Page 26 of A Chance to Dance with the Duke
He leaned forward so suddenly she jerked back in surprise. “You said the other night that your options were limited.”
Her brows drew down. “Did I?”
He lifted a shoulder. “In so many words. But you made it clear that you’d felt rather…dispirited about your lack of suitors?—”
“I beg your pardon.” She kept her voice just as low as his, and spared a glance for her seemingly oblivious mother. “Did you come here to insult me?”
“No, I?—”
“Because this is a horribly inappropriate topic, and for you to use my own words against me?—”
“I know,” he interjected swiftly. “It is not my intention to insult you. Er…again. On the contrary,” he hurried on. “I find it intolerable that you felt that way to begin with, and I cannot abide the fact that I may have made your situation worse.”
She was torn between laughter and tears at the ridiculousness of this moment. The most eligible, and so-calledcharmingDuke in all of England, and he was…
Well, he was blundering through this speech in a way that was anything but charming.
“I want the world to know that I am in love with you,” he said so loudly and so abruptly, Meg’s mouth fell open and her mother’s knitting needles clattered on the ground.
“Pardon?” Meg squeaked.
“As a ruse, that is,” he said, pausing to clear his throat.
Her insides fell flat. “P-pardon?”
And then he launched into what must have been a rehearsed speech about how he was even now having his friends spread the word that she was the fairest and kindest and most lovely of them all, and?—
“What?!” She interrupted with a squawk, and for a moment they stared at each other in mutual surprise.
His expression grew frighteningly determined, his gaze grim. “I don’t expect you to approve of me, or wish for my company, let alone my…er, my suit.”
Meg blinked. Was this truly happening? Was the Duke of Carver talking to her about courtship?
“And so, of course, I won’t be surprised when you reject me,” he said. “But by that point, I fully expect that any man you have set your cap on will be happy to fill my spot.”
Meg wasn’t certain how to feel after this pronouncement, but she was sure this sinking disappointment was uncalled for.
He was attempting to make amends. That much she understood.
And it wasn’t as though she’d ever thought he truly wished to court her. The visits and the flowers had all been to appease her father. She’d always known that.
Hadn’t she?
Or had some silly far corners of her dratted imagination been quietly hoping for some other explanation? Something straight out of a fairytale?
She squashed the errant thought like a bug.
He watched her closely, and Meg chose her next words with care. “You have much confidence in your ability to sway the opinion of society.”
He didn’t try to deny it. To do so would be false humility. “I have confidence in the fact that you are beautiful, well-spoken, clever, and kind.”
Her heart felt like it was being berated with each compliment. He was only being polite. His words were just that. Words. They didn’t mean anything.
“You don’t know that I’m clever,” she finally muttered.
His lips twitched and his eyes glinted. “I know you’ve handled every encounter we’ve experienced together with far more grace and poise than I have.”
Despite her best intentions, her lips twitched with amusement at the rueful laughter in his eyes when he added, “You cannot deny that.”
