The duke’s head drew back in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Is there a reason? There must be a reason.”
“I do apologize. This is most difficult. I...I am simply not in love with you.”
His eyebrows drew together in a frown. “Not in love with me?” He rolled his shoulders as if he were struggling to keep his anger in check. “Perhaps I should have taken more time for a courtship. I’ve heard that you American girls have certain expectations in that regard.”
“First of all, I am not a girl,” Clara replied. “I am a woman. But yes, your proposal did come rather quickly.”
“Because I was certain that if I did not make an offer, someone else would. The competition for you is intense, Miss Wilson. You are the talk of the town, so to speak.”
Clara was no fool. She knew she was popular because she was a wealthy heiress and it was a well-known fact that her father would furnish her husband-to-be with a very generous marriage settlement. Her own sister, Sophia, had made James one of the richest men in England. Sophia’s dowry, if one included the railroad stock, had been the largest in English history. Clara’s would most certainly match that.
“Thank you for the compliment, Your Grace,” she said.
But he was not satisfied. “May I indulge in some hope that you might reconsider if I give you more time?”
She didn’t know what to say. She hated rejecting the duke, and there was of course a chance that Lord Rawdon would break her heart in the coming weeks. The possibility that she might be burning her bridges loomed over her.
“I really don’t know, Your Grace. I don’t wish to give you any false hopes.”
He stared into her eyes for a moment, and his darkened. “Is there someone else?”
Clara swallowed nervously. “I cannot say.”
“Cannot say?” His voice revealed agitation, and an uncomfortable tension moved through Clara’s neck and shoulders. “You’re making a foolish mistake, Miss Wilson. You know that, don’t you?”
The duke’s harsh tone cleared her of any regret about rejecting him. She was now certain that she had done the right thing.
When she did not reply, he grabbed hold of her hand and pressed it against his cold lips. He began to drop hard kisses up her arm. “Maybe this is what a woman like you wants.”
All the hairs on the back of her neck stood up in disgust. Heart racing, she quickly wrenched her arm out of his grasp.
The duke’s petulant gaze shot to her face. Recognizing her revulsion, he sat up straighter. “I was right. Your interests do lie elsewhere. But I will have you know that I am still willing to marry you, and I would treat you with the respect that you deserve. You would not find that to be the case with the Marquess of Rawdon.”
Clara stared at him, dumbfounded. What did the duke know? No one had seen her leave the house the night before. The marquess had come to call on her properly once, but surely that wasn’t enough to suggest....
“I beg your pardon, Your Grace?”
“It is your choice, Miss Wilson. You can be a duchess, or you can be a slut.”
Clara sucked in a breath. She had never been spoken to in such a manner. She certainly had not expected this from the duke, who had always appeared to be the epitome of proper, gentlemanly behavior.
Fury began to rage inside her and she stood. “Please leave.”
She made a move to walk around the sofa and open the drawing room door for him, but he seized her arm.
“I will leave,” he said, “when you have realized your folly. You’ve attended two Cakras Balls and you have become besotted with a notorious rake. I saw the two of you together here in this very room at your sister’s assembly. Others did as well. I assure you, there were whispers. You do not emit purity, Miss Wilson. There is something unchaste about you, and you have associated yourself with the marquess—a known degenerate. I am willing to overlook that fact because the damage is still reparable at this point. I can offer you a respectable escape.”
“A respectable escape?” Clara jerked her arm from his grasp. “I asked you to leave.”
“I don’t believe you want me to do that.”
“Why ever not?”
“Because I have the power to destroy you, Miss Wilson. To put it in plainer terms, if you do not accept my offer, I most certainly will.”
