Page 36 of Duke of the Sun

Loretta nodded. “No one in London, your Grace. What a shame that is!”

“O-Of course,” Cordelia said, “A terrible shame.”

The pair of sisters watched expectantly. Behind them, the approaching crowd seemed to linger closer still, as if they wished to listen in at the same time. Cordelia brushed the thought away. That had to have been her paranoia talking. She glanced between the girls once more. They needed a good story, one that satisfied their curiosity and put a stop to the rumors. They could claim to not have believed them all they wanted - Cordelia could see the truth pass behind their eyes. They were as curious as the rest of them.

“I’m sure you both know of my previous engagement,” Cordelia began.

They nodded.

She didn’t even want to dwell on the fact that they knew of that. “It was not at all what you might call a love match,” she said. “Perhaps it was doomed from the start, or never meant to be in the first place.”

“He had a lover,” Loretta said.

Arietta continued: “He admitted to never caring for you or the betrothal, your Grace. Very sad.”

Cordelia eyed her.I need to be better about this.“Regardless, no matter the Earl’s reasons, I was no longer betrothed. Well,” she paused, looking over to where the Duke still spoke with the Lord. His profile faced her, and she suddenly admired the sharp, jutting edge of his slightly crooked nose. “Michael knew me before my first engagement.”

The girl’s had widening smiles.

“He proposed as soon as the news of my broken engagement reached him,” Cordelia continued, trying to ignore how the Duke shifted towards her when she said his name.He is listening!Cordelia’s smile broadened. “Michael was quite nervous, you see.”

“Really?” Loretta asked. “The Duke of Solshire can benervous?”

“Oh, yes,” Cordelia teased. “He seemed to believe that he didn’t stand a chance with me!”

The pair of sisters laughed, stepping closer to her as they absorbed the story. At the same time, Cordelia glanced up. The Duke was no longer facing Lord Crake. He stared directly at her, a frown tugging his lips downwards.

Cordelia held her chin up proudly. “To turn a long story short,” she mused, raising her voice loud enough for nearby passersby to overhear, “Michael’sproposal was quite a dramatic affair. The wedding was rushed in order to stop a scandal from spreading and, of course, for our nuptials to begin as soon as they possibly could!”

As the sisters fawned over the story, smiles spreading across their faces, and a few nearby Ladies whispering with their attention grabbed, Cordelia felt quite proud of herself. Perhaps she convinced enough of the Ton to disregard whatever gossip they held onto before.

Cordelia glanced in the Duke’s direction.

He was striding towards her, hands tightened into fists at his sides. The crowds still parted as he walked, no one daring to take their eyes away from the devilishly handsome Duke Cordelia convinced them to love. Even so, the look in his gaze was nowhere near that of a doting husband. Cordelia readied herself for a scolding, for him to grab her forcefully and pull her away from the gathering crowd.

The Duke reached, his warm hand gently catching onto my gloved palm. He raised my hand to his lips, just barely placing a kiss upon the silk before bowing gracefully. When he rose, the intensity in his eyes only grew stronger.

“Might you honor me with a dance,” he asked, his hoarse voice carrying around the room, “My love?”

Her eyes went wide.Devils, what is he doing?Cordelia stared up at him, her heart racing unbelievably beneath her skin. How had he managed to do the exact opposite of what she thought him to do? How could the Duke never once be the man she thought him to be?

Cordelia managed to look around the room. The orchestra was gearing up to play another song, and the dancers were gathering on the floor. Eyes clung to her expectantly from every corner. And yet, the only figure Cordelia found herself able to focus on was Michael. She softened, the fear she once might’ve had within a room full of judgemental Ton members seeping out of her, as though it never existed in the first place.

She curtsied, tightening her fingers around her own.

“I would be honored.”

CHAPTER11

The music swelled as soon as it began. Couples across the ballroom floor swayed and leapt, carried by their partners and full of wide smiles. Michael could not remember the last time he danced at a ball. Further than that, he couldn’t recall the most recent ball he willingly attended. He doubted he evenhadan answer for that.

Perhaps it was his lack of experience that drove him wild with nerves. It couldn’t have been Cordelia, who was merely a foot away from his chest. It couldn’t have been the way her hand felt within his own, how he somehow managed to feel the warmth of her skin through her thin, silk gloves. It couldn’t have been the curious smile that crept along her tinted lips, an eagerness to remove the walls Michael so comfortably held up all his life.

Michael twirled her, and the shimmering green in her gown sent a wave of color across the floor. He was mesmerized.

“You have a way with words,” he blurted, eager to have something more than merely air between them.

Cordelia raised a slender brow. “What sort of way?”

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