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

No, that was wrong. She was a real wife. And she’d agreed that their lives wouldn’t be separated. They may not be in love, but if they were going to be sleeping in the same bed and being intimate physically then that didn’t mean she couldn’t help him out emotionally when that was needed. 


“Cedric,” she said quietly, looking up into his face, “what is it?” 


 She was very warm and he could smell wildflowers—her scent. And her eyes were as bright as the flames in the hearth. There was a crease between her fair brows: she was worried. She was worried about him. He wanted to tell her that there was nothing to worry about, that he was fine. More than fine. And he’d show her how fine he was, right now in fact, in that bed behind her, the bed where he’d probably been conceived. 


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