Page 26 of The Duke’s Wager

“Lucy… my lady…” Edward took another step forward. Lucy, still seething, remained in place. “It was nothing. A silly joke, that’s all.”

“A joke?”

The music had come to its natural end, the couples around them leaving the dance floor. Lucy was still frozen in place, glaring at Edward.

“Yes…” He seemed contrite; his hands folded in front of him pleadingly. “An innocent joke.”

“Well, my lord…” Lucy took another step back, suddenly overly aware of the silence on the dance floor. “Forgive me, but I must have missed the humor. Excuse me, please.”

With that, she gathered her skirts and walked off – leaving Edward alone.

* * *

He was a fool. Edward was certain of this. How on God’s green earth could he have been daft enough to mention that cruel nickname in front of her… and pass it off as a joke? Of course she would not find it funny.

They had danced together well. He loved the feel of her in his arms – and they had gotten along splendidly before he made that stupid comment. How on earth was he meant to get past that? How was he going to convince her that she was more than a challenge?

“And?” Alfred’s voice shook him from his morbid thoughts, and he looked at his friend miserably. “How’d it go?”

Edward sighed and shook his head. “Horribly. It went… horribly, it was a nightmare.”

To say that Alfred looked shocked at this admission would be an understatement. His friend blinked stupidly a few times and shook his head. “I don’t understand. You were dancing, you looked fine – happy even. What went wrong?”

“I… made a mistake.”

“I’m listening.” Alfred seemed almost amused.

Edward sighed deeply and shook his head. “I mentioned something about taming the Ice Queen, and let’s just say… she did not take kindly to it.”

To his chagrin, Alfred burst out laughing at this admission.

“Really, Edward! One would think you did not attend Eton with a blunder like that.”

Edward grimaced irritably at this. “I know, Alfred.”

Alfred, however, did not let up. “I can only imagine the other men finding out about this! Even Pembroke is not daft enough to tell a woman he wanted to tame her! What were you thinking?”

“Clearly, I wasn’t. I fail to see why you find this amusing.”

Edward’s obvious irritability did not seem to bother Alfred in the slightest, as the other man kept laughing.

“You fail to see why this is amusing? My dear man, is this how you attempt to flirt with a lady? How on earth are you called a ladies’ man, if this is your way?”

Edward gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. He would not let Alfred’s amusement get to him.

“My infant brother can flirt better than this!”

“I get the point, Alfred!”

His anger only seemed to amuse his friend more, for Alfred snorted. “Right, right… I apologize.”

Edward laughed derisively and shook his head. “I suppose I may have had one drink too many.”

Alfred snorted at this and rolled his eyes. “You don’t suppose.”

“I need to fix it.” He had known this even before Lucy had stormed away, and Alfred nodded in agreement. He would have to find Lucy and apologize for his ridiculous behavior. He could not let Pembroke win – not this easily. “I need to apologize.”

“You may have to wait on that apology, my friend. The lovely Lady Lucy and her father just left. And if you don’t mind me saying so… she looked positively furious.”