Page 59 of A Duke's Sinful Bargain
“I’m afraid that cannot happen.” He was quick to shake his head. “I have just arrived and am actually in search of someone on a pressing matter.”
She frowned, a flicker of disappointment crossing her features before she composed herself with practiced poise. She was calm once again, her emotions remaining concealed under the veneer of politeness and propriety. That was yet another thing he loved about Anna.
She could never hide how she was feeling. When she was sad, he could tell. When she was happy, he could tell that as well. She never even tried to pretend that she was feeling something other than she actually was. With Lady Genevieve, it seemed to be a usual occurrence, and one had to keep guessing what was happening underneath her calm surface.
At that moment, he saw her. And he immediately realized it was not Sir Rupert he had been so frantically searching for. No. It was Anna.
His heart skipped a beat when he caught sight of her amid the sea of faces. A rush of warmth flooded his chest, his pulse quickening at the sight of her radiant presence. She looked like an ethereal being, gracing mortals for just one brief second before she was to disappear again. But he couldn’t let that happen. He had to speak to her, to gaze at her beautiful eyes, to listen to her melodious voice.
“If you will excuse me, Lady Genevieve,” he bowed cordially before her, “but I must go and greet someone.”
Before Lady Genevieve could say anything, Alexander made his way through the crowd, his focus solely on Anna. Sir Rupert did not exist at that moment. He was nothing. Though Alexander was certain that Lady Genevieve was left slightly offended by his abrupt departure, his attention was wholly consumed by the woman who held his heart.
“Anna!” he called out softly as he approached her, unable to control the longing that emanated from him. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and shower her face with kisses, while telling her how much he missed her.
But the moment she turned around at the sound of his voice, he knew he would not be allowed to do that… perhaps never again.
Chapter 31
Alexander looked deeply into her eyes, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not pierce through the veil she had shrouded herself in. He could see disinterest but also sadness, and that gave him hope. But on second glance, it seemed that she drowned out the sadness, leaving only a look of scorn.
Her elegant gown, the color of freshly fallen snow, only seemed to exacerbate her purposefully distant demeanor, making her seem like the coldest of ice queens as her eyes locked with his, refusing to look away even for a single second.
“Anna,” he said almost breathlessly when he approached her. He had no idea what he would say. He cursed himself for not having thought this through. But the truth was that he didn’t want to say anything.
All he wanted to do was bask in the glow that was her presence and hold her by the hand, feeling the warmth of her skin against his own. But he dared not touch her, almost as if she were nothing but a mirage and endeavoring to touch her would break the magic, making her disappear forever.
“Your Grace.” She spoke to him in a voice that was notably distant. There was not even a hint of the warmth that had filled her voice during their clandestine meetings in the confines of his home. It was almost as if he now spoke to a completely different lady. Her eyes held a cool reserve, her entire body stiff, and she kept herself at a distance from him.
“I did not expect to see you here,” she added, and a frosty politeness replaced the usual spark of affection in her tone. It cut through him like the sharpest of blades.
He tried to remind himself that he deserved it. After everything that had happened between them, he wrote to her, asking for her to keep her distance from him. He’d feared that it might be intercepted, although he had all the trust in Tom one could have, but the risk was always there. It was safer not to put anything in writing, at least not anything that might come back to haunt them later on.
With those thoughts in mind, he hoped she would allow him the chance to explain himself and his curt message. However, it seemed she had taken offence and decided to keep her distance from him, just as he had instructed her to do.
“Anna.” He spoke more tenderly than he had planned to. He took a familiar step closer to her, but to his surprise, she instinctively took a step back. “We need to talk.”
He needed to explain everything, to tell her about the looming danger they were both in. He wanted to hear her opinion. He wanted to see how they could find a way out of this predicament together. But strangely, she didn’t seem interested in speaking to him.
In fact, everything about her demeanor pushed him away, as if he was the one threatening to destroy her life and not that wretch of a man, Sir Rupert. The very thought of the man made Alexander’s blood boil, but he had to remain calm. Losing his head would lead to certain doom.
Anna’s beautiful face was now etched with a frown. “I was under the impression that we are not to speak to each other again. That was at least what your letter stated quite plainly.”
He could hear the pain threatening to crack her voice, and it made him feel like a wretch—he was to blame for that. “If you will just allow me to explain—”
“No,” she cut him off curtly, her demeanor calm and composed, as opposed to his own.
He felt the raging fire of confusion and apprehension boiling just underneath the surface of his skin, itching and blazing. It took all of his conscious effort to remain standing in one place, keeping his body as well as his mind under control.
“I did not come here to speak to you,” she clarified indignantly. “After everything, I expected more of you than a mere note to tell me to keep my distance.”
She spoke confidently, although her voice was down to a whisper than only the two of them could hear. Still, that did not take away a single ounce of the weight that her words carried. If anything, it only made her sound more determined. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have to greet Lady Pentor.”
His lips parted in words that refused to come to him, Alexander watched Anna walk toward the exit to the gardens, leaving him bewildered beyond description. Was it possible that she knew nothing of the blackmail that threatened to destroy them both?
He swallowed heavily, withdrawing to the corner of the ballroom in the hope that no one would approach him. He needed to clear his mind, at least as much as he could under the circumstances. Doubt crept into his mind like a slithering snake, infecting everything in its path with its venom. Tom’s words came back to haunt him. C
ould Anna actually be working together with Sir Rupert with the aim of procuring funds for herself as well as for that vile villain? If those suspicions alone were not enough, there was Tom’s own treatment by Eliza. Why would she turn him away without a single word of explanation? The two women knew something, but Alexander didn’t know what.
