“How delusional. No gentleman in their right minds would pay any attention to such boorish creatures who do not know proper courtesy. Oh, goodness, did you see her curtsy? She nearly toppled over!”
The curtsy in question appeared rather well done in Joseph’s opinion.Shestraightened and swept her eyes across the room as if she could sense that someone was talking about her.
Then their eyes met. Joseph took a step back, his back hitting the wall, and his breath hitched in his throat. For a moment, his mind emptied of all thoughts.
Just like this morning at the riverside, it felt as if his entire world tilted slightly out of whack.
Earlier, it had been brief, eclipsed by his anger and worry over Dorothea’s disappearance. But now that there were no other emotions coursing through him, there was nothing to buffet the force of her look, like a blow to his chest. Recognition sparked in her eyes even from the distance, and for those long seconds, it felt as if they were the only two people on earth.
And then, she turned and started making her way towards him.
Joseph straightened. Vaguely, he knew the ladies nearby were still gossiping, their voices growing lower as she got closer, but he could focus on nothing else but her.
“Good evening, Your Grace,” she greeted as she sank into a curtsy. Her voice was like warm whiskey washing through him, the Scottish lilt endearing.
Joseph glanced in the direction of the two ladies, and they immediately turned away, hiding their faces behind their fans as if they had not been staring. Wordlessly, he offered his arm to her.
He didn’t realize how much he had been hoping she would not reject him until she took his arm and allowed him to lead her away from where they stood. When they’d put enough distance between them and the gossiping ladies, he spoke again.
“You know who I am.”
“I did not know at the time,” she informed him easily. Every step she took sent a lovely air of lavender around them. “But my uncle told me of your identity.”
“And your uncle is?”
She gave him a slightly incredulous look, her mossy eyes searching his face. “The Earl of Heaton. Do you not know your neighbors?”
He did, but he’d never put a face to the name before, since he did not make it a habit of socializing with the outside world when he didn’t have to. “Then you must be one of his three nieces. The feistiest of the three, I assume, since you are yet to issue your apology.”
She stiffened at his side. Joseph immediately pulled away as they reached the refreshment’s table which, to her relief, did not have anyone standing nearby. He plucked up a glass of lemonade and offered it to her without a word.
Her lips thinned. “No, thank you.”
How prickly,he thought. With a shrug, he set it back down. “You approached me for a reason, I assume.”
“Yes.” Joseph watched as she pulled her shoulders back and drew in a silent breath as if she was bracing herself. “You were right to demand an apology. It was quite rude of me not to issueone the moment I realized who you truly were. So, I am sorry for how I acted earlier today.”
“It is rather interesting that you care to apologize only after learning who I am,” Joseph pointed out. And when a shadow of a scowl passed across her face, he nearly smiled.How predictable.
“Your title has nothing to do with my change of heart. I simply came to a realization; that’s all.”
“The realization that it is in your best interest to stay in the good graces of a duke?”
This time, she didn’t bother hiding her scowl, and for some reason, the sight of it nearly made him laugh. “Does being a duke require one to be rather full of themselves?”
“It is simply the way of the world,” he responded with a shrug. “You are better off admitting that your change of heart was only brought on when you realized who you might have wronged.”
“And if I admit no such thing?” she asked, raising one brow. The threat in her voice intrigued him when he knew it should have annoyed him.
“Then you are only fooling yourself.”
“I sincerely doubt that I am the one fooling myself, here, Your Grace,” she muttered, the formal title dripping from her tongue with pungent derision. “I think you have deluded yourselfenough for us both. Now, if you will excuse me, I have my sisters to attend to. Good evening, Your Grace.”
She walked away without waiting for a response. Joseph watched as she marched over to where her sisters stood looking rather outcasted by their spot in the corner next to the terrace doors. One of them reached out to her with a concerned look, and whatever question she asked was met with a shake of her head and a one-worded response.
Then he realized that he, once again, had forgotten to ask her her name.
“You should dance with him!”
