“Like what?”
“Okay, I know you won’t like me bringing this up, but think about Lord Cain.”
“I’d rather not!”
“I just mean, when he started courting you, you were able to romanticize the situation and come up with a whole future you two would have together. Isn’t that true?”
Rosalie pursed her lips. That was, technically, true although she hated to think that she had done that in regards to such an unworthy man as Lord Cain.
“Yes,” she said at last, reluctantly. “I did.”
“And that’s the same as writing!” the Duke said triumphantly. “It’s just about writing down all the romantic situations you can imagine.”
“I suppose so…” She bit her lip. “But I still wouldn’t be sure where to start.”
“That won’t be a problem. You’re clever.”
“And what about publishing them?” she asked nervously. “Surely no one would want to read a novel by a woman! You said so yourself. Would I even be able to publish them? Would I have to use a man’s name?”
The Duke’s eyes suddenly gleamed with excitement. “This is the part where we use my reputation. We tell the publisher that we want them to publish it under your real name. And they won’t dare to object because they will know me as a fearsome villain, and they won’t want to get on my bad side.”
Rosalie laughed. “You really want to use your reputation to help me sell a book?”
“Why not? This reputation has caused me so much grief, I would be glad to know that it was actually used for good.”
Rosalie giggled then grew more sober. For a long moment, she turned this over in her head. She had never imagined something like this before. In all her life of reading, she had only thought that she would read other people’s stories, not her own. She came up with many, of course; what reader didn’t? But she had never even dared to write them down. And now, the Duke was encouraging her to do so. He seemed to think that she could actually come up with good stories! And then he would help her publish them.
She fixed him with a beady look. “You have to promise me that you would judge my writing fairly on its merit,” she said. “I wouldn’t want you to try and help me publish books if my writing wasn’t good.”
“Of course,” he replied at once.
“I’m serious,” she insisted. “I wouldn’t want preferential treatment just because I’m your wife. I’d like your real opinion. And if they’re not good, you can’t try to publish them. You have to promise me.”
The Duke nodded and looked at her very seriously. “I promise.”
“Okay.” Excitement was beginning to course through her—excitement and the feeling that her life was about to change forever. She had never allowed herself to imagine that something this wonderful could happen to her or that it would be her husband who would encourage her to be so daring.
“You know, it’s funny,” she said slowly. “When I used to imagine my future husband, I would imagine him doing all sorts of romantic things for me. I would come up with many scenarios where he was the perfect gentleman, and he was kind and caring. That’s why I was so disappointed when we first wed: because I’d dreamed of a love match with the perfect man, and I was sure our marriage couldn’t be that.”
“Don’t remind me,” the Duke said sourly.
She laughed and placed a hand on his arm. “What I’m trying to say is that in all my years of trying to dream up the ‘perfect’ man, I never actually came up with a scenario like this—where he pushed me to pursue something I didn’t even realize was a dream. What’s funny to me is that we can try to come up withthe perfect version of what our lives might be, but what actually happens might be the most surprising and perfect of them all.”
The Duke blinked. His eyes became bright. Then he coughed and looked away. When he turned back to her and spoke, his voice was husky.
“I’m glad that you think it’s a good idea,” he murmured. “I have been thinking about it for some days, and I’m very pleased that you are excited by the prospect.”
“More excited than I can say.”
He smiled down at her. She thought maybe he would kiss her now—she hoped he would—but instead, he took her arm.
“Come, let’s go back to the ball,” he murmured. “Your cousin must be missing you.”
And he led her back into the ball, a smile on his face that she had never seen before.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I’m sorry to leave you, but I see several men that I need to speak to about business.”
