Page 59 of A Bride for the Wicked Duke

“I also know that your family owes me a lot of money. Did you stop to consider what I might say when I learned that you turned down –”

“What you might say is all I have been able to think about. But not for that reason.” She waited for his response, but he gave none, again refusing to meet her searching gaze. “Your Grace…” She took another step forward. And then another. “Do you understand what I am saying?”

“I think I do.”

“And?”

“I understand well enough, but what you expect of me…” He shook his head. “Lady Hawkins, I apologize if I have given you the wrong impression. Truly, I do. But what you are suggesting…”

“I am not suggesting it,” she said bravely, through with being subtle for now was not the time. “I am saying it outright. Or rather, I will say it outright.” She met his eyes, forcing him to look at her. “I… I said no to Lord Mildenhall because it is you who I –”

“Stop right there,” he cut over her, his blue eyes piercing her where she stood. Confusion, mixed with anger… and something else that she could not quite read. “What you are about to say, I do not wish to hear it.”

“But –”

“But nothing,” he hissed. “You and I had an arraignment, and that is all it was. You owe me money, I endeavored to help you cover this debt. Everything I did…” He swallowed. “We did… was purely on that basis alone.”

She did not believe him. Shecouldnot believe him. “No, that is… you are lying.”

“I assure you, I am not.”

“But our lessons. Our… the last time I was here. You and I…”

“Again, I apologize if I have been sending you mixed signals. Truly, I am sorry. But this proposal is a fine one, and you need to take it. You must say yes. If you do not…” He sighed with regret. “I cannot say what will happen to your family, just that the outcome is not something you will enjoy.”

The words hurt her as much as any words could. She winced and leaned back as if struck, her stomach turning, the walls moving around her. How could she have been so wrong? How could she have been such a fool? She felt betrayed. She felt used. She felt…. She felt angry.

“You used me,” she said with a snarl. “That is what you have been doing. This whole time!”

“Excuse me?”

“It had nothing to do with propriety or… or trying to help me! All you wanted – all you ever wanted was to take advantage of me. Admit it.”

“Lady Hawkins, I assure you that is not –”

“Enough!” she snapped. “I am sick of it. Sick of the lies. Sick of the falsity.” She widened her eyes at him. “This… the fakeness of it all. You walk around the ton as if you are somehow special and better than everyone else, but it is all a lie. I know the true you. I know what you are.”

“And what am I exactly?” There was a bite to his voice, a warning that made her pulse quicken for she knew how these things often went.

“A beast,” she hissed at him. “A rake. A charlatan conman, is what you are. This entire time…” She shook her head and curled her lip at him. “Did you ever truly care about me? About my family? Or were you only ever trying to… to… to get what you needed from me.”

She was surprised to see the hurt flash behind his eyes. A sense for a fraction of a second that she had hit a nerve. But it was gone quickly, replaced by cold anger that he fixed on her because the duke was not one who was used to be spoken to like this. By anybody.

“What I needed from you?” he laughed coldly. “Do not presume to think that I needed anything from you. Except for you money, Lady Hawkins. Which, when you say yes to Lord Mildenhall, I will have. So, it that case, yes, I have been using you.”

“That is not what I meant.”

“And what did you mean?” He stepped toward her as if in warning. As if hoping she would shy away. “Speak clearly or leave, being glad that you caught me in a good mood.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You presume too much.”

There was fire in his eyes; anger, she knew it to be. But behind that fire she saw something else, a look she knew as well as any other, for it was one he had fixed on her so many times. The fury that was building in the duke was giving way to the storm of desire and want that he so often let take him when they were alone together. Too often they had been in this same position, and too often it had led to the same result.

Aurelia knew she should have turned and left. The duke had denied her. He had refused her. He had broken her heart and she needed to be away from him as quickly as possible. And yet…

Dammit, I still want him. If I am to go to Lord Mildenhall, if that is what my life is destined to become, this might be my last chance to… to… the last night I have to truly be free and enjoy myself like only the duke can make me.

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