Page 55 of His Arranged Duchess
“Do Imisshim?” she repeated incredulously. “How can you ask me that?”
“I think you heard me quite well, my dear,” Lucien bared his teeth in an emotionless smile. “Did you wish it was him with you behind those pillars instead of me?”
Frances could not summon any words, and Lucien spoke again.
“Just remember that it was my name you whispered, my touch you felt on your body. Rememberthat, my dear.”
He reached out, fingertips grazing the side of her neck.
Fury surged through her, and she whipped up her arm, knocking his hand away from her.
“How dare you?” she hissed. “Howdareyou? Are you entirely mad? Tell me, Lucien, is this truly what you think of me?”
Lucien blinked, his face changing, but a muscle feathered in his jaw.
“What was I to think? I saw the look on your face when you first saw him on that platform. You paled, and a look of great sadness came into your eyes. Tell me, what should I think?”
She held his gaze for a moment more, then shook her head, turning on her heel.
“I simply cannot believe you, Lucien.”
She strode away towards the house, fury seething with every step.
He didn’t follow her.
CHAPTER 19
Atentative tap on the door made Lucien raise his eyes from his work.
“Enter.”
He assumed that it was Gray, coming to bring in the eleven o’clock tea tray. Gray insisted upon drinking tea at precisely eleven o’clock every day. Lucien had watched footmen sneak furtively away from their posts to take a sip, while cooks with floury hands drank deeply from delicate China cups.
Instead of Gray, however, Frances peered around the door.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
Lucien leaned back in his seat, eyeing her closely. They hadn’t spoken since last night. He hadn’t joined Frances at breakfast and had convinced himself that it was simply because he had too much work to do.
And perhaps if I keep telling myself that, I shall learn to believe it.
Not likely, however.
“You are not,” he answered. “Come in. Take a seat. Shall I ring for tea?”
Frances inched into the room but did not sit.
“No, thank you. I came to tell you that the repairs and decorating in the ballroom are finished. You should look at it, it’s remarkably beautiful. Oh, and the stair carpets have arrived and will be fitted shortly.”
He nodded. “Thank you for telling me. You are making quite the duchess. Your hard work is appreciated and noticed.”
She smiled grimly. “I’m glad to hear it.”
A moment of awkward silence descended between them. Lucien lifted an eyebrow.
“I sense that there is something else you wish to discuss?”
She breathed in deeply, folding her hands in front of her waist.
