Page 11 of A Bride for the Wicked Duke

“I am sorry,” Rosalind continued. “I did not mean it. Truly! I should have been more careful.”

The duke said nothing. Again, he looked at Aurelia with a sense of curiosity that she did not fully understand. The curve on his lips was esoteric. The glimmer in his eyes was... again, she had no idea. But whenever she tried to meet them, Aurelia felt her stomach turn in ways she didn’t fully understand. She wanted to be annoyed by the duke’s chastisement of her friend, but she could not get past the very real fact that he had saved them both.

And the way he did it... I have never seen someone so in control and domineering. Someone so confident that the world seems to move around them.

“Inside, Rosalind,” he said finally. “We will speak of this later.”

“But --”

“Now,” he said, still not angry, but with enough command that Rosalind knew better than to argue. She put her head down and hurried past Aurelia, a quick smile of thanks as she did.

Aurelia thought to follow her friend, but she sensed that Rosalind’s dismissal was not for her. In fact, the duke had placed himself in front of her, blocking off her path, making it all too clear that she was not to go anywhere. At least not until he was done with her.

Alone suddenly, Aurelia was again inundated with similar feelings to that which she had experienced the other night. Not fear. Not worry. Rather, a sense of powerlessness that wasn’t nearly as disconcerting as it should have been. She could feel his eyes on her, and she tried to meet them, but his gaze was so overwhelming that she found herself looking away.

“It seems that I am in your debt,” the duke said finally.

“What?” Aurelia snapped her head up in shock.

“You saved my sister,” he continued simply. “What is more, you did so despite knowing it would impede on your own plans. That is why I followed you out here in the first place, to remind you of what was promised.” He chuckled. “And here I thought you had come out here to stall.”

“I came to help your sister!” she cried as if he was mocking her.

“Which I have acknowledged,” he said, still perfectly calm. He was always that way, she was beginning to realize. So perfectly controlled of his emotions...well, that was until I tried to blackmail him. That dark side which he works so hard to keep hidden. “And am just as grateful for. Again, you have my thanks.”

“Oh...” She blinked with embarrassment. “That is... you are welcome.”

Silence fell upon them again.

Aurelia, never much good with silences, always having to fill them because she could not keep control of her tongue, found herself unable to do just that. The duke stood over her, staring down, studying her in ways that made her feel uncomfortable. He was just so damn confident in himself, caring not for the way she squirmed under his gaze. Likely, he enjoyed it.

She tried to look at him, again glancing away as soon as she met his eyes. There was a sense that he could see right through her, that he had her in his thrall, a toy to do with as he wished. Likely, it was a power dynamic he was used to.

“The question now becomes, what am I going to do with you,” he said suddenly.

“Huh?” She looked up again.

“On the one hand, we had a deal,” he continued. “A deal which I cannot possibly see you fulfilling tonight.”

Aurelia’s temper seized her. “I --”

“Put my sister’s safety above your own needs,” he spoke over her. “Which is nothing short of admirable. A fact which I am taking into consideration. Believe me when I say that I am.”

“Oh, well, how very kind of you,” she said with sarcasm.

“The truth is, when I saw you ducking out here, I wasn’t in the least bit surprised,” he spoke across her again, his voice still calm. “I never truly believed that you had it in you to find a potential husband in one night. It was a promise made that I was certain to be to my own benefit as you, Lady Hawkins...” He chuckled and shook his head. “Forgive me, but from everything I know of you, the chances of you finding a suitor in a single evening is so ludicrous I find it difficult to believe you even considered it an option.”

There it was again, that anger. “How dare you!” she hissed. “The reason I have not bothered with courtship until this point has nothing to do with --”

Suddenly, the duke stepped into her. So quickly that she didn’t have time to step back. And as he did, he shot up a single finger, placing it over her lips to silence her. Her eyes went wide as she felt him; both his body on her and his finger to her lips. And her heart... it began to beat so quickly that it hurt.

“It has everything to do with you.” He dropped his voice to a whisper as he leaned over her, his finger still against her lips. “You forget that I know you, Lady Hawkins. Who you are. What you are like. There is a good reason you have remained single all this time, and it has everything to do with who you are. Do not say otherwise.”

Her heart was racing. Her body was running warm. She wanted to argue. She wanted to tell him exactly what she thought of him. But the feel of his finger, the touch of his body, and the way he was looking at her made it very difficult to even breathe, let alone to speak.

“You are a bad bet,” he continued in that same whisper. “One which I would do best to exercise myself from as quickly as I could, for I have no doubt that was I to give you one month or five, it would make no difference. However...” He leaned in closer, his finger leaving her lips, tracing itself down her chin which he then raised so that she was looking right at him. “You helped my sister tonight, meaning that you helped me. That is not something I will soon forget.”

“What... what do you... what are you saying?” Aurelia could barely speak, her mind focused on his finger under her chin, his breath which traced her lips as he spoke, and the look in his eyes which held her like a hand had reached itself out and wrapped about her heart.

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