Page 9 of A Virgin for the Ruthless Duke

She rolled her eyes. “I fail to see how you can do that.”

“You have abysmal conversation skills, as I noted earlier. You lack confidence, and from the way you glare at me, it is obvious you do not understand the subtle art of flirtation,” he stated, rattling off the list of shortcomings he had noticed she possessed.

She glared at him again, pulling her hand away. “How dare you!” she hissed. “You know nothing about me.”

“But I have heard quite enough about you and how you are one Season away from spinsterhood.”

She frowned, biting her lip as anger painted her face red.

“You do not have to insult me with my circumstances,” she snapped. “I am very much aware of my problems.”

“I did not mean to insult you, Lady Selina. Forgive me if I did,” he offered.

He hadn’t meant to insult her, but something about her stubbornness sparked the cynical side of him.

She sighed, biting her lip. “I… I do need help if I’m being honest,” she admitted softly. “There is something that all the other ladies have mastered, but I seem to be ignorant of it.”

“I don’t think you have had reason to use those skills.”

“It feels hopeless, honestly. I already made a deal with my aunt, but I cannot help but worry about my future.” She ran a hand over her brow.

“What deal?” he inquired.

“I must find a love match by the end of this party, or I’ll have to marry a friend of my aunt’s,” she answered. “She has described him as a nice gentleman, but I cannot help but find the prospect unappealing when he is at least twice my age. What hope of happiness lies in my future?”

She looked so frightened by the prospect, and he couldn’t mask the frown that crossed his face as he processed her words. She had to drop the notion of finding a love match and focus on morepractical things if she hoped to find someone of reasonable age and status by the end of the party.

It was no wonder she was yet to be matched. She must have rejected suitors who had asked for her hand because she hadn’t felt thespark.

The idea was an unrealistic fantasy he had seen reinforced by the rise of novels depicting marriage as something more than a transactional affair.

He had yet to see any couple with such unrealistic beginnings last. His parents were a prime example, and his strained relationship with his mother was the result of theirlovefading before it even had the chance to grow.

She and his father had discovered quickly after marriage that they needed more than love to sustain a relationship. They had grown apart as they realized that the supposed spark that had driven them to a short courtship and marriage had faded so quickly. Richard had learned quickly to resent the entire notion and all who stood for it.

His friends, who were all happily married now, had started off in arranged matches to practical women with good breeding and prospects. He intended to do the same, but in due course and with much more care than he had given his first match. At least now he knew how best to help Selina and pay off his debt to her, but he would first correct that silly ideology she had.

“If I were to offer my help, would you accept it?” he asked.

“Your help?” she echoed, confused.

“I can help you find a suitable match,” he announced.

Selina eyed him as though he had grown two heads because he couldn’t have suggested thathecould help her secure a match. It was the most unlikely thing she had ever heard! And the impropriety of such a suggestion! He wasn’t even a family member. If word were to get out, she would be shamed and would find herself in an even more terrible situation than being unmarried at her age.

She tried to recall how the conversation had moved so quickly in such a scandalous direction. The Duke had strolled over to her, looking resplendent in a dark, emerald vest which he’d paired with brown wool breeches and hessian boots that shone. His dark hair fell artfully over one side of his face, and her hand itched to feel just how soft it was.

He wasn’t smiling, but his eyes were twinkling with mischief, which had caused her breath to hitch. She felt her heart beat that strange staccato and wondered at her strange reaction to him.

She had been around many men, but none had made her heart race the way she had seen described in books. She sincerely hoped that it was a temporary feeling—or better yet, that she had come down with a fever.

“You’re being hilarious,” she responded, laughing softly, her eyes darting around.

She also hoped that he hadn’t noticed what his nearness did to her.

“I assure you, I’m not,” he rebutted, looking affronted.

The look on his face was so out of place that she couldn’t help but laugh. He didn’t look like the well-respected Duke whose presence inspired awe, but like a small boy who hadn’t gotten his way.

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