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Chapter Four
Antony watched as the stranger flicked her head up toward him. With her head lifted, the candlelight fell on her features, flattering the high cheekbones and revealing what he had already suspected: she was very beautiful. When she found him standing nearby between the bookshelves, her eyes widened in response, but she said nothing, at least not at first. With those eyes looking straight at him, Antony felt a lurch in his stomach.
Attraction.
He knew this feeling, of course he did, but he was hardly expecting a woman who behaved so impolitely in his own home as to wander the place at night and read his books without permission would cause such a reaction
“Did you hear me?” he asked, trying to hold onto his anger. “I said who are you? And what are you doing in that chair?”
“I beg your pardon?” she said, startled as she sat straighter in the seat, making no move to get out of the chair. “I am a guest here. If I choose to sit in a chair, then that is my business. It is hardly the matter for a member of the staff to discuss.” She gestured toward him.
Antony almost laughed, but he managed to hold it in as he gazed down at his clothes. Naturally, he didn’t look like a Duke at this moment, but he hadn’t considered for one minute that someone would actually make that error.
“You should not be in here,” she said, lifting her book to hide her face. “Leave at once.”
“I should not be?” he said in amazement. For some reason, he didn’t find himself correcting her on her error. He was too baffled by the way in which she had spoken to him. No one spoke to him in such a way, ever. Women were always demure and overly kind to him out of fear of offending him. “Since when can guests wander a house late at night without permission of their host?”
“I am reading a book; it is hardly the greatest sin that was ever done, is it?” she said, lowering the book another time. The strength in her gaze made Antony walk toward her. The closer her got to her, the stronger that lurch of attraction was in his stomach.
She was incredibly beautiful, with those lips still parted as she stared back at him. Had she been one of the bawds in the gentleman’s club, he would have happily propositioned her. Yet clearly, from the extent of her gown, she had to be a lady of some refinement.
“Get out of the chair,” he ordered her, gesturing down to it. In his mind’s eye, he could still picture his father there instead. He had to get her out of it as soon as possible.
“Why?” she asked. Despite how close he now stood, practically towering over her in the chair, she did not recoil from him and neither did she cower.
“Because I am telling you to,” he said, lifting his chin higher. He was about to reveal who he really was, that he was the duke, and chastise her for being so outspoken to someone in his position when she spoke again, preventing him from saying anything.
“And you think just because you give an order, I have to follow it, do you?” she challenged, the corner of her lips turned up in a smile. “How typical, though particularly audacious from a member of staff, I must say.”
“Staff!?” he repeated in horror. “I am–”
“Just because a man has given a woman an order, he expects her to follow it. Do you really imagine that to be the case?” She was clearly expecting an answer to her question. Blindsided by the challenge in her tone and the way in which his eyes kept glancing down at those pink lips, he forgot about trying to tell her just who he was.
“It is a simple order,” he said, taking a step back from her. “I am not one of those men who expects women to answer his beck and call, but I do expect you to get out of that chair. In fact, go to bed. Retire now.”
“Just because you issue more orders does not mean I am likely to follow any more of them,” she said with a smirk before picking up the book again to read.
Antony nearly let out a growl of frustration. He was torn, trapped somewhere between his fury at this stranger and the desire that was now pulsing in his body. He’d never been challenged so before. Every woman he’d been with was delicate, putting up an act of obedience. This woman was different entirely. It burned within him to know what it could be like to explore his desire with a woman such as her.
“If you are merely going to stare at me all night, then I will be sure to complain to the Duke tomorrow morning,” she said, not taking her eyes off the book. Antony was so amused by the idea that she still thought him staff that he decided that it would be more fun to continue the charade.
What will she say when she discovers who I really am?He rather wanted to find out an answer to his question, but not until he had pushed this ruse for as long as possible.
“My master will probably be very happy that I am tipping someone out of his chair.”
“Hischair?” she scoffed, looking up at him over the book again. “It is just a chair. In his house. He’s not using it now, anyway, is he?” She pointed out.
“He doesn’t like other people to sit in that chair,” he said, leaning down toward her. This time, the close distance he had put them at affected her.
As he placed his hands on the arms of the chair, effectively trapping her into the chair, she lowered the book completely to her lap and stared at him. She blushed this time, those white alabaster cheeks filling with a reddening that was delectable to him. He found himself imagining other ways in which he could make her blush.
Stop thinking of it!He shouted the order in his head.
“He is not here to see it,” she said, before lifting a hand and pointing straight at his chest. “Now, back away. If I have to report to the Duke tomorrow what liberties you are taking this evening in standing so close to me, he may well send you away.”
“You would actually try to have a member of staff from this household ousted just because I am making you uncomfortable?” He was so shocked by the idea that his jaw opened wide.
“No. I would not jeopardize someone’s livelihood in that way,” she said quickly, pinching the bridge of her nose, “but neither should you be making a guest in this house so uncomfortable. Step away. Now,” she ordered him.
