“Are you always this controlling?”
“I said I would teach you, did I not?” He frowned at her as they slowly walked along the trail. “Surely you understand that there will be far more expected of you than what you do now. For one, you won’t be able to hide in a corner of a ballroom all evening.”
“I seem to recall you doing the very same thing.”
“Were you watching me?”
Catriona looked away, blushing and scowling furiously. “Clearly you were watching me as well.”
“I was,” he said, and his casual admission only made her heart race harder. “To answer your question, I had a very valid reason for not being very social during last night’s ball.”
“As did I.”
“You were hiding, using your sisters as a shield, because you did not want to face the societal expectations of a London Season.”
“How dare you!” Catriona gasped. She was drawing attention to them, she realized a beat later, but she didn’t care. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I said that I am a good judge of character.”
“You clearly overestimate yourself, Your Grace. Everything that comes from your lips is nothing but over-exaggerated folly that you’ve made up in your head.”
That angered him. It was such an easy emotion to spot on his face. The tightness around his mouth, the chill in his eyes. A weaker woman would have deflated at the sight, but it only fueled her own anger.
“Are you always this argumentative?” he had the gall to ask her.
“Only when I am faced with hard-headed gentlemen who think they know me better than I know myself. Especially from a man who met me just yesterday.”
The Duke let out a harsh breath. “Perhaps this was a mistake.”
Shock had her pulling away from him. For a few seconds, Catriona could only stare at him, not caring that they might be causing a bit of a scene. She took in the frustration in his eyes and felt something tug on her chest, a familiar feeling that she’d spent years ignoring.
The sting of rejection.
She let her anger take over instead. That she could control. That felt expected and proper in this situation.
“I would like to go home,” she stated. And then turned away without waiting for a response. Her eyes landed on the carriagein the distance, and she realized suddenly that they’d barely made anywhere before getting into an argument. How could she think to marry a man that angered her so easily?
Before she could take another step, a hand enclosed around her wrist. Catriona stifled her gasp, hating the way her stomach tripped over itself when she saw that it was him.
“We should finish our walk,” he insisted firmly.
Catriona glanced around, suddenly noticing that people were watching and whispering to each other. “We’re drawing too much attention to ourselves. It would be best if we just left.”
“Don’t pay them any mind. The ton is desperate for any scrap of excitement they can find in this dull town. You’re with me, aren’t you?” He gave her arm a little, indiscernible tug, pulling her back to his side. “So focus on me.”
Easy,she thought.Far, far too easy.
Her anger bled away, morphing into something else. Something confusing enough to give her pause, trying to understand what it meant. But it came and went so quickly that she didn’t have the chance to make sense of it. All she knew was that it was unlike anything she’d ever felt before.
And then, she laughed. It surprised them both.
“Very well,” she conceded. “As long as you make no more attempts to analyze my personality.”
“I make no promises,” the Duke said. “You are quite interesting.”
She only raised an expectant brow, and he sighed.
“All right,” he agreed. Catriona smiled and returned to his side. He leaned closer to her ear and said, “You are used to getting your way, aren’t you?”
