“I am terribly sorry. I didn’t know this constituted a perfectly sane reaction. I hate to see you in poor judgment.”
“While you coming into this viper’s nest was a testament to impeccable judgement,” the Duke chuckled.
“I had no choice.”
“By all means then, I will allow you to run headlong into danger and think yourself clever for it.”
“Your talent for condescension is remarkable.”
“Then pray enlighten me, Miss Jenkins. What catastrophe demands you bear humiliation with such stubborn pride?”
“If I do not repair my reputation, my sisters will suffer!”
Silence. The Duke took a step back, his hands dropping to the side. Their look was locked, and she drew deep breaths, as if she had been running up the stairs.
“Miss Jenkins,” his voice was even and dark around the edges, “if I don’t find who forged all this, I might lose more than my reputation.”
Prim saw the real concern in the way his shoulders were bracing for a fall, even in this quiet room.
“We share an enemy, Miss Jenkins.”
Prim hated that he spoke with logic, even and logical. It made it more difficult to argue against sane rationales.
“That enemy tries to coax a reaction out of me. One, they seem as predictable. I intend to prove them otherwise, making them make a mistake, just one move. But I need your assistance and co-operation.”
“You still think that the target was you.”
“I am. And you are being dragged into this. I feel… responsible for you.”
“I doubt ‘responsible’ is a word that crosses your vocabulary often,” she said, dryly. “But do continue.”
“I am offering a helping hand, and you deem it right to bite it. Very well, Miss P.J., I am proposing we announce a courtship. Everyone targeting you will be forced to seize immediately.”
“Are all your plans based on delusion, or is this entirely my honor?”
He chuckled, and the sound was infernal. Nature shouldn’t have allowed for a man who looks like him to have a smile that can wipe out whole cities in its wake. Prim struggled to gather her thoughts.
“You know I am right, Miss Jenkins, despite your spirited opposition,” the Duke said.
She tried. She really tried to say that her opposition to his suggestion was because he was a rake, that he would be reckless with her reputation and the future of her sisters. But there was a simple, undeniable reason. The Duke was affecting her.
As if sensing her weakness, he took a small step toward her, just an inch. And yet, her body reacted violently. His presence wrapped all around her, like heat, like a storm, like a phenomenon of the heavens she had no way to stop, only endure.
“I am not a very patient man.”
“One… One of your many virtues,” Prim said with unconvincing bite.
“What is your decision, Miss P.J.?”
He took one final step toward her, the distance shrunk again. Her heart thundered treacherously, the sharp inhale a blatant tell that made him smirk.
“Come now,” he murmured. “I am hanging from your lips.”
Prim’s eyes snapped up to his, only to find them fixated on her lips. She watched helplessly as he lifted them slowly to meet hers. She needed to get out of his room.
“A fake courtship,” she blurted. “Till you find who is after you and I get a suitor.”
“There you go, Miss P.J.,” he cooed. “That wasn’t hard was it?”
