An unfamiliar tremor threaded her voice when she ventured, “Your Grace?”
“Good God.” He reared back as though she had slapped him. “Never saythatagain. I’m Colehaven to most, and Cole to my friends.”
Emboldened, she licked her lips and tilted her bosom closer. “Are we just… friends?”
Contrary to her dreams, he did not silence this saucy question by slanting his mouth over hers and making love to her right there on the chess table.
“Would you rather… be a duchess?” he asked instead.
It was Diana’s turn to rear back in horror.
“What?” She spluttered. “No!”
“I’m doing this all wrong,” he said, and turned as though to slide from his chair and sink to one knee.
Diana leaped to her feet and all but forcibly held him in place.
“Don’t do it,” she implored him. “Don’t ruin it.”
“I’m trying to make it better,” he said, his earnest voice and hesitant smile breaking her heart. “We had a moment. I’d like to make it permanent.”
She curved her hands about his shoulders and looked straight into his eyes.
“I’m not going to marry you or any man,” she said. “I told you. I thought you were listening.”
“I hadn’t proposed to you myself when you said that,” he reminded her, as if no woman alive had ever turned down a duke.
Perhaps Diana really was the first.
“Back then, we were talking speculatively,” he continued, his gaze urgent and heartfelt. “You marrying a stranger at some future date. Of course you would be concerned about compatibility. Anyone would. I was, too.”
Diana closed her eyes, as if doing so would block out his voice.
It didn’t work.
“I think we’ve proven our compatibility. Mentally and physically.” His low voice washed over her like a warm breeze.
She shivered anyway.
One of his hands caressed hers.
“Plus,” he murmured as if an afterthought, “it’s a truly splendid duchy. And our cat just had kittens.”
When she opened her eyes to face him anew, her voice came out much harsher than she intended. “I do not care about your duchy.”
This was only partly true. Now that she knew they existed, she could not help but be intrigued by the kittens.
“I won’t marry,” she said softly. “Gaining a hundred dukedoms would not be worth the loss of my freedom. You’re a good man, but you wouldownme. If you should decide I could no longer keep journals or conduct investigations—”
“Of course you will no longer gad about in working-woman disguises,” he said firmly.
She let go of his shoulders and tried not to scream.
This. This was why she could never wed. She loved him, but if he did this to her, she would quickly come to hate him. Whatever compatibility they’d once shared would vanish like a—
Diana groaned and sat down hard in her seat. She loved him, and she still couldn’t have him. Without her noticing, he’d managed to corner her on therealboard. The one where dukes were kings and spinsters were pawns.
Check, but not checkmate. She had a few moves left.
