“Celestine!” her mother snapped. “Lord Grundon has asked you a question.”
“Another time,” she said with a forced smile. “It was nice to meet you Lord Grun…” She trailed off as she stepped around the snooty lord and stumbled across the garden.
There was no need to guess why this week had seen Celestine’s reality smack so dramatically into her so that she might wonder how she had been so blind. She knew the reason, and while she had hoped to ignore it and pretend that it had never happened, she knew how that doing such things was a fool’s errand.
His Grace, the Duke of Blackthorne…
I had hoped it was a joke. Or that if I pretended it did not happen, I might be able to live in such a reality as that. The fool I am…
His proposal to Celestine had been so random and surprising that Celestine wondered if it happened at all. No need to grow angry over it. No need to act confused. He must have beenbaiting her and once he left her home, he would forget about it, and she would never see or think of him again.
Now, Celestine saw his proposal for what it was. It was the opening of the floodgates, a light shining onto everything that Celestine had tried to ignore so that she could no longer walk blindly through her problems.
The Duke was the first but as her mother had just made clear, he would not be the last.
I need to get out of here…
Celestine stumbled through the garden party, her head down, not knowing where she was going but knowing she had to go somewhere. She spied the side of the manor and figured that she could skirt down the path and hide in her family’s carriage until this was over.
Which she very nearly managed to do, that was until she reached the side-path to find it blocked.
“Leaving so soon?” Duke Blackthorne stood in the middle of the path. It was a narrow path, hardly wide enough for two people to walk down, and his shoulders made it seem even smaller than that. “I suppose it is too much to hope that you were coming to find me?”
“Your Grace!” Celestine gasped as she stumbled to a halt. “What are you…” She took a step back. “What are you doing here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he said. “Waiting for you. I thought to approach you earlier, but I did not wish to frighten you. Although…” He chuckled. “Perhaps lurking in wait like this might have a similar effect.”
Celestine had tried so hard all week not to think about the Duke.
His proposal was one thing, and she had already dismissed it as nonsense. But the man… the effect he had one her… that was nowhere near as easy a thing to ignore.
He stood ten feet down the path, but it was as if he stood right over her. So tall and so imposing, his grey eyes locking onto her so that she could not look away; she felt suddenly trapped and powerless in ways that she hated.
Her mind turned back to last week. Again, not the proposal, but what happened after. How he had stepped into her, pressed himself against her, and then nibbled her earlobe as if to prove just how easy it was for him to take control and dominate her, if he so wished it.
Worse still… it wasn’t nearly as terrible a moment as Celestine liked to believe.Not even a little bit…
“You should not be here,” she said as she glanced over her shoulder to make sure that they were alone.
“Shall we enter the party together?” he asked simply. “Although, I do wonder what people will say if they see us together.”
“I do not mean…” She shook her head to clear it. “If I had anything to say to you, I would have said it. That should be answer enough.”
“Oh, I do not believe that at all.” He started to walk toward her, slow and purposeful steps. “The thing is, I know your type, Miss Celestine Hargrave. Stubborn to a fault, you would be happy to close your eyes and ignore the walls crumbling around you rather than admit that they might bury you alive. To not speak to you again would be to do myself a disservice.”
“My answer is no,” she said but with little conviction. “Now, leave me alone.”
He stopped five feet away and tilted his head as he studied her. The smirk did not leave his lips, nor did the smile fade from his eyes. “I saw you speaking with Lord Grundon just now. That looked friendly.”
“It was nothing.”
“You believe that to be the case,” he said. “But does Lord Grundon? You think I am persistent? Wait until you see how Lord Grundon treats those who he has his eye on. And from how he looked at you…” He clicked his tongue mockingly. “You best be careful.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“You believe that you can,” he said. “Again, that is your problem. You want to live your life how you see fit while refusing to admit that your life is not your own. For so long as you are single and available, men like Lord Grundon will pursue you. And sooner or later you will have no choice but to give in.”
“And what of you?” she challenged. “How are you different?”
