His gaze darkened. “The problem isn’t a lack of candidates. It’s surplus. Every woman in that room sees a coronet and ten thousand a year. I need one who sees…” He stopped, jaw tightening. “More.”
Deena’s expression softened, just a fraction. “More than the title.”
“More than the gossip,” he said quietly. “More than the bed.”
Silence stretched again.
Her eyes searched his face, and he felt the pull between them like a physical and undeniable force. He should have stepped back, but he did not. Finally, Deena extended her gloved hand.
“Very well. We have a deal.”
Austin took it slowly, turning her palm upward. He bowed over it, brushing his lips to the inside of her wrist where the glove ended, and her warm skin began. The contact was brief, chaste, and yet heat flared up his arm as though he’d touched a live flame. Deena’s breath caught audibly.
He straightened, still holding her hand. “Sealed.”
She tugged free, but not quickly enough to hide the tremor in her fingers.
“There’s something you should know,” she blurted.
He waited.
“I’m being blackmailed.”
The words landed like a blow, and Austin went very still. “Blackmailed?”
She nodded; her green eyes fixed on the floor. “I have a friend in Paris who has a secret. Someone found out about that secret and blackmailed us. They’re demanding I expose the Velvet Duke’s deepest and darkestsecretsto protect ours or else…”
“Or else what?” His mind raced as anger rose.
Could this be the same person who threatened my title?
“Or elsewewill be exposed,” Deena continued, and he saw the vulnerability in her eyes.
“Do you have any idea who it may be?”
“I do not know for certain. But they gave me a deadline, and there is not much time.”
“Did you tell your brother?”
“No! Please, do not tell him.”
“But—”
“Please.” Deena looked up at him pleadingly.
Austin exhaled loudly. Dominic would kill him if he kept such a huge secret from him. But looking at Deena made Austin change his mind. Somehow, he would convince her to share her worries with her brother. “I won’t tell Dominic anything.” She sighed in relief. “But I need to know…why me?” he asked quietly. “Why does your blackmailer want my secrets?”
“I don’t know that either.” Her voice shook, just slightly. “But I never intended to comply. Not truly. I thought if I pretended, and stalled?—”
“You thought you could outmaneuver them alone.”
“Yes.”
“You won’t do this,” he said. “Not alone.”
Her eyes widened. “Austin?—”
“We have a deal now,” he reminded her roughly. “Your enemies are mine. Your secrets…” He paused. “Are safe if my secrets are safe.”
