Page 59 of A Duchess Bound
“You cannot possibly know that.”
Gerard only smiled. He could not fault her logic, but he suspected that it was true, nonetheless. The ton did not care to watch spinsters like Lady Dorothy, who had resolved to wed noone. They were all much too concerned with their own prospects and those of young, unmarried misses.
“Shall we dance, then?” he asked. “They will assume that I am only teasing you and that you have kindly obliged.”
Lady Dorothy clenched her jaw, her eyes alight with anger. “I have asked that you not vex my sister.”
“She did not seem to find me vexing.”
“It is impossible to find you anything besides vexing.”
Still, she offered her hand. He took it carefully, tracing his thumb over her gloved knuckles. Only a week ago, he had bound rope against those delicate wrists. He wondered if Lady Dorothy had returned home with marks as evidence of their amorous encounter, if she had spent the past several days resolving to hide the proof of her indiscretion.
Gerard fluidly began the dance, Lady Dorothy matching his steps seamlessly. “I believe the waltz is my favorite dance,” he murmured, low enough so that only she could hear. “Would you like to know why?”
“You are going to say something perverse.”
He grinned lazily. “You think so little of me.”
“For good reason.”
“So you say. But are you the best judge of a man’s character, my lady?” He let his voice soften just a little, for he meant to tease rather than upset the lady about her recent, decidedly ungenteel behavior. “Rather than chastising me for being a rake, maybe you ought to reconsider your definition of what a good man is.”
He spun her around, and her eyes gleamed. “I do not need to reconsider anything,” she said. “You know what you are just as well as I do.”
“I cannot argue with that. But do you recognize the ambiguity in such words? If that is your only rebuttal, I may very well be agoodman.”
She grimaced. It was impossible to say if she was more vexed by his rhetorical trap or the truth of what they both knew.
“You are detestable,” she said.
“Such harsh words!”
They danced for a while longer, and once the dance ended, she dropped his hand as though he had burned her. Gerard let his linger at the small of her back, enjoying the warmth of the lady’s skin beneath his grasp.
He leaned close, nearly to the point of impropriety, and chuckled. “My lady,” he murmured. “You do not seem as though you are submitting. Perhaps, I shall have to punish you again.”
Her breath audibly hitched.
Feeling victorious, he grinned. “Are you familiar with Shakespeare’sThe Taming of the Shrew?”
Her face hardened. “Yes.”
“That play reminds me of you.”
“Strange, I would have said the same,” Lady Dorothy said. “You do seem like the manner of man who would seek to break a woman’s spirit until she agreed with your rather distasteful view of the world.”
Gerard’s eyes searched hers carefully, trying to find even an ounce of regret. The chase was no longer enjoyable if a lady detested him. He found nothing of the sort. “Is that truly what you believe?” he asked lowly. “You have only to ask me to stop, and I shall.”
Her spine straightened, and her eyes fixed upon his face with such sharpness that his heart raced.
“Is that so? I feel as though you would say that and haunt me forever if I refused.”
The next dance began, and Lady Dorothy hurried away from the spinning couples. Gerard followed.
“No,” he said. “I would not haunt you forever.”
She halted abruptly, her shoulders tense. Gerard’s eyes traced the shape of her elegant neck all the way down her spine. Lady Dorothy was so shapely and lovely that she ought to be the model of some exceptionally talented artist.
