Page 7 of The Duke's Virgin

Had theyeveronce looked at each other the way those two just had?

I doubted it.

Just like that, I was irritated with myself because now I was thinking of them again, and I’d come here to get away from all of that, to get away from my mother’s incessant nagging and the annoyed looks I’d get from my father, as if he expected me to do something just to silence her. And I just might, for that very reason.

It was a terrible reason to marry anybody.

“You’ve got that face again.”

Glancing over at Aeric, I frowned. “What face?”

“The one that tells me you’re thinking of your parents.” He flagged down a passing server and took two flutes of champagne. “What’s the point of coming here so you couldnotthink about them if you’restillgoing to think about them?”

I sipped the bubbly, pausing to appreciate it before meeting Aeric’s gaze. “She’s been on me toget serious about lifeever since Christmas, Aeric. It’s like…I don’t know. She finally got it in her head that I was determined to get my master’s and she let it go for the time being, but once she saw the end was near? She’s practically been lining up guys to launch at me.”

“Launch them back.” He shrugged dismissively. “It’s not like you have to produce a fucking heir to the throne.”

I made a face at him. “No. Just one for my father’s business interests and preferably another for my mother to turn into another little society doll.”

“Because she did so well with you.” He gave me an amused glance and squeezed my arm to soften the words. “Stop worrying about Aunt Willa and Uncle Wade so much, darling. They can’tforceyou to marry, and although you don’t show it very often, you’ve got the spine to put your foot down. They know it, too.”

I scowled at him.

“It’s probably why she’s giving you so much grief,” he added. “Sheknowsher only chance is to wear you down, and even that chance is slim. You’re tougher than she is. You always have been.”

“I know.” I sighed and looked out over the whirl of bodies. “I guess. I just…shit. It’s hard to date anyone in the city when most everyone knows who my father is. They either want to schmooze with him, or they’re worried he’ll get wind of their interest in me and swoop in like some financial hawk to make sure the man isn’t a pauper.”

“Well, he is a bit of a bastard in that field.” Aeric shrugged and finished his champagne. A server was there to take the glass only seconds after he’d lowered it.

I finished mine in a rush and let her take that flute as well. Clutching Aeric’s arm, I tugged him along. “Come on. You’re right. I don’t want to think about my mother, my father…any of that. Distract me, cousin.”

Aeric grinned wide and gave me a regal bow. “As you wish.”

I laughed as he swept me around with a grand flourish, then onto the dance floor. “I bet you’re hoping I don’t step on your toes,” I said, laughing as we fell into step with those around us. Aeric had told me earlier that the ball would be lessstuffy—his term, not mine—than most, but for the first hours, there would be traditions like waltzes that must be observed.

“You dance very well.” He gazed at me somberly. “Wherever did you learn?”

Rolling my eyes, I went along with the joke. “On the wild streets of New York City.”

“They teach waltzing there as well as criminal mischief. Excellent. You’re a well-rounded individual.”

The glimmer in his eyes had me laughing. “Be careful. Somebody will hear you and believe it.”

He lifted a shoulder. “Anyone with a brain knows that crime infestation is a problem, especially in large cities. The way my mother talks about it—”

I gave a very undignified snort. “Mine doesn’t help. Half the time, I wonder why she doesn’t talk my father into moving upstate to getaway from the bad elements.”

He rolled his eyes. “The closest your mother comes to any ‘bad element’ is if a tourist stumbles across her path on her way into Goldman Sachs.”

“That happened.” I gave him a look of mock concern. “It was horrifying. I really don’t know how she recovered from the trauma of seeing some average-class citizen standing there on the sidewalk just…breathing.”

Aeric laughed, the sound booming out over the crowd, catching the attention of others near us. “Appalling, Stacia. Absolutely appalling.”

My cheeks heated even though the gazes drifted away quickly. Glaring at him through the eyeholes of the mask, I said, “Don’t be so dramatic. You’re an attention hound, but I’m not.”

“I’m not an attention hound.” His smile faded, and he lifted an elegant shoulder. “It just…comes with the life. This is nice, though. I don’t get to enjoy the relative anonymity of a masked ball often. I should make a practice of them at home…then sneak out to enjoy some solitude.”

“Your mother wouldn’t like that.”

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