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She was teasing him She had to be And yet, he felt he should answer her question In case “More Of course”
Her srin “Ah, so then you prefer this”
“I prefer neither!” He exploded Then realizing that they remained on the street across from his club, he took her elbow and turned her toward her brother’s home “Walk”
“Why?”
“Because we cannot re here It is not done”
She shook her head “Leave it to the English to outlaw standing” She began to walk, herbehind
He resisted the urge to throttle her, taking a deep breath “How did you even know that I was here?”
She raised a brow “It is not as though aristocrats haveto discuss with you”
“You cannot just decide to discuss so with h she were a simpleton, it would settle his ire
“Whyever not?”
Perhaps not
“Because it is not done!”
She gave hiht we had decided that I care little for what is done” He did not respond Did not trust himself to do so “Besides, if you decide you want to speak to me, you are welcome to seek me out”
“Of course I am welcome to seek you out”
“Because you are a duke?”
“No Because I am a man”
“Ah,” she said, “a much better reason”
Was that sarcasm in her tone?
He did not care
He just wanted to get her home
“Well, you were not planning to come to me”
Daht “No I was not”
“And so I had to take matters into my own hand”
He would not be a scandal And somehow, he had come to be her escort He did not need this “Hands,” he corrected
“Precisely”
He helped her cross the street to Park Lane and Ralston House before asking, quick and irritated, “I have better things to do today than to play nanny to you, Juliana What is it you want?”
She stopped, the sound of her given na between them
“Miss Fiori” He corrected himself too late
She se than a woman of twenty years should have “No, Your Grace You cannot take it back”
Her voice was low and lilting and barely there before it hisked away on the wind, but he heard it, and the promise it carried—a promise she could not possibly kno to deliver The words went straight to his core, and desire shot through him, quick and intense He lowered the bri that the autu around them could bloay the moment
“What do you want?”
“What things do you have to do?”
Nothing I want to do
He sed back the thought
“It is not your concern”
“No, but I am curious What could an aristocrat possibly have to do that is so pressing that you cannot escort me home?”
He did not like the implication that he lived a life of idleness “We have purpose, you know”
“Truly?”
He cut her a look She was grinning at hi me”
“Perhaps”
She was beautiful
Infuriating, but beautiful
“So? What is it that you have to do today?”
So her that he had planned to visit Lady Penelope Planned to propose Instead, he offered her a wry look “Nothing important”
She laughed, the sound warm and welcome
He was not going to see Lady Penelope today
They walked in silence for a few long moments before they arrived at her brother’s ho her in She was vibrant and beautiful, all rose-cheeked and bright-eyed, her scarlet cloak and bonnet turning her into the very opposite of a good English lady She’d been outside, boldly h the crisp autu herself by a fire with needlepoint and tea
As Penelope was likely doing at that very moment
But Juliana was different fro he had ever wanted Everything he had ever been
She was a danger to herselfbutdanger he was coly irresistible
“What do you want?” he asked, the words co out softer than he would have liked
“I want to win our wager,” she said, simply
The one thing he would not give her Could not afford to give her
“It will not happen”
She lifted one shoulder in a little shrug “Perhaps not Especially not if we do not see each other”
“I told you I would not make it easy for you”
“Difficult is one thing, Your Grace But I would not have expected you to hide from me”
His eyes widened at her bold words “Hide from you?”
“You have been invited to dinner And you are the only person who has not yet responded Why not?”
“Certainly not because I a from you”
“Then why not reply?”
Because I cannot risk it “Do you have any idea how many invitations I receive? I cannot accept them all”
She se in the curve of her lips “Then you decline?”
No
“I have not decided”
“It is the day after toh he were a sht you to be so callous with your correspondence, considering your obsession with reputation Are you sure you are not hiding from me?”
He narrowed his gaze “I a from you”
“You do not fear that I er after all?”
“Not in the least”
“Then you will come?”
“Of course”
No!
She grinned “Excellent I shall tell Lady Ralston to expect you” She started up the steps to the house, leaving hiht
He watched her go, standing on the street until the door closed fire that he had been bested by an irritating Italian siren
Chapter Nine
The hour on an invitation serves a purpose
The refined lady is never late
—A Treatise on the Most Exquisite of Ladies