Page 33 of Her Duke Next Door
“Perhaps a dance shall do you some good,” he said, finishing the remainder of his drink in one go. But Mary clung onto her glass like a lifeline, hoping it might protect her from having to dance with him.
“No, no, I fear the champagne has gone to my head already. I shall stay here.”
“It has already affected you?” Hugh asked dubiously. “Surely not that quickly.”
She feigned embarrassment. “I am afraid I do not handle my champagne like I once did.”
“Oh, come now, Mary you are still young and beautiful!”
It should have been a compliment but with the way he leered at her, she felt too exposed. Like she was his prize and he should be fortunate to have ensnared such ayoung and beautifulwoman.
He stepped closer to her, his arm winding tightly around her waist. “Youwilldance with me, Mary. Do not embarrass me in front of our esteemed society.”
She was about to pretend that she had spotted someone she knew that she could say she wished to speak to, if only to get out of the dance. But then there was a break in the group of boisterous women and she finally got a glimpse at the eligible bachelor they fawned over and fussed around.
Her spine straightened and a deep flush flooded through her.
A man was turned to speak with another young lady, someone far younger than Mary herself, and disgust washed through her at the amount of attention he must have been lavishing under.
Yet jealousy reared an ugly head.
And just as she was about to turn her back on him, the Duke of Livingston lifted his gaze to her, and their eyes met across the ballroom.
* * *
“Your Grace, you must save me a dance tonight,” purred one of the women who had not left him alone ever since he stepped foot in the residence of the ball’s hosts. He had stopped at Yore House with Katie, finally having relented to her wishes of seeing Eloise.
He had been told that Lord and Lady Yore had been out for the night, attending the very ball that Dominique himself had been invited to. He should have anticipated seeing her there at Hugh’s side but the sight was still jarring. Especially after he had spent the last few days trying to forget about the beautiful woman who lived next door.
“Of course,” he answered dutifully and managed to slip away from her, only to be accosted by another young woman. They were all beautiful and eligible, women worthy of his attention as a Duke, and they all knew him, wanting to be the next Duchess of Livingston, but he paid them no mind.
But despite the group of women surrounding him, he could not shake the feel of eyes on him as he moved around the room, avoiding one group of women, only to be found by another.
One woman draped herself before him, smoothly slipping her shawl off her shoulders, to expose her generous body clad in a beautiful gown. She leaned in close, her painted lips pouted. Her ringlets brushed his skin, and he swallowed, averting his gaze.
“Your Grace,” she said in a soft, angelic voice. “I have traveled far tonight in the hopes of a dance with you.”
“That is quite lovely,” he said.
“I am the daughter of the Earl of Anston,” she told him, batting her eyelashes. “Would you wish to ask me to dance, Your Grace?”
As she waited for an answer, more women surrounded him, all desperate to introduce themselves to him. Soon, there was a break in their bodies, and he wassurehe felt more attention on him, the burn of a glance that never quite left.
Finally, he looked up.
Across the ballroom, backlit by the soft golden glow of candles, was Mary.
And Dominique, for all his traitorous ways, felt his heart rate pick up as he wished to go to her. Everything in him told him to go forward, to no longer forget about her. He had already kissed her. She had wanted him. And goddamn it, he wanted her, too.
Her dark curls were pinned back, the length falling down over one shoulder, both of which were exposed in a powder-blue gown. A sapphire necklace nestled at the hollow of her throat, so tight it almost looked like a choking chain.
Dominique wanted her.
Mary looked a vision and yet she stood like she did not know it.
As soon as their eyes met, she averted her gaze, and just like that, the spell was broken. He was reminded of the women fawning over him.
She does not want you, he told himself, as he had often needed to do these past few days.
