Page 53 of This Marquess of Mine

She was beautiful tonight, just as he’d told her. He tracked her progress as she and Paxton crossed the room toward the refreshments, drinking in her loveliness, those shining golden curls and elegant shoulders, the dip of her waist, those lush hips swaying beneath pale pink silk.

Who was he fooling? Olivia was always beautiful. Far too good for the likes of the numbskull she intended to marry. He only wished she knew it, too.

“They make a handsome couple, don’t they?” Emmy said, startling him from his reverie.

Griffin shrugged. “I suppose so.”

“It’s nice of you to help her like this. I never thought of you as the matchmaking sort.” She chuckled. “Mother will be so proud.”

“I wasn’t matchmaking,” he grumbled.

“No? But Olivia told me you are the reason why His Grace went to see her yesterday, why he is pursuing her again.”

“That wasn’t my intention,” Griff said, shifting on his feet. “I don’t much like the duke, and I like even less what he did to Olivia. When he approached me yesterday to fish after my intentions, I decided to exact a little revenge on her behalf.”

“I see.”

Something in her tone drew his gaze, and he found her watching him—studying him, more like—as if searching his face for the answer to a riddle.

“What?” he asked, irrationally annoyed.

“You care for Olivia a great deal, don’t you?” Her voice was soft but frank.

Griff’s shoulders stiffened and his heart slowed to an uncomfortable thud. “She’s your friend,” he said, keeping his voice even. “I don’t want to see any of my sister’s friends harmed.”

Emmy gave her head a slow shake, her gaze unrelenting. “No. It is more than that.”

His jaw clenched. “It isn’t.”

“You two are obviously mad for each other,” she said softly. “Why have you done nothing about it?”

“That’s enough, Em.” The urge to flee the room was growing by the minute.

“I am disappointed in you. Do you really mean to give her up? Do you really mean to let her marry a man she doesn’t love? A man who does not deserve her?”

“Emmy.” He shot his sister a warning look. “That is enough.”

Her nostrils flared and she gave him a disapproving frown, but she said nothing more, simply heaved an exasperated sigh and walked away, shaking her head.

Griffin blew out an exasperated breath. Where in bloody blazes had that come from?

Emmy had never said anything like that before, had never even hinted at it, so what had possessed her to say something here, now?

And where had she got such a ridiculous idea in the first place?

Olivia might have fostered a tendre for him once, and there was no denying the attraction between them, but…mad for each other? God, no. She was too silly, too shallow, too…

He sighed. No. She was none of those things, was she? He used to think she was, partly because he’d grown used to thinking of her that way, and partly because that was the impression she gave, whether intentionally or not, he didn’t know.

But he couldn’t, in good conscience, continue to claim she was silly and shallow. Not after all he’d learned about her.

Still, no matter how much his opinion of her had changed, nothing else had. He could admit to being attracted to her—there was no denying it—but that was as far as it would go. Even if he were mad for her as Emmy claimed, he would not marry her. He wouldn’t even consider it. He wasn’t ready for marriage.

And whatever Olivia’s feelings for him might be, he doubted she would have him, even if he offered. She wanted a duke, and while Griffin did not much care for the one she’d chosen, even he had to admit his objections amounted to very little. She could do worse than the Duke of Paxton, and if he was the man she wanted, who was he to stand in her way?

She was his sister’s friend and she had asked for his assistance. He would do what he could to help her snag her duke and then he would let the chips fall where they may.