"You were out of turn when you crept up on me. Perhaps you thought I would be too frightened to tell you that, but I'm not."
He stood back and looked at her.
Victoria waited for him to speak. She had said a lot of things very quickly, and she found herself feeling very overwhelmed by everything she'd just articulated. She had needed to say those things, though, and she knew it. In a way, she was grateful to him for sneaking up on her in the middle of the night the way he had, because it had given her the chance to finally let loose with everything that had been on her mind.
"I didn't know you had so many thoughts about me," the duke said at length.
"Are you one of those gentlemen who believes that ladies don't think?" Victoria asked him.
"Don't be ludicrous."
"Well, you didn't think that ladies read Voltaire."
"I didn't think ladies would have an interest in Voltaire."
"I suppose you thought we just sit around reading about—about sewing notions."
He laughed. "You really don't think much of me, do you?"
"Not very much, no."
"Is there anything I can do to improve your opinion of me?"
"You don't care about my opinion of you," she reminded him. "You want to get me married and out of your hair. Don't lose track of your goal now just because you discovered that I know how to read."
To her utter shock, James burst out laughing.
"I didn't realize you had a sense of humor, either," he confessed. "I think there's a lot you and I don't know about one another."
And he strode past her and sat down in the very chair in which she had been seated before he had come in.
Victoria wasn't surprised by him taking her chair. But what happened next did shock her.
He gestured to the chair beside him.
It was a clear invitation for her to sit down and join him.
CHAPTER 10
Victoria crossed the room slowly, and sat down in the chair that James had indicated for her. She kept her eyes on him the whole time, wondering what he might be thinking. But James didn't speak. He remained silent, watching her. Victoria remained silent as well, wondering which of them would break the silence, which of them would speak first. It seemed impossible that either of them would give in. In the end, though, it was Victoria who spoke.
"What are you doing up in the middle of the night?" she asked him.
"You asked me that already," James told her.
"I know I did," Victoria said, "but you didn't answer, so I'm asking you again."
"You didn't answer when I asked you either," James pointed out.
"I couldn't sleep," Victoria said. "Is that a crime? Do I have to explain myself to you every time I'm out of bed?"
"You're in my house. So, yes, you do have to explain yourself to me every time I ask you to," James told her.
Victoria thought of arguing with James, telling him that this was her house and not his, but they had had that argument so many times that she couldn't see anything else to be gained by having it again. She held out her hand. "Could I have my book?"
"My book," James corrected her.
"It actually is my book," Victoria told him. It doesn't belong to the estate, I bought it myself when I was in town one day."
