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

Would Cedric love this small life as she would? Or had this child ever only been a means to an end? Would their son or daughter grow up knowing that the only reason for their existence was a stipulation in a will? Would they find out somehow that they hadn’t been wanted? That an inheritance and a university degree were more important than they were? 


Anna's hand crept down to her stomach, her palm pressed there as if to protect the life growing inside her from the harshness of her thoughts. No. No. 


A fierce feeling of protectiveness filled her, a certainty that went down to the bedrock of her soul. Their child would not grow up neglected and hurt the way its parents had been. It would not feel the pain of not being accepted, of being ignored. It would not know what it was like to be unwanted, and she would make sure of that with everything in her. 


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