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Hawthorne’s white teeth gleamed in a grin as he snatched Anne’s hand and kissed her gloved knuckles. “My dear duchess, would you spare a dance for me?”
How could she dance when every inch of her was stiff with shock? Anger soon loosened her voice, but not before he cupped a hand under her elbow and guided her to the dancing. “What are you doing here, Hawthorne?”
“I came to dance with my beautiful wife.”
“Surely not to try to sweep me off my feet?”
As they stood waiting for the music to begin, she heard the swell of murmurs. The people closest to him inched away. Hawthorne didn’t react, the same sardonic look on his face as always. He looked expensive, exquisite, and bored, as if he were a million miles from the crowd and they were the only two in the room.
A rush of anger on his behalf flooded through her.
The music started and they started to dance. “How can you bear it?” she asked in low tones, sending a scathing look at those around her. She may be ready to throttle Hawthorne herself, but the man was aduke. Didn’t that incur any respect anymore? What was the point of ducal power without societal influence?
“I would bear much more if necessary,” he told her, and she saw a flash of emotion in his eyes. “But this, you see, is why I have need of you.”
Anne allowed herself to be lifted, then twirled. “Oh?”
“I need that pristine reputation of yours.”
“Even my good name is not my own, but is merely another appendage of the duchy?” Her stomach twisted at the thought of losing her reputation by proxy. By dancing with him, did it appear as if she accepted his return?
“When was it ever your own, after you linked it to mine in matrimony? Your reputation as a Hawthorne is unparalleled. What is it I heard them call you after I arrived tonight?” He grinned. “Ah, yes. The Discerning Duchess. The Stickler of Society.”
“No doubt from dandified Corinthians with more fashion than sense. Your monikers are far less kind,” she snapped. “The Duke of Misrule is the one currently in fashion.”
“Indeed, I heard it muttered under some wag’s breath as I passed him in White’s the other day.”
Her lips thinned. “You brought it on yourself.” But she felt unconvinced, uncomfortable with the way people were staring at him.
“I did it for love,” he said softly, his deep-set eyes full of emotion.
“You didn’t have to be so public about it,” she whispered, her fingers tightening on his arm. “No one would have raised a brow if you had kept things discreet. Instead, you drew attention to the scandal and allowed it to grow.”
“And has your love of secrecy resulted in such a difference here in London?” Hawthorne laughed. “Are you still cautioning ladies from standing too close to each other, or berating a young miss when she refuses to dance in preference to gossiping with a jaunty widow?”
Anne’s face burned. “It is my duty to protect them! I swore to myself to shield all those that I could find, to guide them away from such public displays. We all risk danger when people act imprudently. Public action draws attention to us all.” She looked around. “Which is exactly what you have done, and you see the result before you now. Social ostracization.”
“Which brings me back to my need of you. I wish to be reputable again.”
“Do not use me for your own gains,” she warned him.
“No one is being used,” he said. “But you and I were meant to be together, you know.”
Anne laughed, clutching his arm as they spun and whirled. “Tell that to your lover, Sir Phineas.”
“We were meant torule, not to love. Unparalleled wealth. Limitless power. Look at these people around us, laughing and sniggering at me, for something so simple and so basic as love. We could have had it all, you and I.”
“Are you seriously disregarding the fact that ten years ago,you left me?”
“I can’t change the past. I can only do things differently now.”
“I trusted you,” she choked out, her heart hammering in her chest with anger and hurt. She could blame her flushed face on the dancing, but it would be harder to hide the welling tears that threatened to spill. She was horrified, as she prided herself on showing as little emotion as possible in public. These feelings had lain dormant in her for so many years, and now it felt as if they choked her. “You betrayed me, leaving me here all alone with the gossip and yourmotherand the responsibility of hundreds of people who rely on the duchy. You should have stayed.”
“I know. And I am sorrier than I can say.” Hawthorne gazed down at her, his eyes intense, so close that their breath mingled. She inhaled his smoky amber cologne and was swamped with memory. “We could still have it all. If you make me respectable again, I could rule by your side.”
She wanted to believe it. “You are full of nonsense,” Anne said, blinking back the tears. “I want nothing to do with you, or your plans.”
When the dance ended and the music faded, she could still hear the whispers swirling around them. Hawthorne grinned at her. “Think about it, Annie,” he said. “I’ll be in touch.”
