Page 64 of The Duke’s Wager

Was it – and this was the option she wanted nothing more than to deny – how close Edward was standing? It could not be. She would not allow him this power over her.

“Lucy…” Edward’s voice sounded worried, and she was rather certain that he was coming closer. The black spots dancing in front of her eyes made it impossible to see whether that was true.

“Lucy, can I help you? Is something the matter? Please…” He sounded concerned and desperate to help her, and somehow that only made everything worse. She did not want him to be concerned about her, she did not want him to care.

“The only thing…” Her breathing was labored, and she trembled, straining herself to speak. “The only thing you can do… to possibly help…”

Finally, the spots disappeared, and Edward’s face floated into vision. It gave her the strength to continue speaking. “The only thing you can do to help is leave.”

Rather than oblige her, he took another step towards her. “I am not going to leave, Lucy. I… I cannot possibly leave you when you have taken ill, as it would seem.”

He sounded concerned and caring, and quite like the man she had come to know in the cemetery. For some reason, this made her irrationally angry. “No,” she spat. “I do not want you to stay.”

The anger helped. The anger was far better than the breathlessness, the dizziness and the pain she had felt upon seeing him. The anger allowed her to rise to her full height and face him head-on.

“I don’t need you to pretend to care about me, my lord. I am perfectly fine, thank you very much.”

“Lucy…” He sounded hurt by her coldness, but this did not have the effect she believed he desired. She basked in his pain, enjoyed it even. She wanted him to be hurt – as hurt as she had been earlier when he had ignored her.

He took another step forward, and Lucy stepped back again, unwilling to allow him to get too close to her.

He had already gotten close enough. “I do care, Lucy. I know… I know that it may not seem that way, I know that I behaved in a despicable matter, but… please, believe me when I say that I do care about you.”

Lucy closed her eyes. Oh, how she wanted to believe him. It was all too tempting. She wanted to believe him, wanted to tell him that she cared about him too, wanted to resolve everything between them, but her pride kept her from doing so.

“Please, Edward…” Her voice was soft, pleading. “Just go. Please, leave me be.”

“No.” He still refused, his eyes searching his desperately. He was close to her, too close, close enough to touch her, and she was wholly uncomfortable with that fact.

“Leave.”

“Lucy…” He took another step forward. “I am not going anywhere. And I do not believe for even a second that you truly want me to, for if you did… I swear I would have obliged.”

He took another step forward, and Lucy’s breath hitched in her throat. “Lucy…” She turned away from him, unable to face him for a second longer.

This did not deter him in the slightest. He took another step closer to her, hovering behind her.

“I care about you, Lucy. I know I do not always show it in the right manner. I know that I did not show it tonight and that you have no reason to believe me at all, but I promise you… I do care. More than you know, more than—” He paused and she tensed. “More than you could ever know.”

His breath was hot on her neck, and it sent a shiver down her spine.

She was not as unaffected by his proximity as she would have him believe, and she was rather certain that he was all too aware of this. His hand moved slowly, touching her wrist – a light, featherlike touch that sent her entire body ablaze with heat.

“You drive me mad, Lucy…” His voice was soft and intimate, and he leaned even closer. His breath tickled her ear.

“You care about me, yes – when we are alone. When there are people around…” She finally found her voice, but her sentence broke off in the middle and she closed her eyes. Edward’s hand remained on her wrist.

“I care about you no matter who witnesses us, Lucy. I should have shown that tonight. When I say you drive me mad…” He paused and his hand trailed up her arm. “I desire you. You drive me mad with want. We are in an opera house, filled with people, and the only thing I can think of is wanting to feel your skin touching mine. One word from you, Lucy…” His hand traveled to her shoulder, then grazed a path down her waist, landing on her middle. “One word from you, and I would disregard all thoughts of decency… and make you mine.”

She let out a sharp breath at this. Encouraged by her reaction, Edward grazed his lips against her ear. “I need you, Lucy. I am desperate for you. Even as we sat in the opera hall, I was drawn to you, and you alone. When you are in the vicinity, all other people somehow disappear. It is just you. I can think of no one else, nothing else… only of you, of how much I need you…”

His lips trailed from her ear to her neck, hovering over the skin there without touching it. Then he pulled back, and his hand moved from her waist to her shoulder, pressing against it pleadingly.

She could no longer deny that pull, the attraction between them. She could no longer pretend that she was unaffected by him.

Lucy turned slowly. As though he were in a trance, Edward placed both his hands on her waist – slowly moving them up and back down in a gentle rhythm.

Afraid that talking would burst the magical bubble they were caught in, she remained quiet, her eyes fixed on the curve of his lips.