Page 65 of The Duke's Virgin

“I heard he’ll be out the rest of the season,” Violet said, smiling shyly.

“Yes.” I swirled my wine, staring into the rich red instead of her pale green eyes. I could feel her watching me, felt the nervous interest and her shyness, and I just wanted to be away from all of it.

Feeling Geraint’s gaze on me, I looked up. He raised an eyebrow, the look telling. I bit back a sigh, then looked at Violet with a smile. “He’s actually quite lucky. A broken fibula, radius, and bruised ribs. A few other complications, of course, but it could have been much worse.”

“You must have been worried.”

“Yes.” I took another drink of wine, a bigger one, and wished it was something stronger. “It doesn’t help that he was clear over in Canada when it happened, and it took far too long to get there.”

“You’re very close?”

“Yes. We’ve been friends since we were teenagers.” The open look on her face made it clear she was interested in hearing more, but I really had no desire tooffermore. I checked the time and smiled. “I think I’ll walk around a bit. It’s been lovely talking to you again.”

Ignoring the look Geraint gave me, I pushed back from the table and escaped into the small crowd. There were only a few families at the dinner party Aeric’s parents had organized. I knew everybody there, so finding a few minutes alone wouldn’t be easy, but I needed those minutes.

I headed outside to the terrace, and it wasn’t until I was out there that I thought about how damn stupid it had been to comehere. The last time I’d been out on this terrace, I’d been with Stacia.

My blood thickened and heated. Dragging a hand down my face, I muttered, “Don’t think about her.Stopthinking about her.”

Standing on the terrace made that next to impossible, so after only a few minutes, I slipped back inside. Violet was still sitting at the table, talking to Geraint and Katrina, and I had no doubt my brother would give me an earful. I needed to go back over there. Blowing out a breath, I headed in that direction.

“Luka!”

I paused as somebody cut in front of me. I didn’t recognize him at first, which was weird. I should, considering the gathering. Also, he’d used my given name, which was something very, very few would do.

Recognition and annoyance hit at roughly the same time.

The man was a distant cousin on my father’s side, someone I saw only rarely, but whenever I did see him, Alain went out of his way in his attempts to ingratiate himself to me and Geraint. I’d been tempted more than once to tell him that he was wasting his time. His father had once worked alongside mine, but some unsavory business contacts had ended that.

Those unsavory business contacts were still in play, and Alain used the same network.

He flashed his blinding smile at me, arms spread out as if expecting a hug. Cutting that off, I stuck my hand out for a quick shake. “Alain, hello.”

“It’s been a long time.” He accepted the handshake easily enough, but before he could cover my hand with his and drag the handshake on, I broke away and flagged down a server to scoop up another glass of wine. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

As predicted, he started to talk.

Tuning him out was easy. I simply nodded every fifteen seconds or so while my attention drifted. I was about to end the man’s annoying ramble when a familiar voice caught my ear.

Aeric’s.

I glanced over and saw him just a few feet away, standing at a slight diagonal as he spoke to his sister, Anne.

“…talked to her lately?”

Ignore them.

“No. I keep meaning to call her, but time slips away. How is she?”

Aeric’s annoyance was obvious. “Fine, but…fuck. Her parents are giving her more trouble than ever.”

“They can be horrid,” Anne said, her voice short. “Our cousin is so sweet. How did shecomefrom them?”

Cousin—

“How about you, cousin?” Alain clapped me on the shoulder.

I focused back in on him. “About the same as always, Alain. Listen, I better get back to my table,” I told him, thoughts still focused on the conversation between Aeric and Anne. “I don’t want to neglect my table companions.”

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