Page 64 of Taken By the Duke of Stone

"You do?"

She nodded, trying to keep the hurt off her face, "Yes, I do. You are only trying to look out for her. You feel betrayed and you are-" she choked on the lies coming out from her mouth.

"Yes. I am."

They stared at each other silently and all she could think was that the arrangement had been doomed from the very beginning. What had she been thinking getting entangled with such a man? He was far too interesting and he made her feel too alive. He had told her he could not touch her and then he had and she had thought it was a turning point for them.

Those heated kisses and even the crackling heat between them at the moment meant nothing.

"I must go," he smiled at her and then his hand covered hers and squeezed. He stood up and she stood with him and dropped into a curtsy with an answering smile on her face, but the entire time her heart was breaking.

"Will you be at the Greenwoods' ball tonight?"

She couldn't remember if she had gotten an invitation, but she doubted she hadn't gotten one. Her status as the soon to be duchess had made the invitations triple. Nobody wanted to become an enemy of a duchess.

"Of course."

"Save your first waltz for me," he leaned over her hand and brushed a kiss on the back of her palm.

She watched him leave and just as the door shut behind him, her smile disappeared.

"Are you alright?" Lady Hartfield asked her and she turned to the woman with another painted on smile.

" Of course," the lie tumbled out of her mouth too easily.

"Oh?" She didn't look like she believed her at all. "Did you and the Duke manage to resolve your issues?"

"It was a minor matter," she waved her hand dismissively. "It was easily resolved."

Lady Hartfield's eyes searched hers, "It sounded rather heated from where I was sitting."

"I briefly lost my temper, but it's all settled now."

"Alright."

She smiled, "I think I shall join you for some light embroidery then. What pattern are you stitching?"

The woman's eyebrows scrunched up. If Lavinia was trying to pretend everything was fine, offering to join her aunt to embroider was the wrong move to make.

"Are you sure?"

Lavinia swallowed and tears threatened her vision. She wasn't sure of anything at all anymore. The biggest question now was if she could allow things to go on as they were. A few days ago, she had felt so optimistic and now...

Now she couldn't put the feeling into words. She merely nodded numbly in response.

"Alright then," her aunt settled back into her seat and patted the space behind her, "I distinctly recall the disasters that wereyour previous attempts at this. I do hope you have made some improvement."

CHAPTER 20

"Is that a horse?"

Lavinia peered at the image she had created and wondered if perhaps her aunt had not begun to lose her sight too early, "It is not a horse. It's a flower," she stabbed her finger at it, "Those are the petals, and that is the stem."

"Oh," the woman turned her neck this way and that trying to see what the younger girl was seeing. No matter how much she tried though, the image still remained a crudely done horse with its ears standing upright.

"You do not see it, do you?" Lavinia sighed, defeated.

Lady Hartfield shot her an apologetic smile, "I know how hard you worked on it."

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