Page 15 of A Duke Makes a Deal
“I’m not in need of funds. I gamble because I enjoy it. Not because I can’t help myself.”
“Like Lord Dilworth?” she asked and he nodded. “I don’t understand it. Why must he gamble? Especially if he is so inept at it.”
“He is an addict,” Silas agreed. “Some men cannot help themselves. And as for what you would be worth… Well, at the risk of overstepping, I think you alone would have been prize enough. No matter what your dowry might be, your worth exceeds it.”
Her round cheeks turned the palest shade of pink and Silas’s body seemed to react. He curled his fingers into his fist, ignoring the desire to reach out and touch said cheek.
“That is kind of you to say,” she said after a long moment.
“I do not mean it to be kind,” he countered.
“Oh.”
He stared at her for a long while. The wild idea of having won her again sounded in his mind, like a drum of war. Why would it not release him? He had no actual claim to her and yet it had felt so real last night, so blatantly genuine. What did that say about him, he wondered? He did not want to know and he opened his mouth to speak when unexpectedly, she began talking.
“I’m sorry you were not compensated for your winnings last night, however,” she said, shaking her head. “It wasn’t right of Lord Dilworth to bet something he did not have.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“And it wasn’t right for you to take such a bet. It is your own fault for accepting his wager. Shameful, really.” Her mouth twisted to the side of her face and her brow furrowed, as if she were deep in contemplation. “What possessed you to take such a bet, if I may ask?”
Silas opened his mouth, but hesitated. She was being rather intrusive with her questioning, but then he felt as if he owed it to her to explain himself. It was, after all, why he had come.
“I’m afraid it won’t paint me in a very good light,” he admitted.
“I already don’t see you in a very good light, your grace,” she said evenly and for the first time in a very long time, Silas laughed.
It startled him, just as much as her it seemed, for she jumped a little at the noise. What a surprising woman. He looked at her with confusion, unsure why he found her so amusing—and so intriguing.
“Very well then. Dilworth baited me. Or maybe he just wounded my pride,” Silas said, shaking his head, amazed at his own honesty. “Either way, I couldn’t allow his challenge to go unanswered.”
She shook her head in disappointment.
“What silly creatures men are,” she said, almost to herself.
“Are you suggesting that women aren’t concerned with their pride?”
She shrugged. “I’mcertainly not.” Silas laughed again. Only this time she scowled at him. “I’mnot,” she insisted.
“So, your pride wasn’t hurt when you discovered your soon-to-be fiancé had used you as collateral in a bet?”
“My pride wasn’t hurt so much as my sense of decency. I was appalled by his actions,” she said. “As well as yours.”
Silas bit the inside of his lip as he fought off a sneer. Her gaze dropped to his mouth and while a part of him wondered what she found so interesting, he finally stopped fighting to urge to touch her as his hand came up to push back on her unruly strands of hair.
She inhaled sharply at his touch.
“You compare me too much to Dilworth,” he said softly. “I already told you why I took the wager.”
“Yes, your pride,” she said, her tone slightly condescending. It aggravated him. “How terribly important.”
Did she not know who she was talking to? Silas had spent the better part of a year hating himself for having let a woman destroy his pride and everyone in the ton know it. Was Miss Woodvine unaware of it?
He bent his head slightly and spoke directly in her ear, unable to stave off the desire to take something from her. A kiss perhaps? If not to silence her, then as payment for her disdain.
“You’re a rather insolent thing, aren’t you? Heaven help the person who ever tried to put you in your place.”
Her words stumbled as she swallowed.
