Page 23 of Dare to Love a Duke
Amina spoke in a rush, as if trying to get every syllable out before she thought better of it.
“Not your identity. That remains hidden. But tell me something about yourself.”
“Why?” He pushed against the wall of his confusion. This was not what they had agreed upon.
“What does it matter?” Her words were almost sharp. “We’ll not see each other again after tonight.”
“Yet to speak of such things goes contrary to your established rules.”
He tested his own response to her request and found... welcome acceptance. Finding a stranger to fuck was easy enough. He’d taken others to bed within minutes of meeting, with them knowing nothing about who he was or knowledge of what he feared or desired in the hidden recesses of his heart. Hell, there had been more than a few times his bed partners hadn’t even known his name.
It hadn’t mattered to him then. But the chance to have Amina discover more about himself felt as though he’d waded into a warm ocean, becoming more and more buoyant with each step.
For a moment, she was silent.
“I’ve had lovers before. Always, I made certain to keep them essentially strangers. You and I, we’re destined to walk away from one another, but...”
He’d never heard her sound uncertain, not once, and yet she spoke as if testing out her thoughts that were unknown, even to herself.
“But...?” he prompted.
She tilted up her chin as if in defiance. “I want this to be different. I wantyouto be different.”
So—he wasn’t the only one invested in their two-person planetary system.
What she suggested was a risk, yet secrecy was her stock-in-trade.
They’d part with the dawn, leaving him only with memories of physical sensation. Yet to have her learn about him wasn’t enough. He hungered for anything about her, small, gleaming pieces that he could hold tight to in decades to come.
“One condition.”
She gazed at him warily. “Tell me your terms.”
“In exchange for my truth, I want the same from you.”
Behind her mask, her eyes went round.
His pulse throbbed. It was a gamble, demanding this from her. Much as he wanted her and the pleasures of her body, there was a chasm within him that demanded a deeper knowledge of this extraordinary woman. Perhaps he might not know the secrets of her mind and heart, but in the long years ahead when he was mired in cold, passionless duty, he could warm himself with embers of remembrance.
Her room gave some clues as to who she was. Though it was simply furnished, there were touches of vivid color everywhere. Vibrant green fabric draped across the foot of her bed, the table was painted a sunny yellow, and bright blue curtains hung in the window. A half-read book lay atop the table, though he couldn’t see the title. Pictures from fashion journals were pinned to the walls, and a vase of purple Michaelmas daisies perched on a windowsill.
No pictures or miniatures of family.
Her silence stretched on, and each moment without her answer drew tautly along his flesh.
“An incentive,” he said. “For every truth given, an article of clothing will be removed.”
Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. The quick, carnal action stoked the flames within him even higher.
Finally, she said quickly, “You go first.”
Instead of giving in to the urge to pump his fist in victory, he inclined his head in agreement.
What to start with first? There were any number of things he could say. Simple likes and dislikes that didn’t touch the core of him.
But he didn’t want to hand her trifles. If they were to open to each other, and learn who theytrulywere, he had to begin with something of significance.
“There was a death in my family not long ago. One of my parents—thus, my absence from the club.” With just a few words, an ache throbbed in his chest.
