“And if you want me to wear that gown—well, I struggle to understand the reason,” she said. “You must think that the gowns I wear of my own accord are substandard in some way. You must not like them.” She turned a circle, causing her skirt to flare slightly.
Allan caught his breath.
This was maddening. She was beautiful. She was doing this to tease him, and he knew it. He wanted her to stop—and at the same time, he badly wanted her to continue. He found it hard to admit it, but he was enjoying this little game of theirs.
“You don’t like my gown,” she said, finishing her twirl. “Admit it.”
“I won’t admit to something that isn’t true.”
Her eyes flashed. “Just say it,” she said. “Enough games. Just say the truth. You think I’m not capable of handling things on my own and that you have to do it for me.”
He was stunned. “Where is that coming from?” he asked. “What would make you think such a thing?”
“Well, explain to me why you bought the gown,” she said. “Because I don’t know what kind of game you’re trying to play by doing that.”
“Does everything always have to be a game?” Suddenly, without warning, he felt angry. “I wanted to get you a nice gift. Can’t it be as simple as that? And you couldn’t even wear it. You’re doing that to spite me, aren’t you?”
“Not everything I do is done with you in mind,” she said.
“Well, that’s apparent.”
They were quiet for a moment, neither of them speaking.
Lady Edwina looked away, watching a group of people who were starting up some sort of lawn game. Allan couldn’t tell what the game was going to be. He thought of asking her whether she wanted to go and play—but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. If there was something she wanted to do, she ought to simply ask for it. He would be more than happy to oblige her if she did that.
It was odd, feeling this frustrated with her. She had never made him feel this way before. He had always enjoyed their banter and the back-and-forth nature of their conversations. But she was acting differently today. It wasn’t as if she found him vexing. It was more like she genuinely disliked him.
Suddenly, he wasn’t enjoying her company anymore. The game no longer entertained him. And as he looked at her, he understood the reason why.
It was because she wasn’t playing this time.
She hadn’t ignored his gift out of a desire to vex him. It was something else.
She was genuinely upset with him. And that was a difficult thing to accept—but it wasn’t something he was under any obligation to accept.
In spite of that, he couldn’t quite bring himself to simply turn and walk away from her. Their time together had come to mean more to him than he had realized, and he didn’t want it to be over. He wanted to fix things between them—if only he could figure out how.
“What’s the matter with you today?” he asked her.
“What?” she shot back. “Because I didn’t wear your gown, that means something is wrong with me?”
“No, never mind the gown. I don’t care about the gown,” he said. “It’s the way you’re talking to me today, Lady Edwina. It’s as if you want nothing to do with me.”
“I’ve been clear in the past about wanting nothing to do with you. Is today really any different?”
“Yes, it is,” he said. “In the past, it has always felt like there was some fun to the way we talked about this. Some banter. Today, I think you’re angry with me for even being in your presence. I thought you opted not to wear the gown I sent you to provoke me, but that’s not it. It’s because you’re genuinely bothered by something. And I think you ought to tell me what it is.”
She looked at him for a long moment.
“Very well,” she said. “But not here. Not where everyone can hear us.”
He nodded. “We’ll walk down to the river,” he suggested. “We can talk there without being overheard.”
He started walking down the lawn without waiting to see if she would follow him, and after a moment, he was rewarded by the sight of her running to catch up.
CHAPTER 15
It was maddening to Edwina that the Duke had seen through her so easily, although, if she was being honest with herself, she had done nothing at all to disguise the fact that she was angry with him. He was perfectly right—shehadmade a show of ignoring his gift in hopes that he would notice it. So how could she feel frustrated now that that exact thing had happened?
