Page 24 of Winning Her Duke

She blinked and his smile fell away as if he only then caught what he’d said in front of a lady.

“Forgive me. I forgot who I was speaking to.”

She laughed. “I appreciate that you think of me as a friend instead of a lady.”

“Aye.” His eyes went wide. “That is, I do think of you as a friend, but you are also a lady. Obviously. You are both and that is what I forgot.” Were his cheeks turning pink? It was difficult to see in the dim light at the edges of the dance floor, but she thought so.

What fun. Had she wanted to run away a moment ago? Now she didn’t want to stop teasing him.

“Has anyone mentioned how much brighter the sun is in the day than the night?” he asked tilting his head.

She slapped him lightly on the shoulder and smiled with just a hint of mischief.

“You seem flushed, Your Grace. Perhaps we should take some air. I wouldn’t want you to overheat.”

“Very well. You are a horrid dancer anyway.” He offered a look of mock distaste which had her laughing again. She was no floating angel, but she managed proficiently. He was teasing her, and she enjoyed it more than she should.

“If I liked dancing, I might take offense, but I really don’t,” she said as he led her from the dance floor and out on the terrace. It was a cool April evening so there weren’t many others outside, but they weren’t alone either.

A few people glanced their way before leaning together to whisper. How ridiculous. They couldn’t be more wrong about what was happening between her and Hale.

The duke was a flirt and nothing more. He didn’t really have an interest in her beyond friendship and assistance with his horse.

He winced as he turned toward her.

“I feel as if I should warn my friends who risked their feet in a ruse to ask you nosey questions regarding our acquaintance.” He tilted his head as if looking up at the dark sky. “On second thought, they deserve what they get.”

They shared a laugh but when they fell silent, she considered his words.

“What would you have me tell them about our acquaintance?” Obviously, there wasn’t anything scandalous to say, but perhaps he didn’t want them to know of their friendship.

“I have already told them the truth. That I visited your home looking for a man, but realized I was looking for you instead and we became friends.”

“That should be easy enough to remember,” she said feeling slightly disappointed by how simple he made their association seem. Their acquaintance was simple indeed, but it felt bigger to her. More important. She shook her head.

He turned to look at her.

“May I ask you an impertinent question?” he asked.

“Of course. As you said, we are friends.” If her voice sounded a bit stilted, she would never admit to it.

“Giovanni?” His lips quirked. “I’m a bit rusty in my Italian but it is a man’s name, is it not? I was not wrong to assume I would be meeting a gentleman?”

“It’s quite a sad story actually.” Gia had never known her mother but missed her often. There were empty places in her heart and questions she had that only her mother would have had the answers to.

She’d learned all that was needed to know about womanhood from her lady’s maid, but it wasn’t the same.

“As you know, my mother was Italian and as my birth grew near, she considered names for both a boy and a girl. Giovanni for a boy. Verona for a girl. She repeated it to my father often to make sure he knew her wishes.”

Hale nodded.

“But minutes after my birth, my mother suffered a complication. They brought my father into the room, per her instructions.”

Hale had leaned closer as she spoke and she took a deep breath of the scent she had come to recognize as distinctly his. Warm leather and the sweetness of fresh hay.

She cleared her throat and continued.

“Years later he realized my mother was asking him if I was Giovanni or Verona, but at the time, my father—panicked as he was—only heard her repeating Giovanni Verona over and over until she died. And so, he named me Giovanni Verona.” She laughed. “It’s horrid, I know.”