AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cassie could no longer blame kissing Luke for the heat coursing through her. Anger made her fingers pulse and her breaths hot. She shoved past Luke and out into the corridor, pausing for a moment to choose a direction.
“I did not know you were in ignorance as to the arrangement, Cass,” he said, hands coming to her shoulders.
She tore herself from his grip. “Yet you thought me entirely capable of—” she dropped her voice, “—kissing you whilst attached to another man.”
“I do not for one second believe either of us were thinking straight.”
She tensed her jaw and eyed him for a moment before heaving out a breath. “My quarrel is not with you, Luke.”
“Cassie—”
“Please go home. I need to speak to my father.”
He hesitated, his brow furrowing. He moved slightly as though shifting to grab her again and pull her into his hold. As independent as she tried to be, a small part of her desired nothing more than to be wrapped in his firm, strong embrace—entirely shielded from a world that apparently had her future arranged for her—without her knowledge or consent.
She shook her head to herself. When her brother returned...
“Please go,” she said softly.
He gave a brief nod, retrieved his hat and headed out of the house. She gave herself a little shake and turned away from the temptation to will him back to her.
Mrs. Lamb entered the hallway and paused. “Did I hear the door? I sent for Dr. Jennings, my lady.”
“The viscount is quite well and has decided to recuperate at home.”
“Recuperate at home?” Mrs. Lamb echoed.
“Where is my father?” Cassie demanded.
“In the library still, I’d imagine.”
“Of course,” Cassie muttered and stalked through the adjoining rooms toward the library, ignoring Mrs. Lamb asking if all was well. She shoved open the library doors and her father’s gaze snapped up. He shoved his spectacles up his nose and peered at her from his position behind the large desk that sat in the shady corner of the library.
“Cassie? You are lucky I was only reading and not doing any notation.”
“Did you know, Papa?”
“Know what, dear?” He gave a warm smile as she approached.
She could not fathom that her father might agree to such a match without her consent yet he was so absent-minded these days that he could very well have done and scarcely remembered it. For the most part, she did not mind his lack of involvement in her life. It gave her much more freedom than many of her friends. But to give her away so easily, to a man a good twenty years her senior merely because he happened to be a duke...
“About the Duke of Marsbeck?”
His brows furrowed. “Marsbeck?” He tapped a finger to his lips. “Is he not the chap who insisted beards would come into fashion soon?” Her father gave a shudder. “Most unsightly.”
Cassie could think of worse things than a beard upon the man’s chin. Namely, that he was quite the stranger to her, given the difference in age. “Did you know?”
Her father tugged off his glasses and set them aside. “You really should learn to be clear in your demands, Cassie. you are a duke’s daughter after all. Pause and think through your words.”
“That Anton was negotiating my engagement to the duke?”
He blinked a few times, glanced down at the book in front of him then shook his head. “I would have remembered such a thing.”
“It seems Aunt Sarah is aware of it.”
“Hmmm.” He sighed. “Your brother may have mentioned it but I cannot recall.” He waved at the book in front of him. “You know how my studies occupy my time.” He rose and took her hand. “But, Cassie, Anton loves you. Perhaps you could take a moment to calm your senses and remember he only wants the best for you.”
“The best for me is most certainly not marriage to the Duke of Marsbeck!” She snatched her hand back.
