“Pardon me for having reservations about a man who’s been constantly hounding me. We barely know each other. Do you think the fact that we almost married entitles you to feature in my life?”
“I have seen you in an unsafe environment several times now, my lady.” He leaned in closer; she refused to back away, and he pressed her against the wrought iron railings. “And because my sense of duty and justice refuses to let things be.”
“I wish you would,” she snapped, but her voice was breathier than she would have liked.
This, right here, was why she wanted to keep her distance from the Duke. Because something about his proximity was making her stomach flop in nervous, excited anticipation. He carried with him a slight sense of danger, but she had no fear for her own well-being.
Well, unless he were to kiss her.
Then she very much feared it would be a good kiss and make her yearn for more.
She could not afford to let that happen.
“I wish you would leave me alone,” she said, tilting her chin to face him.
Immediately, she realized her mistake; she was closer to him now. That leather, masculine scent surrounded her, and she sucked in a long, slow breath.
“Is that what you truly want?”
“Yes,” she insisted, although her mind was telling her something else entirely.
There were plenty of things she could do with this gentleman on a secluded balcony where no one else could see them.
Thalia! What is wrong with you?
“Thal?” Anna called from further down the corridor. “Where are you? Are you all right?”
Horror drowned her senses. She could not, under any circumstances, be discovered with the Dukehere. Even by Anna, who would never breathe a word of it to anyone, but who would see past all her defensiveness and see the truth: that she had not truly minded his proximity at all.
“Stay here,” she hissed, stepping away from the Duke and moving toward Anna.
To her relief, the Duke didn’t seem to move a muscle, but she could feel his gaze on her back the entire time she walked away.
CHAPTER 5
“Remember your purpose.” Her father pinched her elbow.
The ballroom was crammed with bodies. Thalia adjusted her mask, trying to see through it. Anna and Simon were hosting the masquerade, and it was one oftheevents of the Season, meaning everyone who was anyone was in attendance.
“Use my natural allure to attract potential suitors,” Thalia recited in a bored voice.
“Enough of your cheek! You and I both know that I forked out a pretty penny for this dress.”
The gown was especially extravagant, a sparkly silver that draped across her form in a way that felt somewhat revealing, despite the fact that it wasn’t more immodest than any of her other dresses.
The dressmaker had heard her father’s request, and she had delivered.
Thalia rather wished she hadn’t.
It wasn’t as though she disliked looking her best, and she knew she did, with her moon goddess costume. When she had entered the room, everyone around her gasped.
She hated that this was not for her; it was for her father’s machinations.
“I won’t endure this disappointment for much longer,” her father growled. “You will dance at least three dances with gentlemen.”
Her nostrils flared. “And if I don’t?”
“Then you can bid goodbye to your pin money. As for freedom to attend the opera? All that will end if you cannot assure me that your escapades have a purpose.”
