Page 39 of A Duke Makes a Deal
Clara exhaled and smiled though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She didn’t seem to believe him. She pulled away and looked out over the garden. She was beautiful. In the moonlight, the excessive detailing of her pale blue gown just looked like glints of magic. She reminded him of some sort of fairy.
“You don’t want to marry me, Silas,” she said softly. “I’m not suited to be a duchess.”
“I think you would make a fine duchess.”
“You’re the only one.”
“I’m the only one whose opinion matters on the topic,” he said as she turned to face him. “You just said you cared for me.”
“I do.”
“Is your refusal based on the fact that you don’t wish to be associated with a divorced man?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what is it?” he asked earnestly. “Why not accept my proposal?”
“Firstly, you didn’t propose,” she said, adding quickly. “And I cannot compare…”
“Compare to what?”
“Not to what, but to whom.”
“To whom then?”
“To you know who,” she said, her gaze dropping. While it was dark, Silas could see a blush cover her cheeks. “I should hate to be compared every day to another woman.”
Silas was speechless for a moment. He could not deny that had compared them against one another, but not vindictively. It was just that the differences between Clara and Cynthia were so vast that he couldn’t help it. Cynthia was classically attractive, cold and ultimately his downfall, while Clara was strangely beautiful, warm and honest. A woman he was more comfortable with than any he had ever known.
He took a step towards her and took her hands into his. She was watching him, seemingly surprised as they had been overtly aware of keeping their distance, physically. He was fighting a losing battle as all he wanted to do was gather her into his arms and kiss her senseless.
“She pales in comparison to you.”
“Oh yes, o-of course,” she said sarcastically, stumbling over her answer as she glanced at him, but when he didn’t join inon her self-deprecating humor, she frowned. “You cannot be serious?”
“I am.”
“She is my opposite in every way.”
“And we divorced.”
“But you loved her.”
“I don’t see why that would affect your decision to marry me.”
Clara let out a sullen laugh, one almost more pained than amused. His brow furrowed, confused.
“No, you wouldn’t I suppose,” she said. Silas opened his mouth to ask what she meant but in the next instant she continued. “I don’t see how a marriage between us would benefit you.”
“Well, for one, I’d be more palatable to the general public again,” he said. “I may be a duke, but the black mark of my divorce holds me in a contemptible light.”
“You are not the only man to get a divorce.”
“No, but I’m part of a rare group whose wives forced the issue and publicly humiliated them. It did not help my reputation. You can imagine what has been said of me.” By the avoidance of her eyes, Silas wondered what she had heard. “Or rather, what you might have learned on your own.”
She tilted her head up.
“I don’t believe any of it,” she said and Silas felt a small sliver of his heart creak open, like a lockbox being opened only slightly. “But surely there’s a better way for you to get back in the good graces of society, if that is what you wish.”
