Page 59 of Anything But a Duke
“One she’s enamored with?”
Miss Ashby shot him a scowl. “Infatuation, perhaps. She’s never allowed out on her own often enough to have made the acquaintance of any young man without her family’s permission.”
“Infatuation has led to many marriages.” He thought immediately of Nick, Duke of Tremayne, who’d gone to Sussex to reclaim his ancestral estate after inheriting a dukedom and come back as smitten as any man he’d ever known.
“Do you plan to be infatuated with whatever lady you choose to marry?” She didn’t look at him as she asked the question, though they walked side by side.
“No,” he told her honestly. “I intend a practical transaction.”
“You do like exchanges.” She tipped her head his way and tripped over a stone on the path.
Before he could reach for her, she’d laid her hand on his arm, hanging on tightly for a too brief moment before letting go.
“Exchanges are fair,” he told her as they continued walking. “But there are always factors one can’t predict.”
“Such as?” She stared at him as she walked.
He found it difficult to look into her eyes. The lady had a fierce determination to get answers, and he understood it. He wanted to know things too. But there were secrets he didn’t wish to share, deeds he couldn’t bear to revisit.
The curiosity in her gaze was dangerous, and the way her mouth trembled when they looked at each other too long was pure temptation.
He looked out across the field to where Miss Grinstead and her gentlemen friend were standing face-to-face. They’d clasped hands, as if they’d sealed an agreement.
“Mr. Iverson, what is it that you can’t predict?”
All his vows to avoid Diana’s gaze were useless. He’d always liked the curiosity he saw in her eyes. The truth was that he wished for her to know him. Not as an investor who’d negotiated her into playing matchmaker, but as a man who longed to know her too.
“Infatuation, Miss Ashby,” he said hoarsely.
She stopped and turned to look at him, not noticing that Miss Grinstead and her paramour had progressed from holding hands to embracing. He pointed toward the pair.
“Grace!” Miss Ashby called out, and the couple sprang apart.
Miss Grinstead gazed back at them in shock, followed quickly by resolute determination.
“You cannot speak a word of this to Mama, Diana,” she said with surprising calm when they’d gathered on the far side of the half-constructed building. “I will choose the time and place to tell her. And Papa.”
“Tell them what?” Diana kept her gaze focused on Miss Grinstead’s young gentleman.
Aidan could almost hear her mind buzzing with questions.
“Mr. Hambly and I plan to marry.” The blonde beamed at the young man beside her. “He asked and I have accepted.” Then she shocked Aidan by turning her gaze on him. “I am sorry, Mr. Iverson, if you were hoping to make a match.”
“I did entertain that hope.” Aidan found her bluntness appealing, but he also admired her courage.
“First we’ll need your father’s approval.” Mr. Hambly spoke for the first time and sounded far more dubious than his fiancée.
“And if you don’t receive it?” Miss Ashby, Aidan was learning, always considered the worst possible outcome first.
“Then we shall consider other means,” Miss Grinstead said with conviction.
She and Hambly stared at each other with an intensity that indicated, at least for now, the viscount’s daughter was prepared to face whatever consequences might come.
“We’ll find a way,” he said reassuringly.
“Love should prevail no matter what. Don’t you think?” Miss Grinstead asked the question of all of them.
Mr. Hambly nodded solemnly. Miss Ashby said nothing, but Aidan sensed her gaze on him, as if she was waiting for him to offer an answer.
