Page 18 of Always the Chaperone

“You do know your refusal makes me even more determined to win you, don’t you?” He grinned as his gaze flickered over her body. Laughing, he pulled away, shouting behind him, “Until the ball!”

Chapter Six

William bowed andhoped to God the boring young woman before him had not noticed his stifled yawn.

“…which was what I said to her, yet she clearly had not listened, for when I saw her today…”

Was this ball never-ending? He had been forced to accept the invitation, as he always had since taking this godforsaken title.

How much easier things were when he had been Major Lennox. If he had not wished to attend a ball, he had not. If he did not wish to speak to a person or listen to them drone on about something which did not capture his interest, he could mutter an apology and leave.

But now he was a duke, always on the edge of offending someone by not laughing at the right time, or nodding after a certain phrase, or praising a particular person. It was intolerable, this continuous need to keep society happy.

“…for the mistake was entirely his own, and he did understand this when I pointed it out…”

Another yawn was forced down as William’s eyes glazed. He was trapped in conversation with a young woman who may have been Miss Jones or Miss Jane, he could not remember which, and her mother.

If he had known how utterly dull this ball was going to be, he would not have come. Or at least he would have spent more than five seconds attempting to construct an excuse. Perhaps he should have done so the moment Lady Charlotte rejected him.

The memory of stroking her thigh in the curricle as she quivered under his touch sparked in his mind. A wicked grin crept over his face.

It was the slightest of touches. His manhood throbbed painfully at the thought of being the first man to make Charlotte cry out with ecstasy, those dark lashes fluttering.

“…do not you think?”

Miss Jones stared. Uncomfortably jolted back to the present, William opened his mouth with little thought of what he would say.

“I am sure, Your Grace agrees,” said the mother. She was smiling indulgently at her daughter as though she was the most incredible thing she had ever seen.

William tried not to sigh. Was it possible to have an interesting conversation at all? Bath was absolutely packed full of people, but the only person who had spoken any sense to him since he had arrived was Charlotte.

“I do indeed agree,” he said hastily.

Miss Jones looked delighted, a delicate flush gracing her cheeks. Her mother looked between the two of them with a satisfied nod.

“Come, Jane,” she said. “We must not monopolize His Grace’s time. If we stay talking with him much longer, there will be gossip about the two of you!”

Mother and daughter dropped into low curtseys, Miss Jones tilting her shoulders to allow him a deeper look down her gown, and they were gone.

William blew out a breath. What a harridan! And yet, she had been no different, truth be told, than half a dozen of the other young ladies who had moved toward him as though stalking him in the wild.

His gaze fell on the dancers, watching them lazily. He had always heard such good reports of Braedon’s balls, but this one was the slowest he had ever attended.

He was no fool. Painful as it was to admit, if Charlotte—Lady Charlotte, he must call her that in company—had agreed to accompany him, he would have enjoyed the evening.

The moment she had refused him, he had been plagued with twin feelings of frustration and longing. How could she deny him after tantalizing her so? How could he find so little joy here because one woman was absent?

How strange that she could have such power over him so quickly.

The music ended, and the dancers bowed and curtseyed, moving away to their respective parties, leaving him a clear view of Charlotte seated on the other side of the room.

William’s breath caught in his throat. So, she had rejected him but attended anyway—the minx! Her blue gown looked worn, washed so frequently it had become gray, and she was wearing no jewels or feathers of any kind.

None of this prevented her from being the most beautiful woman in the room.

Something jolted in his stomach, and William unconsciously brought his hand up as though he had been physically punched. It wasn’t lust, but it was damn close.

She was speaking to a young woman and had not noticed him at all. Excitement flared as he began to stride across the ballroom floor.