“Nothing is bigger than love and devotion,” she corrected him with a soft laugh. “You can live without revenge and anger. But without love and devotion, you become an empty shell.”
“Is that what I am, then, an empty shell?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she answered without hesitation. “You need someone to fill you up. If you choose the right person, you can be happy for the rest of your life. If you choose the wrong woman, your misery will be unmeasured.”
He chuckled softly. “That’s a very important choice then.”
“It’s nothing to laugh at, Ben.”
From the door came a collective gasp at her familiar use of his name–or that he chuckled–Fable didn’t know which. She looked up to see Edith and a number of the guests at the door, watching them.
With a glare that sent most of them running, the duke rose up, went to the door and slammed it shut.
Fable watched him return and sit on the settee with her.
“Do you feel up to a dance with me?”
“What?” she asked, with a series of short blinks.
“Your foot isn’t cut,” he told her quietly, close enough for her to lose herself in the fathomless depths of his eyes. At first impression one would say he was stoic and emotionless, but staring into his eyes right now, Fable could almost feel the intensity of many passions buried deep beneath the mask of indifference he wore.
“Do you want to go to the ball?”
She laughed and leaned back a little.It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to try to kiss her. It was because if he kissed her, she’d probably faint. “No. Thank you but–”
“I ordered some dresses to be made for you. I’ll check if they’re ready.”
“No, Ben, really,” she said, stopping him. “I don’t think I can stand those women.”
“Come and stand by my side.”
She laughed a little, but then grew serious. “Are you ill?” She lifted her hand to his forehead.
He took hold of her wrist and slid his fingers to hers. “You should be there.”
Did she hear him right? Would she faint even if he didn’t kiss her? “But why?” she said, sincerely astonished.
“Because I won’t find the woman I might lose my heart to–that is, if she exists– if she’s not down there.”
Fable stared at him for a few seconds, unsure of what to do–what to say. Was he teasing? He had to be teasing. Should she laugh? What if he wasn’t teasing and she laughed? She knew nothing about this. She had no one to ask. And why was he trying to start something when he just professed that he didn’t want a wife, when he knew that if the king called he’d be gone without a thought? Would she wait for him? She felt like she was in an historical romance novel, like the one Olivia, her mother’s friend, read to her and the hero was going off to war soon. Ifhe went he might not return alive. She pushed away the thought of it. Should she let herself get attached to a guy who, despite his rigorous training, might be denied his dream? What would happen to him then? Would he be alone, too hard for one of those pansy rich ladies to handle?
She let out a deep breath and rolled up her sleeves. This wasn’t the smart thing to do, but she was moved by him. Moved by her own emotions for another person for the first time since she could remember. She decided to ride them out and see where they led, even if it was all temporary. What else did she have to do? And who safer than Lord West to ride them out with? She straightened her shoulders. “Fine. Go get me a dress and send Edith to do my hair–” she almost lost her breath and couldn’t go on when his smile broke through the gloom and shone like the sun– “and let’s play the game.”
He blinked his dark, dusky eyes. “Game?”
“Yes, the game of me showing them all the only kind of woman you need.”
“Or want,” he added, his tone surprisingly silky.
Someplace below her navel burned. Burned for him.
“But I’m immune to your charms–”
His smile, along with his gaze turned doubtful, stopping her.
She cast him a challenging smirk. “You think your charms faze me?”
He scrunched up his nose and squinted his eyes to offer her a sympathetic smile and a nod to go with it. “I’ll go get those dresses.” He slipped from the room before she could gather her wits and reply.
