Page 2 of Worst Duke Ever

Pretty.That was the second time he said it about her.It must be his way of diminishing her.She wanted to focus on that word, but his intonation ofhave tocaught her attention instead.Something about the way he announced the obligation to his reputation didn’t ring true.Perhaps that was her bargaining chip right there.

She needed a way in.It was naive to think that a simple request of mercy would be granted.No, the devil incarnate needed a far more persuasive reason to eradicate her father’s debt, and perhaps—by some stroke of divine luck—she had just stumbled upon it.

“But,” he wrapped his hands around hers, together lifting the glass to his lips, and took a sip, “I may be swayed by certain offers.”

Chapter 2

“Whatkindofoffers?”Her voice shook at the question, which unsettled him.And the fact that it unsettled him at all unsettled him further.

Yes.What kind of offers, Sebastian?He was asking himself that exact question.Here was a lady, the daughter of an earl, risking everything for her family who was in mourning and now near ruination.Shouldn’t he applaud her courage?

That would be the right thing to do.The kind thing to do.The honorable thing to do.But he hadn’t been that way since…well, for a very long time now.

Internally, he shuddered at the thought.

“There are ways.”Best keep it vague to see what she came back with.

With great effort to not reach out and drag his finger down the soft column of her neck, he returned to his seat.He may not be a man of honor, but he was not fully debauched.There were lines even he wouldn’t cross.

Once he regained the comfort of his chair, he dragged his eyes up her body to rest upon her face.

Her brows scrunched together and lips pursed still made him catch his breath.Earlier he had used the word pretty in an effort to downplay his real thoughts.Exquisite.Gorgeous.A goddess.But saying anything akin to those would reveal his cards.Cards he always kept close to his chest.

“You have a reputation that you said you have to maintain.I-I think maybe you don’t want to maintain it in its current state.Perhaps we can come to an arrangement?”

Watching her grimace at the offer, his stomach clenched.“What kind of arrangement?”

“I can’t have this debt.Perhaps you want a softer reputation.We could marry.”

She should have built up to a proposition like that, but, no.She stated the ideas as if they were facts.Three simple facts.Each thought felt incomplete, but in and of themselves, they were full.

Full of what though?Hope?Pleasantry?Convenience?All things that Sebastian avoided like a man dodging his wife’s requests to go shopping.

“Marry?”He coughed.Or laughed.Or choked.Some strange strangled sound tumbled out of his mouth.“You and I?”

That would never do.She was kind.Sweet.Responsible.A lady.Pure.

And he…was not.

“Yes.”She wrung her hands in front of her stomach, and his foot ached to tap the aubusson rug or run the length up her shin.But he refrained.From both.“We could marry.It would solve both problems.”

“That’s a little hubristic of you to believe, isn’t it?”It wasn’t.But he had to poke holes in this plan.Plan?What plan?This was not a plan.It was wishful thinking on her part.And if he allowed it, it would be wishful thinking on his part as well.That he could ever allow himself a soft, kind wife was a fleeting thought that had fled the building that was his corporeal home long, long ago.

But instead of cowering, she straightened her spine and took a half step toward him.

“I know my reputation shines as brightly as yours absorbs light.”

“So you don’t think mine will eclipse yours then?”

“Light will prevail.”

Damn.If she wasn’t speaking to his soul.What little soul he had left.But he didn’t deserve her.Didn’t deserve to have any goodness.Not after what he had done to his own father.Best that he show her the fullness of his depravity now.

“I would never marry for convenience.”

Her face fell, and something in his heart crumbled.Which, of course, was impossible.There was nothing left there.Perhaps it was just a loose remnant of a pebble rolling around in there.

“It would be a marriage to benefit us both.It would be in name only.You would be free to…to…carry on with others.”

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