Page 101 of The Duke Who Loved Me (The Duke's Estates 1)

“To make you take back your scurrilous lies in the hearing of all.” His hazel eyes burned with anger. “Tell the truth!” he snarled.

Cecelia took a breath to steady her voice and then let it ring out. He was practically shouting, and she wished to be as easily heard. “Are you suggesting that I have spread a false story about you, as you had done about me?” she asked.

“Natürlich!” snapped the prince. “What else?”

“So you admit that the things you said about me were untrue,” Cecelia answered.

“Is this your cowardly plot? To force me to admit it?”

“Do you?”

He made a savage gesture. “I have no time for trivialities.”

“Do you?” Cecelia repeated in a tone he could not ignore.

“Yes, yes. They were not true. And now you will say the same. This falsehood has sullied my honor!”

“As your lies did mine?”

“Women have no honor,” Prince Karl said. “Not in the same way.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You are made for dalliance and pleasure. The rest is all nonsense.” He came a step closer. He looked as if he longed to shake her. “Now you will tell the truth!”

Cecelia was so angry that she was trembling, but she managed to speak clearly. “I had nothing to do with the rumors about you. I have been out of town and only heard them when I returned. I know nothing about your background and would never presume to comment upon it.”

“You cunning jade,” he growled. “You planned this.”

“Planned for you to intrude where you were not invited and make more false accusations. How could I?”

He clenched his fists.

“I do sympathize,” Cecelia added. “I know how difficult it is to correct false stories. People aren’t easily convinced, are they?”

Prince Karl raised a hand as if to strike her. Cecelia moved back. At the same time, in the corner of her eye, she saw James shove a glass of lemonade at a surprised young gentleman and rush toward her.

He would see this as a contest between two men. And it was not. She could defend herself. “I give you my word that I did not malign you,” she said to the prince before James could reach them. “I do not know who did. I don’t believe it was any of my friends.”

“Thewordof a woman,” sneered Prince Karl.

He really was a loathsome creature. “Do we not take oaths and sign legal documents?” Cecelia asked. “You can trust me to tell the truth.” If her tone implied that the same could not be said for him, she couldn’t help it.

James came to stand beside her. He looked thunderous. Whether because of this ally or some other factor, Prince Karl seemed to become conscious of the hostile murmur of the crowd around him. He looked, saw no sympathetic faces, and appeared suddenly bewildered.

A young man came through the crowd and went to touch Prince Karl’s arm. Cecelia recognized him as one of the prince’s entourage. Searching her memory, she came up with a name—Stephan Kandler.

The newcomer bent close to murmur to the prince. Prince Karl turned to him, seeming about to argue. There was a brief muttered colloquy. Then Kandler pulled at the prince’s sleeve to urge him out. After another scan of the room, the prince yielded, and they went.

“Like a dog herding a willful ram,” said James.

Cecelia choked back a laugh. She would not gloat. “If he had horns, he would have butted me,” she said quietly.

“Undoubtedly.”

“There was a moment when I thought he would hit me.”

“And you evaded him.”

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