted to accept his kiss. She might have claimed that she did not want him and it was all an act, but he knew otherwise.

He only wished he could say that he had not felt the same pull.

“And I told you,” he spoke through gritted teeth, mostly to force his mind to focus on the point at hand. “Anything I did that night was pure performance. Starting from now, you know exactly what to expect from me.”

She fluttered her eyelashes at him. “And what can I expect?”

“Nothing,” he said, ignoring how hot he was feeling and the way those big brown eyes bored into his own.

“Good,” she quipped with a casual shrug as she leaned in closer. “Because I think that you and I might make excellent friends. I would hate to ruin it with a kiss. Or anything else, for that matter.”

“So, we are in agreement?”

“We are, and you have nothing to worry about from me. It is your resolve that I question. But feel free to prove me wrong.”

“I look forward to it,” he murmured.

“As do I,” she responded with a low, breathy voice, still leaning in just a little as if trying to tempt him.

His eyes went wide when he noticed for the first time a locust the size of a tennis ball sitting on her right shoulder. The sight of it was enough to snap him back into the moment, forcing a grin on his lips that he could not hide.

“What?” She pulled back slightly, her cheeks turning red. “What is it—I wasn’t going to do anything. I was just testing you!”

“Do not be alarmed, Lady Hannah…” He flashed her a smirk. “But there is a rather large locust on your shoulder?—”

“What?!” Her eyes widened like saucers, and she shoved him away, her arms flapping and flailing as she tried to dislodge the bug. “Where! Where! Get it off! Get it off!!!!!”

“On your shoulder,” he tried to explain as she hopped about as if she had stepped on a fire. “No, the right shoulder. No, not there!”

She had become frantic in an effort to shoo away the locust which had latched onto her shoulder as if its life depended on it. Jumping about, her arms swinging, screaming and crying out, if anyone was listening, they might think she was being attacked. “Is it off?! Where is it?!”

“It is—no, not—on your right—oh, here!”

Frederick had no choice but to step toward her and wrap his arms around her. He lifted her off the ground, ignoring the wayshe flailed, holding her with one arm as he plucked the locust off her shoulder and launched it into the sky.

And then he continued to hold her, keeping his arms wrapped as her breathing slowly returned to normal. Still facing him, her face bright red, her hair a mess, she looked at him in a way that he could read only too well—as if he were a savior, for he could see how grateful she was.

And again, he felt that pull. Her body pressed to his. Her breathing matching his own. Their faces inches apart. Her big brown eyes impossible to look away from.

He held her for a moment longer, met her eyes, and was lured in by her plump lips and the feeling of her warm breath on his face. His body stiffened, his pulse quickened, his mind went blank, and all the self-control that he so heavily touted seemed to vanish.

“I knew it,” she said in a throaty whisper that made his legs shake.

“Knew what?” he asked, his voice just as low, forgetting completely where he was and what he was supposed to be doing.

“That you would not be able to resist.”

“I have not done anything yet.”

“The key word there…” She made sure she was looking him right in the eyes. “Yet.” And then, seeming to think that she had him, she closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss him…

Frederick released her immediately, for he came back to his senses at that moment.

He stepped back, straightened, and did what he could to look composed. “And as I said, this marriage is one of convenience and nothing more.”

Her expression shifted between embarrassment, shock and anger… settling in the end on anger as she narrowed her eyes at him. “You are not nearly as strong as you think you are, you know?”

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