Page 48 of No Duke of Mine

“Why do you say that?”

“You’ve been scowling at me all morning, and at Sims, too.”

“Not all morning,” he said.

“Particularly since we entered this study and started discussing your business and schedule for the next few days. You will be quite occupied, it seems, and given the tasks ahead for me, I don’t think we will see much of each other.”

Now he had another reason to scowl.

Maggie sighed. “You should have made Sims your secretary instead. He is quite smart and wants the position.”

“But I offered it to you,” he reminded her.

“And believe me, I am grateful for the opportunity to prove myself.”

“I don’t want gratitude from you,” he muttered, and could not meet her eye. He looked again at the tired gown she wore with such quiet dignity. The small, pale hands gripping the edge of the desk. Hands that would not touch him again. “You’ve nothing to prove to me. What I want is for you to be happy and safe.”

“I am safer and happier than I’ve ever been,” she promised.

He looked up. “How is that possible?”

“Because I am with you, Your Grace,” she said.

“Have you forgotten my name?”

“I forget nothing about you. But a secretary should not act so familiar with her employer,” Maggie explained. “You cannot treat me any differently from any other servant.”

He laughed at that and stood, crowding her against the desk. “I cannot see you any other way than I already do. We are friends, and we have kissed.”

“But you don’t want to kiss me anymore, which just goes to prove my suspicions were correct.”

“What suspicions were those?”

Maggie, however, only shook her head stubbornly. “I can never be your equal. I am your employee now, and as such, I cannot expect deferential⁠—”

She was too lovely, too appealing to let her continue with her misguided delusions. Too maddening and dear to his heart. He was drawn to her in a way he’d not expected to ever be with any woman.

It was a problem she seemed utterly unaware of, though, as she continued with her nonsense about having no place in his life.

Algernon caught her face between his hands and kissed her soundly to silence her. Something he’d wanted to do from the moment their last kiss had ended.

He drew back almost immediately and looked down into her eyes. He saw the beginning of a blush forming on her cheeks.

“You were my friend first and always will be, Maggie. My equal. My superior in intellect. You will allow me to help you into carriages, buy you books, and you will sit beside me and not next to my servants in the future. I want to take care of you.”

She stared at him, and then licked her lips. “Will you kiss me goodnight, too, and come to my bed at night if I stay?”

“No, that was our last kiss,” he vowed, and then placed her in his seat behind the desk, aware that he was being bossy again but unable to stop himself. “While I might wish for more, I cannot ruin you. I cannot share your bed if I am to marry Lady Kent.”

And there it was again.

If.

He’d said it out loud this time.

He’d much rather continue his scandalous friendship, his affair with Maggie Black, than wed the wealthy viscountess he believed was the more sensible decision. It was a problem he had still to reconcile in his own mind, choosing between heart and head. He certainly could not have both.

However, the prospect of losing Maggie and their close friendship caused him the most concern. He needed her around much more than she seemed to want him. He could not have her take up a position elsewhere, so he would behave and cherish the time he had left alone with her.