Page 4 of A Christmas Temptation for the Duke
“But I was going to buy it!”
“And yet here it sits, still unpurchased.” He turned from Alison, as if that solved the matter, and focused on the old lady. “I will give you two pounds to end the matter.”
“Ah…” The old lady glanced from one to the other. “I really do not –”
“I will give you two pounds also!” Alison hurriedly retrieved the extra coins from her purse. “And then, I expect to receive an apology from this gentleman.” She raised both eyebrows at the man, all the while trying to ignore the way her body trembled.
His frown deepened. “Apology? For what, exactly?”
“For trying to steal what I have rightfully bought.”
“But you haven’t bought it yet,” he responded coolly. “Hence, the argument. Now, if you do not mind…” He reached for the music box again.
“Wait!” Alison grabbed the man’s forearm. She felt his muscles stiffen in her grip and her eyes widened. Still holding onto him, she carefully looked up, certain he would be furious, but finding instead amusement in his eyes. Flustered by this, she dropped his arm.
“How about this? I might be willing to forgive your act of physicality against me, if you drop this nonsense and go on your merry way.”
“I most certainly will not,” she said. “I was here first.”
“And yet still the music box remains free of purchase. Perhaps if you were more committed to the endeavor, this entire thing would have been avoided.”
“I only arrived a second before you!”
“So hardly anytime at all,” he said. “Hardly enough to justify ownership.”
“That is not… you are being purposefully… I need it!” She tried, almost begged as if that would make a difference. “It is for my younger sister.”
“As I wish to buy it formysister. Should she miss out because you were too slow?”
“Sister?” Alison scrunched her face into a scowl. “Are you sure it is not for you? It is a rather pretty music box. Perhaps you want it for yourself?”
He groaned and she could see his growing frustration as his dark eyes narrowed. “You are not going to give in, are you?”
“If you knew me at all, you would know that you will have to tie me up if you mean to stop me.”
“Alas, I left my rope at home.”
“A sad day for you then.” She glared ruefully at the man, refusing to back down even an inch.
It was a strange feeling that came upon Alison as she stood up to the random would-be buyer. On the one hand, she should have been furious that he was trying to take what was rightfully hers. He was arrogant. Condescending. And he looked at her as if she was a petulant child in need of discipline.
However, she could also not help but feel… it was hard to say exactly. When she met his eyes, her heart fluttered. When she saw his scowl, her pulse raced. And the way he stood over her, as if he was the arbiter of the storm which slowly descended upon the markets, made her knees tremble.
The market was forgotten. The old lady seemed to vanish. It was just she and him, staring one another down, a battle of wills and stubborn determination.
“Let us be honest here,” the man said with an annoyed sigh. “What is it going to take for me to see the back of you?”
“Not much at all,” she shot back sharply. “I will even forgo the need for you to apologize, so long as when you see the back of me, I have this music box in my hands.”
“You really are…” He pressed his lips together. “Unyielding.”
“And what does that make you?”
They stared at one another, unblinking and brimming with warning. A storm brewed in the skies above, but it was nothing compared to that which gathered between the pair.
Who is this man!
Alison refused to leave here without the box. And she could tell quite obviously that this man was of the same mind. Thus, she was forced to come up with an idea… a most wicked one that would undoubtedly anger him, but by the time he realized it she would be long gone.
