His eyes widened, and there was no denying the concern that flashed over his face. And yet he didn’t deny her out of hand, which meant he was contemplating her outrageous demand. Despite the bet he had made to have her fully. One he couldn’t win under her terms.
Andthatwould be a little punishment alongside her own pleasure. Yet she couldn’t smile about that fact.
“I could consider it,” he said. “If I would be allowed to try to convince you otherwise.”
“Force, or convince?” she asked, setting her feet wider, as if she might have to fight. It felt like she did.
He shook his head. “Convince,” he repeated. “Great God, Katherine, whatever monster you have built me to be, know that I have never and would never,neverforce you or any other woman to do anything she did not wish to do. Any man who does that is a craven coward who deserves the most brutal of punishments.”
She drew back at the flash of fire in his dark stare. The anger that bubbled up past the carefree exterior, just as his pain had earlier. She wondered where it all came from, those emotions he was usually so capable of controlling.
“Very well,” she said. “In truth, I’ve never heard anything untoward about your behavior with any woman. That has never been your reputation, nor has it been what I’ve observed myself.”
“Observing me, were you?” he asked, giving her another of those cocky smiles. When she glared at him, he laughed. He seemed to like sparring with her. And some small part of her liked it, too. “What you’ve asked leaves me a great deal to consider.”
She swallowed. “Yes. Despite it being my suggestion, it is not a decision easily come to. If we were to enter into some kind of…arrangement, there are risks, more for me than for you I think.”
“Then perhaps we should take the rest of today to consider those risks, and the benefits.” He stepped toward her. “Come to my chamber tonight, after you’ve thought about it.” He winked. “Or should I come to you?”
She set her jaw. “For all the world to see and for you to crow about?”
“You truly despise me.”
“You make it easy to do so.”
She waited for him to argue with her or try to excuse himself from his behavior. Instead, he reached out a hand and traced the line of her jaw with his fingertips. She shivered at the touch, so gentle and yet so heated as he held her gaze with his dark one.
“That must create quite a conflict in you, my lady,” he whispered. “To want what you hate. In truth, it isn’t the worst thing in the world. Passion is passion, and what you feel could make things all the more…intense. If that helps you make your decision.”
She wrinkled her brow. He wasn’t even trying to make her like him. He wasn’t defending the indefensible or telling her some story to get what he wanted. There was an honesty to his interaction with her. A space for her to feel whatever she felt without judgment.
She wasn’t certain anyone else in her life had ever given that. And it felt so dangerous now, because she wanted to lean into it, give herself over to it. Forget everything she’d experienced with this man, everything she knew about his motives, and just…bathe in his experience and his passion.
She stepped away from him and from that wild desire. “If I want this, I’ll come to you,” she said.
She turned on her heel and walked away from him. And just like he had the night before, he let her go without comment or attempt to control what she would do. He just watched her go.
She crested the hill so she was out of his sight and saw the party just ahead. She had to gather herself now, forget the conflict that Roseford had stoked in her, at least for a while.
She doubled her efforts to do that as Meg came racing down from the bowling green, with a wide smile on her face. “There you are! James was about to send out a search party rather than forfeit. Your next round is about to begin.”
She forced a smile. “Excellent, and I am ready.”
Ready to play games. But not the ones Emma had set up for the party’s enjoyment. If she understood anything now it was that she was about to enter a very dangerous game with the Duke of Roseford.
One she had to win.
Chapter Eleven
Robert entered the dining room at the end of the group of his friends and scanned the table for the arrangement. He smiled as he saw his name card and stepped over to stand just beside Katherine.
She jolted as he caught the back of her chair and gently slid it out for her. “My lady.”
For a moment her lips pursed, and then she actually smiled as she took the place he offered and watched him settle in beside her. “Your Grace. Not that I am complaining, but I find myself a little surprised that you and I would be seated together, considering we were each invited here in an attempt to avoid the other.”
“I will tell you a little secret,” he said, leaning in close to her ear and just controlling himself from pressing a kiss there. “Imoved the arrangements so we would be placed together.”
She pulled away and stared at him. “You did not!”
