“You didn’t fidget when you sat with him.”
She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. “I didn’t know you had seen me,” she said. “When I told you I couldn’t remember whether I had fidgeted with him…you didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t ask me,” he said quietly.
“But you knew. You knew that I wanted to know. Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you put me at ease about it?”
“It seems to me that when it comes to Lord Hennington, you are already at ease,” the duke said. “Now you need to ask yourself why that is.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ask yourself why you’re nervous now, dancing with me.” They were hardly dancing at all, to be honest. They had stopped moving about the room and were rotating on the spot, moving so slowly and gradually that Lavinia felt sure the duke had all but forgotten what they were supposed to be doing.
She looked up at him, searching his dark eyes. Suddenly, it was difficult to catch her breath.
“I’m not nervous,” she managed.
“I know you are. You’ve already confessed that I make you feel nervous.” His hand skated slowly up the length of her arm to rest at the back of her neck.
He didn’t hold her tightly—she could have pulled away if she had wanted to—but she let him hold her like that, even though the touch felt so intimate that it made her shiver. “Besides, I can feel it here,” he whispered. “I can feel how tense you are. Relax. I’m not going to do anything to you.
“I didn’t think you were…”
“Relax,” he repeated. “Let out a breath.”
She forced herself to do as he had suggested. The simple act of exhaling made her aware of the tension in her body. He was right. She was more nervous than she had ever been. She had been lying, and he had seen right through her.
“Now,” he said quietly, “ask yourself why you’re so nervous.”
“Well, I…”
“And don’t say it’s because I’m intimidating,” he added. “I don’t think you’re intimidated by me, Lady Lavinia, not really. How many times have you spoken up to me? How many times have you told me that I’m rude?
“You may find me difficult to get along with—that I believe. And you may think that I lack good manners. You might even find meunpleasant. But I have been around people who are intimidated by me all my life, and you aren’t one of them. You’re bold and courageous. It’s one of the things I admire most about you.”
Lavinia’s heart beat faster. He admired her?
No, that wasn’t what he had said. He wasn’t saying that he admired her. He had mentioned a quality he admiredabouther, which wasn’t the same thing. She couldn’t let herself get carried away.
Not even standing like this, with his hand on the back of her neck, holding her as if she was something he cared about.
“You’re not intimidated by me,” he repeated. “So why are you nervous?”
“I’m…I’m nervous we’ll be discovered here together,” she said breathlessly. “I’m worried someone will find out what we’ve been doing, and that our reputations will be tarnished.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said slowly. “I don’t think that’s something you’re worried about, because you wouldn’t have dragged me into a bush, Lady Lavinia, if you feared so much for your reputation that you were unwilling to be found with me in a library.
“If you were as frightened of being seen with me as you claim to be, you wouldn’t have come here in the first place. You’re awareof that risk, but you’re also courageous, and you always do the things you want to do even if you do feel there’s a risk.”
His hand moved to her cheek, and Lavinia felt her heart skip a beat. She felt as if she couldn’t draw breath. When had he gotten so near to her?
“So tell me the truth,” he whispered. “Tell me what makes you feel nervous around me.”
“I—I suppose it’s because you’re so close to me.” She wished she could stop looking directly into his eyes—it was hypnotic—but it felt impossible. Her body didn’t fully belong to her, and she couldn’t break away from the captivating power of his gaze.
“Now, that sounds like the truth,” he murmured. “Of course, Lord Hennington was close to you as well. And you were fine then. What was different?”
“Lord Hennington was…”
