Page 24 of A Duke for Hire

“I will not,” she said at once, scrunching her nose as she took a step back. Her frazzled state finally diffused, she now felt her angry words begin to line up perfectly.

Hugo scoffed and nodded toward Lord Fellon’s painting.

“You cannot honestly tell me you enjoy this one?”

“My inclination toward this piece has nothing to do with my refusal to go with you,” she said hastily, looking at him as if her were mad. “That wasincrediblyrude, Your Grace, and your behavior was most unappealing! What has that man ever done to you?”

“Aside from create this bland atrocity?” Hugo chuckled.

“I am quite serious, Your Grace,” she insisted, keeping her feet planted firmly in place.

To her surprise he smiled at her affectionately, and she was immediately annoyed at how it made her heart flutter. Despite his hardened looks, he was most handsome when he smiled at her like that.

“Your care for the people who only days ago mocked you behind your back is astounding, Miss Seraphina,” he replied.

“While you mock me to my face?” she shot back.

“On the contrary,” he replied, arching a brow as his voice dipped into a sultry tone, “I find your kind heart quite riveting. And rare, especially after living among the heartless. Tell me, however, did you keep it?”

Seraphina could not help but feel flattered by the seemingly sincere compliment. With her he could be so sweet, so kind.Yet clearly there was a brutality of sorts that he seemed very comfortable using with others.

She stepped away from him, choosing not to answer, and pretended to look for another painting to take interest in. Though she kept her eyes before her, she could not help but notice the glances she was gathering in her peripheral vision.

“Why are you following me?” She whispered, not needing to look behind her to know that Hugo was right behind her.

“Because you are my intended,” Hugo murmured, “and I do not want anyone else making the same misguided mistake as Fallon’s that your interest is available to take.”

Seraphina huffed at his boldness.

“I am not your intended,” she remarked quickly, “And I call you out on your previous lie. Youdidknow who Lord Fellon was.”

“I did not lie,” he countered, “I said it did not matter to me who he was.”

Seraphina then felt his fingers clasp around her wrist, and she was pulled to a stop. She turned on him quickly, ready to insist he let her go, but then she caught the green in his eyes, and suddenly understood why she was so drawn to the painting of the pines. It had reminded her of him.

“And youaremy intended, little lamb,” he said, his voice low but clear, “Unless you can truthfully tell me you want someone else. There is something between us, and I know you recognize it.”

His thumb then caressed over the flesh of her wrist, and despite her previous anger, she felt her body suddenly relax. As if he felt her response, his lips twitched upward.

“Is there someone else?” He asked. There was no judgment in his tone, no edge. Just a soft eagerness for her truth. And it spurred her to tell it.

“No,” she confessed, forcing her eyes to glance around them. Thankfully, despite theton’scuriosity, no one had followed.

“I am not as kind-hearted as you may think. Unlike my mother, I have not easily forgotten all of the whispered laughs and snickers they once offered toward me. But that does not mean that I accept your proposal, Your Grace. In truth, your rudeness has put me off quite a bit.”

“And yet despite that, you are still interested,” Hugo mused.

That smug, arrogant–! Seraphina pulled her wrist away and took a step back.

“You do not know that, Your Grace,” she insisted.

“No?” His lips twitched almost into a smirk as he studied her face. He was not just taking in her eyes, but her lips, her cheeks; and she felt every glance toward each of her features.

“You are confounding, do you know that?” She whispered, pushing away the urge to look past his behavior.

“And you are fascinating,” he replied, taking a step toward her.

As Hugo stole away the space between them Seraphina felt a rush of excitement- just as she had when he’d pressed her against the wall of her home. She felt her blood warm as her body suddenly felt heavy and pliant, as if it wanted to pour itself into his arms and feel his support again.

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