Page 19 of Dare to Love a Duke
She had to be from somewhere warm, a place where, beneath a gleaming sun, dark-eyed beauties felt temperate breezes caress their tawny skin. The thought of all Amina’s flesh bared to the sunlight made his mouth water.
“I’m not a capricious creature,” she said crisply. “I do nothing without reason.”
“If you are my judge, I’m entitled to know the offense for which I am accused.”
She clicked her tongue. “Even worse that you don’t know.” At his mystified silence, she explained, “Six weeks. It’s been six weeks since I’ve last seen you within these chambers. I thought you’d enlisted or run off to Argentina.”
He smiled to himself. “You think me an adventurer?”
“I think you dreadfully rude to have disappeared,” she said coolly.
He bowed. “Family obligations, unfortunately, have kept me away.”
A corner of her mouth lifted. “I forget, sometimes, that people have families.”
Despite her wry smile, a note of melancholy tinged her voice, making him contemplate her kin. Did she have any, and did they know what she did to earn her bread?
Then, she said more lightly, “You’re here now. That’s all that matters.”
“Thinking of this night has been a balm to me these past weeks,” he said candidly. There was no need to dissemble or tell flattering half-truths. Not here. Not with her.
“If you’ve been troubled, I am sorry for it.” Sincerity firmed her words. Perhaps he was, to her, more than another masked guest, something beyond a means to keep a roof over her head.
God knew she held greater significance to him than her role as manager of this establishment.
He bowed. “I’ll find my way through my difficulties.”
Or so he hoped. Every step put him deeper and deeper into unknown, perilous territory.
“Good,” she said. “It would pain me to think of you in distress.”
“Would it?”
She shot him a pointed look. “I’ve no reason to speak falsely.”
“You are this club’s proprietress. I would be inclined to believe that you’ll say nearly anything to ensure a paying guest’s return.”
“It may be that I do not always give voice to my innermost heart,” she said, inclining her head. “Yet I will not lie. Not often,” she added wryly. “But, I won’t dissemble with you.”
Perhaps here, too, she wasn’t telling the truth, but he chose to believe her. It filled him with dark pleasure.
“Appreciated, madam.” Her presence beside him warmed him far more than any wine.
“We match.” She glanced at his mask. He’d forgotten that his was green, nearly the same color as her own. She stroked a fingertip along her mask, and then his. Though it wasn’t skin-to-skin touch, he nearly growled at the contact. “Coincidence?”
“Fate,” he said.
She gave a half smile. “Fate doesn’t exist. There are only choices.”
“And what do you choose tonight, madam?”
“For now, I choose to spend my valuable time with an inveterate scoundrel. One who disappears like smoke.” Her rich and husky laugh reached all the way down to his groin, making it tighten. Then she frowned. “In all this time, you’ve never joined in the activities in here. A displeased or bored guest is unacceptable in my establishment. I thought that when you stopped coming, maybe you’d grown tired of us.”
“Nothing here has ever disappointed me.” He was never returning after tonight, so it cost him naught to speak the truth.
Together, they observed the room and people within it. Half-nude guests danced together, while sighs and moans gently wafted above the music.
“You have never participated in the activity here,” she said, “not once in the whole of a year.”
