It will be fine,she reminded herself.You are here for a reason.
“Can I help you?” Evan finally broke the silence but did not look up at her.
“Yes, well. I came here to tell you something.” She cleared her throat. “We have been invited to a dinner.”
His pen didn’t pause. “Have we now?”
“Yes,” she said, stepping closer.Perhaps this did not need to be awkward at all.“Violet and Nicholas have extended an invitation at their manor.”
At that, he glanced up, his dark eyes flicking over her before returning to his work. “Do weneedto go?”
“Yes,” she insisted. “I think that would be the right thing. This is their first dinner invitation to us, and I think it would be rather rude to decline it considering we do not have anything else planned for that date.”
He leaned back, stretching out his legs beneath the desk, his gaze settling on her now with vague amusement. “How do you know that?”
“I made sure to check your schedule with the staff.” She cleared her throat feeling her cheeks heat up as he looked in her direction.
“How very resourceful of you,” he murmured.
“Whatever you’d like to call it,” she sighed. “The point here is that we should go to dinner. No, wewillgo,” she corrected herself swiftly.
She had to learn how to assert herself in front of the Duke.
“That was rather decisive.”
“Because it is decided,” she doubled down.
“I see. And when, exactly, was this decision made?” he questioned.
“When the invitation was extended.”
“By you?”
“Bythem,”she corrected, narrowing her eyes. Evan was only stretching the conversation now—she could tell. It was something that he did when he wished to mess with her.
He nodded slowly, as if giving some grave thought to the matter. “But you have taken it upon yourself to enforce it.”
“Someone must.”
Evan tilted his head, studying her. “I suppose you enjoy these sorts of things?”
“Yes. And you should as well,” she said. “It would do you well.”
“That is a bold assumption to make, darling.”
Damn him.
She nearly lost her composure at that word. Instead, she drew a long breath, crossing her arms. “It is a simple dinner, not a battlefield. I only came here to inform you. I am not sure why we need to drag this on for so long.”
“I prefer battlefields,” he muttered.
Why am I not surprised in the least?
“I’m beginning to think you prefer being difficult,” she sighed. Yes, she was quite sure of that.
He let out a chuckle at that. “Took you long enough to catch on. But it is not all bad. Some might say it’s part of my charm.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Charmis not the word I would use.”
