The Duke was standing in the middle of the room, his hands in his pockets, his head tilted to one side. It was a relaxed, casual pose, and yet the way he looked at her was anything but casual. The deep midnight of his eyes burned and he radiated a subtle, sensual energy that made the air around him crackle. 

He looked like a man who’d never heard the word ‘no’ in all his life. Unluckily for him, ‘no’ was the only word she had.

“There's no reason why I should stay,” Anna clasped her shaking hands together in an effort to still them. “I’m not marrying you.”

His gaze flickered, his mouth curving slightly, and she had the disturbing thought that far from putting him off, her insistence was only inciting him further.
“But you haven’t heard my proposal yet,” he said mildly. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“I don’t need to hear it. I already know that my answer will be no.”

“Of course. But you can hardly tell your father that you heard me out when you haven’t, in fact, heard me out…. Anna.” 



A LADY FOR A DUKE

You can’t refuse the Duke. Not if it means leaving your father like this. No, it was true. They needed the money too urgently. Her father needed better care and, since she was the reason he was sitting in this chair, his career—his whole life—in ruins, then it made only logical sense for her to be the one to fix it. 


But she wasn’t going to give the Duke everything. She had to draw the line somewhere to protect herself too. 


She would marry him, but she wouldn’t sleep with him. And she’d give him the child he wanted, but only via medical assistance. Her father would find her reasoning flawed, but then, her father wasn’t the one who had to do this. She did. And she could tell herself all she liked that the Duke didn’t affect her, that she was stronger than the chemistry that leapt between them, but twice was enough to tell her what lies those were. 


Better to be intelligent about it and nip temptation in the bud before it had a chance to grow. 


15