“I would never do that,” Susan assured him, relieved to be saying something that was at least somewhat true. It allowed her to relax a bit. It was difficult, convincing people of a lie. It required her to be constantly on the alert. “You know how much it means to me to see Marina be able to marry.”
“Yes,” her father said, permitting himself a rare smile. “Well, now that your marriage is all but secure, your sister can begin to be courted.”
Susan’s heart leapt. So hewasgoing to allow Marina to move forward with her courtship! It was the only goal she had had inall of this, and here was concrete evidence that it was going to happen. She couldn’t have been any more delighted if she had tried.
But what about the Duke? He wants things out of this, too—I should be seeing that he gets them.
“You know,” she said carefully, “the Duke is a very successful businessman.” She winced internally. That had been clumsy. Surely she could do better. “I’m excited for all of us that he’s going to be a part of the family,” she went on. “I think it will be good for everyone.”
“Oh, you give him a bit more credit than he deserves, I think,” her father said mildly. “You must remember that he’s new to this world, Susan.”
“I do remember that. I just know from speaking to him that he has some interesting ideas about investments.”
“And what would you know about investments?” Father asked her.
“Nothing, but he has a way of describing them that makes me feel as if Idoknow,” she said. “You should talk to him, Father. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. I think His Grace will be good at this, and I’m glad our family will benefit from his wisdom.”
Her father pressed his lips together thoughtfully. “Well, some men do have an aptitude for financial affairs,” he said slowly. “Perhaps he is one of them. I’ll have a word with him and see if he can describe his business to me to my satisfaction.”
Merriment sparked unexpectedly within Susan. Everything was going so well! She could hardly believe the success they were having. She and the Duke had established some very simple goals, but even so, she hadn’t expected that they would come to fruition so easily. But it really looked as if everything was on the right track. Marina would be able to marry. Father would take an interest in the Duke’s business ideas. And then the two of them would be able to go their separate ways, and everyone would be happier.
“Lady Susan, would you do me the honor of a dance?”
It was the Duke. He had appeared as if from nowhere and was holding out a hand to her from behind, and Susan knew that she couldn’t tell him no.
The truth was, she didn’t especially want to say no to him. The idea of a dance was sort of nice. It would be a way to celebrate how well everything was going.
And hewaslooking particularly handsome today, in his well-tailored clothes, with his hair neatly styled. She felt drawn to him in a way she hadn’t yet experienced.
She allowed the Duke to take her by the arm and lead her to the dance floor. He took her in his arms, and as the musiciansbegan to play, he set the pace of a graceful movement, guiding her along with him.
The movements came easily. It didn’t seem to require thought on her part, and her heart raced in time with the music.
She looked up at him in surprise. “You’re a good dancer.”
“You didn’t think I would be?”
“I didn’t know. I mean… I know you weren’t always a member of society. Do commoners learn how to dance?” She cursed herself for speaking so ineloquently. He seemed to have done something to her ability to form a cogent sentence.
He snorted. “You must think nobody can do anything if they don’t have a title.”
That cleared her head. “Don’t accuse me of that. If someone has treated you that way, it wasn’t me,” she told him firmly. “I just didn’tknowyou’d know how to dance. And you’re the one who didn’t think ladies could read, by the way, so don’t act as if I make all kinds of baseless assumptions and you don’t make any at all.”
He huffed out a frustrated breath of air. “All right, all right.”
And just like that, they were fighting again. Susan closed her eyes briefly.
What was maddening was that she could have envisioned herself actually enjoying this dance. He had big, strong hands. He knew the moves and led her well. She could feel his strength and the warmth of him as they danced together, and she liked it.
The trouble came every time he opened his mouth. Every word he said seemed designed to anger her, or to show her that she had angered him. It felt as if it was impossible for the two of them to have a conversation unless they were putting on a show for someone else’s benefit.
We simply don’t like each other very much.It was easy to forget about that in the wake of all the pleasant conversations they’d had. But none of those conversations had been real, and now they were alone. Now it was real between them.
But when she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see that he was grinning at her.
“Night and day, aren’t we?” he asked.
She was forced to laugh. “This would have been a nightmare if we had gone through with it, wouldn’t it?”
