Page 11 of Seduced By the Rakish Duke

Jenny could only blink. She felt as if the physical dance wasn’t the only dance they were performing. She was finding it hard to keep up with the mental gymnastics this man was taking her through.

“What difference does it make?” she blurted out. “The point is that we shouldn’t be talking about such things.”

Oh, how the tables have turned. Just earlier that night, she was arguing for the ability to talk abouttabootopics, and now she was preaching the opposite. Her head truly hurt. She needed to lie down.

The man’s shoulder rose and fell under her hand, sending her annoyance to another level. “Will youstopdoing that!”

He looked down at her with slight amusement in his eyes.

“Doesnothingaffect you?” she sputtered. This was exhausting. “You shrug off topics, you stop talking, you… you… you…”

“Have an effect on your speech?” He flashed beautifully white teeth that temporarily halted her tirade.

Regaining her thoughts, she spat out, “Oh, don’t go thinking you have any effect on my speaking ability. If anything, you are truly intolerable and purposefully being obtuse.”

The man continued the dance, letting her words hang between them. However, she seemed the only one to be upset by the turn their conversation took.

She heard a slight sigh. “I promise to behave.”

“Thank you.” She dipped her head in acknowledgment.

“Only if you do.”

Jenny’s eyes flew up his annoyingly long torso to meet his gaze. “Whatever could you possibly mean by that?!”

He pulled her in even closer, and his eyes darkened. Standing this close to him, Jenny could see faint lines around his eyes. Her fingers itched with the need to reach up and touch them.

“I mean, I’m quite sure I told you to be mindful of men and to stay away from them. And yet, here you are in my arms.” He squeezed her hand.

Jenny swallowed. “We are not alone.” Her breathy voice was unrecognizable to her own ears.

What power did this man have over her that she could go from indignant to flushed in a mere moment?

“Are you always this naive?” he countered.

“Stop. Calling. Me. Naive,” she ground out.

The man looked around the dancing couples. “It is your goal to find a match, is it not?”

Jenny shook her head, trying to keep up with the lightning-fast change in topic. “Yes.”

The man took a second to ponder her answer. “I don’t think you’ll find a suitable match with your current behavior.”

Dumbfounded, Jenny cocked her head. “I assure you, my current behavior is based on my current company,” she chided.

He studied her carefully. “No, I don’t think so. I think you need someone to teach you what gentlemen are looking for, lest you be led astray by a scoundrel.”

Jenny let out a rather unladylike snort. “And who should tutor me?You?”

The man lowered his face, and his strong jaw brushed against hers. His whisper coaxed a sigh from her lips. “It would be my honor to teach you all the ways to catch a respectable suitor’s eye, but it would come at a price.”

Her shoulders dropped when he moved away—her body wanted more contact.

“What price?”

Alarm bells rang in her head. Did she really just ask what it would cost her for him to teach her how to get a husband?

Regardless, she refused to avert her gaze. If he wanted to challenge her, he would soon learn that he had met his match. And for once, in the entire time they had spoken to each other, he finally faltered.

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