Page 7 of Taken By the Beastly Duke

"What are you doing, Miss Victoria?" he asked eyeing her warily.

He still shot a cautious look around the dimly lit room, not trusting her fully. She squared her shoulders sending him a serious look.

"I have come to ask you not to marry my sister."

Her words surprised him so much that his brows lifted before he schooled his features back into a blank look.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

ChapterThree

"I…"

"I heard you the first time." He interrupted. "Why are you doing this?"

He had seen many things in his thirty plus years of life, but he had not seen a sister try to sabotage her sister’s chances of marriage.

"Because I have a better candidate for you." She answered boldly.

"And who would that be?" He asked humorlessly. "You?"

She nodded with the same serious look on her face.

He laughed beside himself and looked her up and down and then back to her face.

"You’re joking." He stated still laughing.

"I assure you I am not." She answered looking affronted that he wasn’t taking her seriously.

"Well I cannot. I have chosen your sister." He answered. "She is well suited to my needs."

"Why do you think she is a much better candidate than I?" She asked folding her arms. "We are sisters and I practically raised her. So whatever traits she has, I also possess."

"She is beautiful, charming, has a ready laugh and has the favor of theton." He listed off all the points his mother had used to campaign for her as the best candidate. "She will grant me that favor by extension."

Everything you are not.The words were unspoken but hung heavily in the air.

"I taught her everything she knows. She has only had a successful debut because I was there to guide her through."

He scoffed. Now she was trying to downplay her sister's charms just so she would come out on top. He shook his head disappointed. He could expect this manner from people who claimed to be friends or even other debutantes and not one's own sister.

Thetonhad really become a dark place if it could drive such a strong wedge between family.

"I hear you have never had a season. How could you possibly have guided her so well that she is the darling of theton?"

His words stung and he saw her wince but she pushed the feeling aside and squared her shoulders. The woman was a fighter and if he had not heard her speak the last few minutes or needed a wife with good social standing, he might have considered her.

"I know that it is very easy to doubt my words but you cannot deny that there is no one who knows more about the rules of thetonthan those who watch from the outside." She answered, visibly undeterred. "We see the full picture whereas the players only get a glimpse of the game they play."

Her confidence in her skills set a kindling of desire in his blood that he willed away. She had more steel in her than many a gentleman but his mind was fixed on her sister.

"You have made your petition well but my decision cannot be changed, Miss Victoria."

"But Charity is much too young for you and...well..."

He raised a brow at how her words trailed off. She couldn't even meet his eyes and he wondered what could have brought such bashfulness to a woman who obviously had no such reservations when trying to snatch her sister's fiancé.

"She is in love with someone else." She breathed out as if the words hurt her to say.

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