Page 4 of Wedded to the Forbidden Duke
“My father, for one,” she said after a beat. “And he raised Zachary the same way. I understand my brother may have fallen in with your kind this past year, but now that he’s back, it is only a matter of time before he returns to his respectable ways and takes a wife.”
“My kind?” The duke’s voice lifted in interest. “And what kind is that?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“I might. I might not.” He shrugged. “In either case, I certainly wish you’d tell me.”
She paused. “Rakes,” she said bluntly. “The kind of man who proclaims his disdain for both love and marriage to anyone within earshot. The kind of man who has no interest in any kind of relation with anyone other than himself.”
“When have I ever said a word against relations?” He took a step closer. “There are all sorts of relations in the world that do not require marriage. Or love, for that matter.”
Her eyes dragged across his face, but she did not back down. “None of them respectable, I am sure.”
“You know, Lady Cecilia, you speak with a great deal of confidence, for someone who has experienced none of what you speak,” he said. He stepped in closer still. “Pray tell, where did you come to find all of these ideas of what is and is not respectable? In your books?”
She laughed in disbelief, eyebrows raised, and crossed her arms. “So you disdain books, now, as well?”
“Certainly not. I am merely pointing out that you have seen very little of the world, and yet seem to have formed such strong opinions on it when you do not know the first thing about it.”
She lifted her chin. “I know plenty.”
“Plenty about love?”
“More than you, clearly.”
“There is that confidence again,” he said—more quietly, now that they were only a few steps apart.
In the afternoon sun, she seemed to glow from within; the light turned her hair to pure gold, and her eyes to the soft green of a clear, still pond, even as fire flashed behind them. Her lips were soft and pink, and he could not help but wonder what it would feel like if?—
A giggle broke him out of his reverie.
At once, the two of them turned to see Miss Nancy Banfield, standing nearly as close to Zachary as Ian was to Cecilia, and laughing charmingly at something he’d said.
“Well,” Cecilia said, the smile rising once more to her lips. “Well, well, well. That is not bad at all.”
“Really?” the duke asked, sounding surprised as he crossed his arms. “Am I to understand that you are pleased to see your brother making eyes at your best friend?”
“Why shouldn’t I be?” Cecilia shrugged. “Nancy is beautiful and charming and sweet and intelligent. I would be most lucky to count her as a sister-in-law of mine. Anyone would.”
“Ah. That.” The duke snorted. “If that is what you are hoping for, I would not count so soon, if I were you.” Cecilia looked up at him, brows furrowed, and he sighed. “Oh, let him have his flirtation. This is exactly what I was referring to: the poor man has barely been back in London a day, and already he can’t so much as speak to a woman without his overbearing sister trying to push him down the altar.”
Cecilia’s jaw dropped. “Overbearing?” she said, voice rising. “How dare you!”
Ian chuckled. “I assure you, Lady Cecilia, I meant no offense.” He nodded at the couple across the lawn. “I only wish to point out what is quite plainly right in front of you.”
“You are wrong.” Cecilia shook her head. “Zachary would not just flirt with Nancy. I mean, with Miss Banfield. He would not do that to her.” She crossed her arms with a huff and shook her head again. “Moreover, he would be a fool to let someone like Miss Banfield slip through his fingers on the marriage mart. She is a most accomplished woman.”
“Woman? Hardly. Miss Banfield is still a girl,” Ian said dismissively. “He’ll tire of her sooner or later. Sooner, if I had my guess.”
Cecilia glared at him, then looked back and forth between the two flirting across the lawn.Tire of her?Tire of Nancy? Zachary would not. He couldn’t!
And yet…if everything the Duke implied was true…
Even if it is true, it does not matter,she thought resolutely. She had made a promise to her father, one she intended to keep. Zachary had to give up his libertine ways and settle down eventually, and he would be lucky to make a match like Nancy. And she certainly could not let Nancy be the victim of any kind of rakish plot.
But if theywereto marry…
Perhaps even fall in love…
