Page 20 of The Lord Next Door I Wished For
Jane had lost her senses.
Surely that explained what she thought she’d heard. As if to prove the point, her vision went hazy and the room seemed to tilt.
“You…You…”
Wonderful. Now she’d lost her ability to speak as well.
She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. When she opened them, she found Luke staring down at her with a satisfied smirk. “Careful, darling,” he drawled. “Your smile is slipping.”
In her shock, she’d forgotten herself, and now her eyes were wide, her face unsmiling, and if she didn’t recover quickly, her mother or father would want to know why she wasn’t being the docile sweetheart they’d ordered her to be.
With an effort, she forced a smile and kept her voice to a murmur. “You aren’t serious.”
“Oh but I am.” His smug tone was as infuriating as his amusement at her distress.
It took all of her willpower not to give in to a frown. Instead, she smiled brighter. “But I don’t want to marry you.”
“You have yet to hear my offer,” he shot back.
“But…but…” She glared up at him. Well…she stared as hard as she could while still smiling like a fool. “You cannot just declare you mean to marry me. It doesn’t work like that.”
He arched a brow. “Are you telling me a marquess in line for a dukedom cannot choose his bride?”
No amount of will could keep her smile in place. Anger shot through her at his arrogance as well as the implication. Her face grew hot as her hands clenched at her side.
Meanwhile, his smile was beatific and no doubt meant for their families, who were watching their every move. “Personally, I think you look just as beautiful as ever when you're spitting mad, but I'm not sure your mother would approve of you snarling at the new marquess.”
Jane made a sound that was highly undignified. More of a sputter than a verbal retort.
He patted her hand on his arm in a patronizing manner that she just knew was meant to annoy her.
He was amusing himself at her expense, and there was nothing she could do about it.
With a glance toward the others, he nudged her forward.
“Your teasing used to be good natured,” she muttered under her breath. “I don’t know when your humor turned cruel, but it does not suit you.”
He came to a halt and looked down at her, but she refused to tip her head back one more time. She hadn’t been lying earlier. His height really was bothersome. She’d surely have an ache in her neck in the morning from this encounter.
“I never intended to be cruel,” he said. “I meant it when I said you haven’t heard my offer. But this is hardly the time or place for such a conversation, so I’m afraid we both must wait to discuss this further until I come to call on you tomorrow.”
“You cannot really mean to continue this ruse—”
“Careful, darling,” he murmured. “Our audience awaits. But don’t worry…” He smiled down at her in a most disturbingly charming way as they reached their mothers. He leaned down to add. “You can badger me all you like when we’re in private. Does that sound reasonable?”
With their mothers close enough to hear her response and see her every expression, she was forced to smile and simper. “Of course, my lord.”
For a second she caught a hint of a wicked grin and a glint of devilish amusement. It reminded her so much of the boy she’d known, she felt an odd pang of homesickness for the friend she’d once had.
But that glimpse of the mischievous, kindhearted boy was gone in an instant and then she was surrounded by her mother and his, and she had to endure the rest of the evening, sneaking glimpses of Luke and trying not to let the rash of questions churning in her mind drive her to distraction.
He’d explain in the morning, he’d said. But as she sat quietly in the carriage on the way home, listening to her mother and father discuss her and, more particularly, the attention shown to her by Luke, she decided that he must have been teasing.
All of it was some odd jest on his part. That was the only option.
And with that, she felt a sort of relief that allowed her to ready herself for bed and slip into a deep sleep.
It wasn’t until the housekeeper announced him as a caller the next day that Jane began to question her conclusion. “What could he want?” she asked no one in particular.
