Page 12 of The Duke’s Wager

Weeks became months, and months turned into a year, and she could no longer make excuses. Certainly, he would have reached out to her by this time if he had any inclination of doing so.

It had broken her naïve young heart. Before she had to accept that Edward had no interest in her friendship, she did not know how much she had hoped for and needed a friend. That realization, perhaps, hurt more than his lack of interest.

Before that cursed funeral, she had believed she was perfectly at ease with only her father and the servants for company. Edward challenged that illusion – and shattered it. He made her see how desperately she needed a friend, and he made her believe that she had one. Then, without a word, he had disappeared from her life. As though that time meant nothing, as though she was not even worth a simple ‘thank you.’

When she became an adolescent and started attending parties and balls, Lucy had expected to see him. Perhaps a part of her was excited about it, but though she knew without a doubt that they were invited to – and attended – the same events, for some reason they never ran into one another. Where at first she had resented this and had hoped to see him, eventually she came to appreciate it.

She no longer wanted to see him. She would write off the time they spent together, their budding friendship, as a fever dream. It had worked superbly – until now.

There was no mistaking those green eyes. It had not been a dream. She knew him, she had seen him at his most vulnerable. She did not think that this was a side of him many people had witnessed.

Lucy quickly turned away, unable to stomach the sight of him further.

He had been vulnerable in front of her years ago, but there was no way that she would extend that courtesy to him. She was not going to allow him – or anyone – to see her vulnerable. She would proudly wear the Ice Queen moniker they had given her. No one would ever see the turmoil in her heart.

CHAPTER FIVE

Without fully being aware of it, Lucy had moved away from her father and the dull conversation about steam engines of all things. Unfortunately, as relieved as she was to escape the conversation, this now meant that she was standing alone with her back to the wall.

It never stopped stinging, being surrounded by happily dancing couples who paid her no mind. She wanted to dance, she ached to be young and carefree.

“Excuse me?”

The voice that interrupted her thoughts was deep and velvety, and for a mad moment she thought it may have belonged to Edward. When she turned, it was to face a man she was certain she had never seen at these events before.

“How may I help you, sir?”

It was the Ice Queen’s voice that answered, but the stranger did not seem perturbed by it in the slightest. Instead, he offered her a hand.

“I am Gareth Goodwin, the Earl of Scarborough. I’m new in the area, and was wondering if you would be so kind as to show me your dance card.”

Lucy could only stare in surprise. No one ever requested her dance card. She searched her mind desperately for his surname. Goodwin? She could not remember her father mentioning it at all, but he did say something about a new earl. Was it the Earl of Scarborough? She could not remember for the life of her, so she took her time to study the stranger.

He was almost handsome, but a little too average to be called so. Not that there was anything wrong with being average, of course.

It was this average appearance that convinced her to give him the dance card. He was the exact type of person who would be on her father’s list – highborn and perfectly decent, and… safe. If she were truly honest, she would admit that she found him terribly boring at first sight.

This, Lucy realized quickly, was a rather unfair judgment. He was the only man in the banquet hall who had the courage to approach her, and he seemed perfectly kind. Yet her mind kept drifting back to Edward’s turbulent green eyes.

“How many dances may I have, my lady?”

He spoke with a good-natured smile, and Lucy was quickly pulled from her reverie. She returned the smile without even thinking about it.

“I’m afraid only one, my lord.”

He tilted his head in a quite charming manner and grinned. “Are you certain about that, my lady?”

Lucy nodded quickly. As decent as he was, it would not do to grant him more than one dance. He readily accepted and scribbled his name on her card.

“I can hardly believe that I am the first to ask.”

He winked at her, and she laughed despite herself.

“Have you not heard, my lord? I am the Ice Queen.”

Gareth shook his head with a small smile. “I have not heard that moniker mentioned in relation to you.”

It was a lie, she could tell, but she appreciated his sensitivity.