Page 96 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
“You’re not even embarrassed to admit it.”
“Every gentleman wants you for his own. You’re the most beautiful lady in all of London.”
As if she was some sort of prize that could simply be claimed.
Juliet was furious. “How can you think that’s love?” she scoffed. “Wanting me because you think I’m beautiful? That has nothing to do with love. I suppose there was a time I might have thought it did too, but I know what real love is now, and I’ll never believe that it’s something as shallow as what you’re describing again.”
“You know what real love is, do you?”
“I would say I do, yes.”
“And how is it you came to know such a thing?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t want to share what she was thinking with a man like Lord Stickland.
But he knew anyway. “You’re talking about the Duke of Burghley,” he said. “You think he loves you.”
“I don’t see how it’s any of your business.”
“And you think you love him. Oh, this is too much.”
“You don’t know anything about that, so don’t act as if you do.”
“I know more than you think,” Lord Stickland said. “I know your courtship was never real. What do you say to that?”
Juliet’s breath caught.
How could he have known that?
He couldn’t be lying. This was true. He had spoken with such confidence. It was obvious that he knew what he was talking about. The only question was…
“You want to know how I know, don’t you?” he asked, leering at her. “You really ought to be more careful about going off alone with gentlemen. Of course, I’m very glad you’re notoverly judicious about it. Once I realized you’d allowed yourself to be alone with him, I knew you were that much more likely not to be careful about being alone withme.”
“Don’t you compare yourself to him,” Juliet snapped.
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Lord Stickland drawled. “For one thing, I wouldn’t kiss a young lady against her will. Or were you a willing participant in that kiss?”
Juliet felt light-headed. “How could you”
“How could I have known about the kiss? The kiss that took place on a patio in the middle of a ball, where absolutely anyone could have seen you?” He laughed. “You weren’t being very careful. I don’t know how you can be surprised that someone found you out, to be honest, Lady Juliet.”
“Please don’t tell my father.”
“Marry me, and I won’t have to.”
Juliet shook her head. “You think you’re going to blackmail me into marrying you? That isn’t going to work.”
“So, you do want me to tell your father about that kiss?” he threatened.
“I can think of worse things,” Juliet said evenly.
“Well, how about this,” Lord Stickland said, “I also know that your courtship was a lie, Lady Juliet. There was never anything between yourself and the Duke. Nothing real, anyway. You made it up. The two of you conspired in it. Tell me why you did that.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Juliet scoffed.
‘You know I’m not. You know it’s true, and you see that I know because I also know about your kiss. There isn’t any way I could have guessed all these things. The fact that I’m aware of them means that you have to believe me.”
“I don’t have to do anything at all. I’m not going to indulge this conversation any further.”
