Page 37 of Winning Her Duke

His blue eyes seemed to sparkle when he laughed and she felt the warmth of his gaze melt her insides. What was happening to her? It must have been the sun.

She shook the odd feeling away to concentrate on the horses being moved to the start.

“You’ll have nothing to worry about. Once we’re done with Godspell he’ll be as fierce as his sire.”

“I need him to be fiercer,” Hale said with a smile as he nodded toward Loiterer. He was quite the contender. She would be interested to see how Dante did against him now.

She wondered what drove Hale to win so badly. Did he bet on the races? Money was a strong motivator. As with most things, Gia didn’t hesitate to ask. Or was he just a stubborn Scot, like Owen?

“Why do you want to win?”

“Do you know anyone who prefers to lose?” He laughed off the question, but she waited, knowing he would explain if she was patient. After a moment, he answered.

“One of my best friends died last year. Ethan, that is the Earl of Ravenwood, he called each of us into his room in private. He made me promise to find my passion. At first, I agreed without any thought, but later I realized I had to honor my word. I began thinking of what my passion was. I’d always loved horses, and decided breeding, training, and racing horses was to be my passion. I purchased Godspell that next week and Hera the week after. When she delivers, I will have the first of my stock. And if Godspell wins his race, I will consider myself a success at finding the passion to honor my promise. So, he must be ready.”

“He will be,” she promised. “I won’t let you down and you will not let down your friend.”

“I have no doubt that when you set your mind to something you always succeed. You are truly amazing.”

There it was again. The heat. The fluttering in her stomach. The sun had gone behind one of those puffy clouds so she couldn’t blame it for her undoing.

She was so distracted by her strange reaction to the duke, she nearly missed the start of the race.

“Look at him go,” Owen shouted. The only time the man ever smiled was when he was watching a horse run. It transformed his normal gruff exterior into something that made her laugh.

Gia shouted in encouragement for Dante, though none of the other women deigned to do such a thing as to show excitement. She didn’t care, she was having too much fun to spare much thought for them.

Dante pulled ahead right away and she felt her stomach tighten when they lost sight of the group. All eyes on the grounds were straining toward the last rise to see who was in front. She squealed when she saw the cluster and knew Dante was in the lead and stayed there the duration of the race to win easily.

It was only after she’d had a moment to calm down that she looked down to see she’d gripped Hale’s arm with both hands. She realized how close they were when she looked up to see him smiling down at her.

“My apologies. I got carried away,” she said breathless with excitement. From the race or from his closeness, she wasn’t certain.

“No apology necessary,” he responded with another blasted wink.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” he asked but turned away before she could answer.

He knew very well what he had done, and no doubt also knew what it had done to her senses. She would need to be on guard as to not turn into a simpering ninny around the man.

He was her friend and nothing more.

“Perhaps you’re getting overheated. Should we have Owen bring your parasol.”

“So I might beat you with the bloody thing?”

They shared another laugh and her damn heart fluttered yet again.

Chapter Eleven

“It is a pleasant change to see you so excited to attend a society function. Usually, I have to drag you to the carriage by your ear,” Lydia said with a knowing smile as Gia’s father helped them into the carriage that was headed for the Flanders Ball.

Gia would not give either of them the satisfaction of confirming she was excited. It wouldn’t do to allow her father to believe his machinations had actually worked.

Besides, to do so would only get their hopes up. She didn’t want them to think for a moment that she was in contention for winning a duke’s affections.

The idea was impossible for many reasons. The biggest of which was that the duke was not interested in having affections for just one female. He was an admitted rogue, though he’d never acted as such around her.