Page 66 of The Dueling Duchess

Sin heaved a sigh, looking profoundly unhappy. “You are my best friend—closer to me than even my brothers were. I don’t want you to move halfway round the world.”

Guy was touched by the other man’s unprecedented show of affection. Sin was often a hard man to read, though Guy had always known that his friend loved him.

He forced a grin. “I will come back in a few years a wealthy man. People will call me the Cranberry King and ton hostesses will fall over themselves to fling their daughters at me.”

“So you’re assuming she will say no and you’ll go there by yourself, then?”

Guy shoved a hand through his hair. “God, I don’t know, Sin. She’s very angry with me—very. The only reason she’s giving me this job is to humiliate me. And to make me grovel. Well, and because she will make a good deal of money. If she ever cared for me, I shall need to work damned hard to remind her of it.”

A long, uncomfortable silence inserted itself.

Elliot cleared his throat. “So, she hired you. Congratulations—you weren’t expecting that, even,” he said, his smile somewhat forced.

“Yes, she hired me.”

Guy didn’t bother telling his friends that it had been a bloody uncomfortable meeting today. They all knew Cecile well enough; they could guess how things had gone.

It had physically hurt to be in the same room with her and not touch her. God, she was a beauty! Even more than her body and face, her fire drew him, although he knew better than most how dangerous it could be to give in to her seductive lure.

Guy had fallen in love with her hard and fast, like a tree felled by a fierce storm.

That was Cecile—a storm in female form.

Had she loved him or even cared for him? He could never be sure. Hell, he’d not fully understood just how deep his own feelings were until after she was gone.

Cecile was a mystery to him. She kept the greater part of herself hidden away, not just from him, but from everyone in her life. They’d spent entire days together last year, but there’d been an unspoken agreement never to open up to each other on personal matters—that had been true on both their parts—and so he knew little about her.

Other than that she was the most mesmerizing, sensual woman he’d ever met.

Deep down he knew it was probable she’d never forgive him for what he’d done. Guy didn’t blame her. Whatever she’d felt for him, his actions would have destroyed not only any finer feelings, but also her not inconsiderable pride.

If he could change one thing in his life it would be to go back to the moment he’d offered her his carte blanche. The words hadn’t even been out of his mouth before he’d regretted them.

And he could never, ever take them back or make her forget.

He couldn’t have offered her marriage at the time—not the way things had stood—but he shouldn’t have insulted her with anything less.

“So,” Elliot said, once again breaking the awkward silence that had pervaded the room while Guy wallowed in his misery. “When do you start your new job?”

“I was going to move my things in tonight.”

They both looked nonplussed but nodded.

“You’ll need to have dinner,” Sin said. “Why not come dine with us at the club before you begin your packing?”

“I gave up my membership just a few days ago,” Guy said. It was an expense he could ill afford. And now that he’d be working for Cecile, he wouldn’t want to go there.

“You can dine there as our guest,” Sin said.

Guy wanted to say no. He wanted to just leave his old, painful life behind and start his new—probably equally painful—life. But these two men were his best friends—the brothers he’d never had—and from now on, he’d rarely see them. Especially if he moved half a world away.

Guy forced a smile. “Dinner sounds grand.”

Chapter 12

“I cannot believe you hired him!” Blade laughed so hard that tears ran down her cheeks.

And Cecile could not believe that she had once thought it would be nice to hear the serious, almost grim-faced woman laugh.