Page 18 of The Duke of a Thousand Desires

“Yes. You and I were friends before you served your first tea. I believe I was your experimental caller.”

“A victim,” she said with a laugh, realizing that she’d missed him, too.

And then everything changed. His expression, his eyes, the leaping of her pulse. She told herself to end the conversation politely, stand up, and walk from the room. Instead, she sat immobile, tantalized by not only his intense stare, but the expectation in the air.

“We’ve exchanged pleasantries,” she said. “If this were a chance reunion, we would promise to keep up on each other’s lives and go our separate ways.”

“But that isn’t what’s going to happen,” he said. “And you know it. Your relatives want us to marry.”

“They’re forcing you?” she said, aghast. “They can’t make you. Don’t agree to it, Simon. I brought this disgrace on myself. I went outside tonight to thwart an arranged marriage. I wasn’t looking for another.”

“Except that we are the ones arranging the match.”

“We haven’t as much as … had tea together in years.” Her voice caught. “Do you realize what I did? I followed my fiancé and an unfaithful woman to their tryst at the temple.”

“Yes. The couple making a meal of each other -- who fled the instant the shot was fired. Disgusting.”

“You saw them?”

“In repelling detail.” His gaze sharpened. “What’s more important to both of us is whether you saw the man who tried to murder me.”

“I don’t quite remember.”

“Don’t force yourself if it upsets you. However, when you recall even the slightest detail about his appearance, let me know immediately.”

“You are taking for granted that we shall be in close proximity in the future.”

“It’s inevitable, I fear. We can’t disentangle ourselves from each other without a scandal. And your life might be in jeopardy. You need a husband.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I won’t let you keep a dozen mistresses,” she said, convinced he wasn’t serious, that at any minute Jane would burst in to admit the family was trying to teach her a lesson. No one would force Simon’s hand. “I won’t permit you to have even one lover,” she added in desperation.

He smiled. “I’ll be challenged to keep up with you.”

“Simon, understand me. I’m not the girl you think you know. I schemed to humiliate my fiancé in public. I was aware that I would become a pariah afterward.”

“You should have schemed with a little more forethought.”

“Next time I will.”

“You’re never going to scheme again,” he said with alarming certainty. “You won’t have the inclination.”

“This sounds like a promising start to a proposal.”

“I propose to keep you safe. And hopefully engaged in other satisfying activities.”

“Why should we do this?”

“Consider the fact that someone wants me dead.” He put his hand under her elbow and urged her toward him. “Look at me. I don’t know whether your silly scheme would have worked or ended in disaster had you not been interrupted by my death attempt. But here we are.”

“Why?” she whispered again.

“I suppose I’m an honorable man.”

She lifted her brow. “Then why are you drawing me to you like a fly into a spider’s web?”