Page 29 of The Spinster and Her Rakish Duke
His wife of twelve days jumped, the book nearly sliding from her grasp. Her wide blue eyes met his across the room, and he saw the rapid rise and fall of her chest as she struggled to compose herself.
“I… Your Grace. Forgive me, I didn’t hear you come in.” She clutched the book tighter, as though it might shield her from his presence.
“My apologies. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He stepped into the room, noting how she tensed at his approach. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“It’s nothing of consequence.” She rose from the chair, smoothing her dressing gown with nervous hands. “I should retire. It’s quite late.”
She moved toward the door, but he stepped sideways, blocking her path. Not close enough to trap her, but enough to make his intentions clear.
She obviously did not like that, what with the way she bristled. “My Lord, please. Let me pass.”
“Why are you so intent on avoiding me, Samantha?”
“I am not avoiding you, Your Grace.” The denial came too quickly, too defensively.
“Oh, come now, my dear,” He took a step closer, gratified when her breathing quickened. “Then why do you flee every room I enter? Why do you time your meals to avoid dining with me? Why do you inspect corners like a military scout before venturing anywhere in your own home?”
Color flooded her cheeks. “I do no such thing.”
“Don’t you?” He moved closer still, near enough to catch the faint scent of lavender in her hair. “You can’t even look at me without blushing. Your pulse is racing right now, isn’t it?”
“That’s… that’s not …” She lifted her chin defiantly. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know more than you think.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “I know you’ve been thinking about me, wondering about me. Just as I’ve been thinking about you.”
To maddening distraction, in fact.
“You flatter yourself.” But her voice lacked conviction to make it hurt.
“Hm.” He reached out, his fingers barely grazing her wrist. “Then why haven’t you forgotten about me? Why does that dance we shared six years ago still matter to you?”
She went very still. “What?”
He’d wondered why she’d seemed so…familiarand he’d realized it not too long ago, in fact. They’d danced six years ago. That night… he’d thought to forget it, but every now and then, he’d recall wisps of dreams, memories of a woman with eyes that beguiled him.
Now, he said, “Our dance. Surely, you remember.” He studied her face, seeing the truth written there. “You’ve been thinking about that all this time, haven’t you?”
“I …” She swallowed hard. “I merely wondered what I had done wrong. What offense I had given to make a duke avoid me so completely.”
“You think I avoided you because of somethingyoudid?”
“Didn’t you?” The question came out smaller than she’d intended, more vulnerable.
Something twisted in his chest at the uncertainty in her voice. “My tigress …”
“No.” She straightened, her defenses snapping back into place. “I don’t want your pity or your explanations. I simply want to know why you disappeared after our dance. Why you avoided every social gathering for months, and why you made me feel like such a fool.”
“You were never a fool.”
“Then why?” The words burst from her, raw and painful.
He stared at her for a long moment, seeing the hurt she’d carried all these years. “I had my reasons.”
“What reasons?”
“Personal ones,” he said tersely, not enjoying this turn of the conversation very much.
“That’s not an answer.”
