Page 68 of Taken By the Duke of Stone

She smiled back, "I hope I do too."

The ballroom was already packed with people and Lavinia immediately tried to spot the Duke or his sister.

"Looking for your duke?" Noah teased.

"He's not mine," she said absently.

"Has something happened?" Lady Hartfield piped up and Lavinia had the insane urge to tell her the entire thing, get it off get chest and allow her to tell her exactly what to do.

"Of course not," she chuckled, "I just think it is quite presumptuous to call him my anything. Don't you think?"

"Oh, Lavvie," the woman sighed and her eyebrows were drawn down into a sad look.

"Why are you looking at me in that way?" Panic gripped her chest. Did Lady Hartfield know something?

"Felicity!" A woman's excited voice cried, saving the conversation from delving into something else that she wasn't ready to talk about.

Lady Forsythe approached them, her son in tow and as usual, wearing an ominous frown like an adornment over his exquisite clothing.

She quickly dropped into a curtsy, "My lord, my lady."

"Miss Proctor," the Marquess nodded, "May I interest you in taking a stroll about the room with me?"

She wondered if she would be able to sneak away from him to have a private conversation with the Duke and then felt ashamed for once again thinking of how to use him for her own purposes.

"Of course, my lord."

Her cousin stared at her strangely as she placed her hand on his sleeve but eventually turned away.

"I hear you are engaged to the Duke of Wyld," he began as soon as they moved a little distance away, causing her to glance up sharply at him.

"You do not strike me as the sort to listen to gossip."

"It is not true then?"

She suddenly remembered her conversation with Jenny earlier and the advice the girl had given her. "It is true. Can I speak to you in confidence?"

"Please."

She gulped and tried to calm her racing heart, "My- eh- arrangement to the Duke may be coming to an end."

His steps didn't falter, "and may I ask why?"

"You may ask, but I shall not answer."

One corner of his mouth kicked up. "Why is it that you are telling me this? I do not believe it's because I look trustworthy."

She bit her lip in thought. Here came the complicated part, "I cannot end the engagement without thrusting my family into a terrible scandal. But I believe that if I can make it appear that I ended the engagement because I fell in love with-"

He made an amused sound deep in his throat that made her glance at him sharply. By now, they had reached a secluded area of the room and she let him go and faced him. "What is so funny?"

"Has anyone told you that you are impertinent?"

"Are you telling me that I am, my lord?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What exactly are you asking me, Miss Proctor?" he asked with all seriousness and she almost changed her mind. Almost abandoned the whole scheme and told him she had made a mistake.

She squared her shoulders and stared at him, "I am enquiring if you are in the market for a wife."

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