Page 26 of Winning Her Duke

“Perhaps, but talk is one thing. Evidence is another. And while true we are in the gardens, we are within sight of the house and everyone is staring at us from the terrace. Should we wave?”

“No. But very well. Lydia will have probably heard the rumors spreading and will want to leave.” The crease that formed between her brows made him desperate to see her smile again.

“You look quite disappointed for someone who doesn’t enjoy dancing.” He had exaggerated earlier by calling her a horrible dancer, but she wasn’t good either. She hadn’t stepped on his feet, but it was as if she wished to lead. Perhaps it would have been easier than fighting her on which direction they should turn.

“I will miss out on dancing with your handsome friends and ferreting out secrets about you.”

He laughed despite the twinge of jealousy that struck him.

“And I will miss trying to wrestle you into submission on the dance floor again tonight.”

She smacked him lightly in the arm and he felt a sizzle of happiness spark up his spine at her touch.

She wasn’t even gone when he found himself looking forward to seeing her the next day.

Chapter Eight

Since her father had returned from his business in Kent late the night before, Gia sent a message to Hale letting him know she wouldn’t be going out that morning for her usual ride.

She instead planned to speak to her father regarding his fruitless plans to keep her in town.

“Father,” she said coldly as she entered the breakfast room.

“Still with father instead of papa? That must mean you’ve yet to forgive me for my slight manipulation to bring you to London.” He frowned at his plate before setting in on his ham. Whatever guilt he felt obviously wasn’t enough to displace his appetite.

“Your manipulation wasn’t slight. And as Lydia will confirm when she arrives, it was all for naught. The same rumors that ran us from London years ago have prevailed and I am once again a pariah to be avoided.

“I expected as much,” he said, unaffected, before taking another large bite.

“You expected me to be ignored, but yet you forced me to stay? I had not thought you a cruel man before. I see I was wrong.”

“I am not a cruel man. It is that I regret allowing an easy escape during your come out years ago. If we’d stayed and faced the tongue-waggers back then, things might have been different. I had only wanted to get you to safety. But safety is not always the correct path when facing adversity.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The man had some wild fantasy that she would suddenly be accepted by society if she only stood up to them. If that were all there was to it, she would have done it. She was no coward.

She’d taken the most skittish of horses and made him a formidable racer.

But there was no winning with these people. They demanded perfection and to hell with anyone who didn’t measure up.

She would never fit in. They would never accept her.

“You would have me change who I am to satisfy a group of people I have no interest in impressing? You care that little for me? Perhaps it isn’t just the ton that rejects my existence.”

“You know that isn’t true. I love you the way you are. That isn’t to say you couldn’t bend a little. Not everyone here is bad. If you made an effort to make a friend or two, that could go a long way to moving past the gossip. Lydia will help you if you let her.”

Gia thought of the friends she’d made during her come out. They hadn’t turned out to be friends at all. They’d turned on her as quickly as a leaf in a breeze.

She didn’t expect the fickle women of the ton would welcome her to their drawing rooms with open arms.

She tilted her head and stifled a smile. She had made one friend since arriving in London. Though she doubted a scandalous duke was what her father had in mind when he’d spoken of her making friends.

It was best not to bring it up. Not when she had plans to meet Hale to start training Godspell that afternoon.

“Then you plan to force me to stay here?” she asked.

“I would rather you didn’t use the word ‘force.’ Rather I wish you to stay and show them that the daughter of Caterina Landon is not ashamed of who she is.”

“I am not ashamed.”