“May I go now?”
“Of course,” he chuckled and leaned unnecessarily close to open the door. “I will be out after a while. Look for me.”
“Will definitely not.”
He chuckled and Prim fled the moment the door flew open. She went to the ball and looked for her sisters frantically. Found them close to her parents that were talking with the Countess herself.
“Prim,” Camilla studied her sister’s face. “You are flushed.”
Of course, she was. Being close to the Duke of Mildenhall had that side effect.
“I was just at the powder room.”
“There is something wrong.”
“I was in the ladies room. Needed a minute,” Prim said, determined that half-truths are the best lies.
“Don’t listen to her,” Camilla patted her sister’s hand. “Miss Sears is simply jealous.”
“Villains always get what they deserve in the end,” Myrtle added.
Prim smiled the tensest smile she could fake. Her sweet sister. Believing that in real life justice is served and love triumphs. Prim was not that much older, but she already knew how cruel the world could be.
As if on cue, a group of ladies that debuted with Prim approached. All married already, a vicious smile on their lips.
“Miss Jenkins,” the ringleader, the Baroness of Sefolk, said. “It’s been a while since we last saw you. But then again-”
Prim braced for the whip of the insult and mustered all her resolve and resilience to make it through it one more time. Butthe abuse never landed. Instead, everyone was looking over her shoulder.
“Good evening.”
Prim swallowed. It was him. The Duke. He somehow materialized to her side like a deus ex machina.
“Your… Your Grace?” The Baroness stuttered.
“You were saying?”
Prim felt the ice his voice drop the temperature in the hall. He spoke loud enough to draw everyone’s attention. Prim wanted to shrink and vanish and never existed in the first place and took one subtle step away from his dominating presence.
“I was not…” The Baroness looked down.
“Exactly as I thought,” The Duke said coldly.
This was the best time for Prim to simply try a basic vanishing act But she didn’t get a chance. On hand rested on her waist and pulled her closer. A firm, warm, big, unyielding hand. Prim looked down to make sure that she was not on fire because that was exactly what she felt.
“Careful, Miss Jenkins,” he said, “you were losing your footing there.”
Prim looked up with a scowl. That rake was groping her in public and was shameless enough to disguise it as the gallant support of a frail lady.You scoundrel,her look said. He simply smiled and tilted his head.
“It is time I made my intentions plain,” he said. “I am courting Miss Jenkins. By choice, and with great pleasure.”
The room went silent before a wave of hushed whispers took over, shocked voices, gasps and open disbelief. Prim didn’t even register the reactions that spread like wildfire in the hall.
But Prim felt her pulse hammer at her throat so much that she feared that her sisters could hear it. When he slowly looked down to her, she inhaled sharply. She hated that she did, yet it couldn’t be avoided. The intensity of his gaze demanded the halt of some primary function.
There was a simple, obvious truth that took over her thoughts, brighter than the candles of the chandelier that made his features sharper as he smiled innocently at her.
Oh. Oh no.
