“I’m invoking my right as your fiancé to know what it is that upset you tonight, and I will not be denied.”
She leaned closer, their noses almost brushing. “Pretendfiancé.”
“Not when we’re out there in the public eye.”
“Then why don’t you act like it?” she said between clenched teeth.
“Act like it? Like you belong to me?” He was confused. Did she want him farther away or closer?
“You truly want to know what my aunt said? Just before we left she said she wanted to warn me. You were likely after my inheritance, and after we wed—if not already—you’d carry on a dalliance with the likes of Lady Foxcroft. She called me naïve and softhearted, lovestruck by the first man to come along and give me attention.” She pressed her lips together and swallowed. “Isn’t that ridiculous? You ignored me most of the evening, but somehow I’ve been swayed to marry you by your charms and attention. As for Nelson, he kept touching me in the drawing room until I snapped at his fingers with my fan. He had the good sense to leave me alone after that. I thought being engaged to you would somehow protect me, but I was wrong. Now they’re simply rabid to get between me and my inheritance before you steal it yourself. But other than that, it was alovelyevening, wouldn’t you say?”
Graham fisted his hand. Nelson had been touching her? And her aunt...
“I was by your side all evening.”
“Yes, much like a footman, waiting to hold my glass for me, but you weren’twithme. Don’t you understand that? You can’t even pretend to care for me. I fear you don’t have a future treading the boards.” She turned her face away from him.
Graham didn’t know what to say. He thought his own evening had been difficult, but he’d missed so much of her misery. He’d thought that by avoiding the potential for bickering and insults, and instead focusing on answering Julia’s questions as convincingly as he could, he and Amelia would better impress upon the crowd that they were betrothed. But in his neglect, he’d fed her to the wolves.
“I... I see. I apologize. I don’t know how to do this, Amelia.”
“Do what?”
He sighed. “Court a woman. Be... I don’t even have the words.”
Amelia huffed with a laugh. “You’ve never pursued a woman?”
“Not in the presence of polite society, no. I’ve never had cause to.”
“Not when women like Julia fall into your lap.” He scowled at her, and she smirked, knowing she’d hit her mark. “What would you say to me if we were alone?”
“We are alone.”
“No, not as you and me, but as other people. People who like each other. A man and woman who are interested in each other romantically. How would you seduce me?”
Graham wanted to groan. He lifted his gaze to hers and leaned in. Her breath caught, and the air between them thinned. His body pulsed to be near hers, and his heart thumped heavily in his chest. What would he say to her—not Amelia, but anotherfictional woman? No, it wasn’t working. All he could see was Amelia. There was no use pretending. And he definitely couldn’t tell her the things he’d say to her.
He stepped back. “I can’t be doing this, not with you. Not ever.”
She lifted her chin. “I don’t know whatthisis. Explain.”
“I can’t explain it. Seduction, being drawn closely to another—it’s an experience, knowledge gained through action. It’s an instinct.”
She scoffed. “And we have nothing but animosity between us. That’s why it’s so awkward. If you could just pretend, Graham. Treat me like a woman, not a naïve child—”
“Youarenaïve. And you’re impulsive and innocent and Alston’s sister. I can’t treat you like any other woman.”
She sobered. She reached out to touch his chest. Could she feel his heart pounding? Hear the rush of blood surging in his veins at her nearness?
“You have to. For Sam. You promised him you’d protect me like he would, but you are not my brother. We are in this ruse together, but I can’t play the part of a blushing bride-to-be if you... if you don’t even want to be near me. Can’t you at least try to pretend to like me? Is that really so difficult?” She swallowed. “Am I that awful?”
Her solemn words cut him. He cupped her cheek. “No. But I’m using restraint to protect us both.”
“You’re using too much. If we are engaged, there has to be a connection, a certain level of—what did you call it? Knowledge? Perhaps we need more history. Where did this relationship even begin?”
Graham fixed his gaze on his hand on her cheek. So soft and warm. Her perfume rose to his nostrils, and he tried to take small breaths. He remembered the first time he met her, but that wasn’t his strongest memory of her. No, that was the dayshe’d worn a white gown sprinkled with seed diamonds, when she’d made her debut into high society. Alston said it had cost a fortune, but she was worth every pound. She had sparkled like sunlight on fresh snow, glimmered like an angel as she made her grand entrance, ready to take on thetonand all its eligible bachelors. He’d stood there, unable to take his eyes off her. She was a fever dream. For just a moment—a fleeting, maddening moment—he thought he could fall in love with her. That smiling, sparkling girl. But by the end of the evening, he’d realized he was too old for a girl like her, too dull for her shine. He’d never wanted a woman like this—with heat and passion lighting him up from the inside. But her antics that night had cast a stark contrast between them, and he’d fought to bury his confusing feelings. He hadn’t known how to manage those emotions other than by pushing them down. So as she had danced with men more suitable to her exuberant nature, Graham had watched from the wall.
She had been a force of nature, refusing to be tamed.
