Page 64 of The Duke of Desire
Lucy nodded. “Me too.”
Ivy said nothing, but as each moment passed, she realized their lives were irrevocably different now. The friendship they’d enjoyed would continue, of course, but it wouldn’t be the same.
Oh, this was ridiculous! Ivy refused to feel maudlin. So she wouldn’t find the kind of happiness and contentment her friends had. She didn’twantit. “I envy her independence,” she said with a sly smile.
Lucy chuckled. “Yes. That.”
They continued to look around the room and comment on the various attendees. As the music for the dance set concluded, the other sounds of the ballroom diminished. It wasn’t exactly quiet, but it was nearly so, with a whisper here and there.
“Someone’s arrived,” Aquilla said softly as she craned her neck in an effort to see who’d come in.
People moved aside, providing a sort of thoroughfare for the new arrival.
It was a gentleman. Tall with hair as dark as midnight and a walk as arrogant as sin. Ivy knew him immediately, of course.
“Is that the Duke of Desire?” Aquilla asked.
Ivy couldn’t look away from him. “Yes.”
And he was striding directly toward them.
“Is he coming this way?” Lucy asked.
“I believe so,” Ivy responded. Her heart had picked up a deep, staccato rhythm when she’d identified him. Now it fairly pounded from her chest. The ballroom was nearly silent, and yet she heard a rushing in her ears. Heat flushed through her body, and her knees turned to water.
“Why?” Aquilla whispered as he neared.
Ivy could hardly believe he was here. Perhapshewas the dream, and she had fallen prey to her own wistful, stupid imaginings. But no, he was real, and the anticipatory glint in his eye told her everything she needed—wanted—to know. “Because he wishes to talk to me.”
