Page 93 of Winning Her Duke

“Yes, of course.” She set aside the embroidery, glad to have a respite from the disaster she was making. “Shortly after you left, my father and Lydia were betrothed…” She went on to tell him they were going to have a child after securing his discretion.

“I am pleased for their happiness and sorry I missed the celebration, but this doesn’t explain why you are betrothed,” he said when she thought she’d explained enough. Obviously not.

“Don’t you see, my father brought me to London to see me married so he could move on with his life. I didn’t know how selfish I was being to resist his plans before. Once I realized I couldn’t continue on as a burden for him and Lydia and eventually my younger brother or sister, I knew I needed to make the best of the Season and find a match.”

“And Lord Duncan is that match? He’s asked for your hand? And you’ve said yes.”

“He hasn’t asked for my hand yet. He is waiting for father to return to speak to him before he officially proposes, but he and I have come to an understanding.”

“An understanding that includes embroidery and restricts laughter at incredibly witty puns?” he nearly shouted as he came out of his seat to pace about the room.

“It’s time I put all of that aside so I can focus on being the countess he needs.”

“All of that? Laughter and painting? All of that is the essence of who you are, Gia, and you’re willing to give it all up so you will not be a burden to a father who loves you and would never think of you as such?”

He was speaking so quickly she had to concentrate to keep up.

“Whether he thinks me a burden or not isn’t the issue. I can’t continue on as I have. It’s time to grow up.”

“Do you love him?” The duke’s motions were becoming more frantic by the moment.

“My father? Yes. I mean, I’m still displeased by the way he manipulated me to—”

“No. Lord Duncan. Do you love him?”

“Well, no. But he is pleasant, and I’ve come to think of him as a friend.”

“Have you and he…?”

Gia looked away and answered, though she wouldn’t have had to.

“No. And we won’t until the wedding night. I’ll not lie and pretend to be chaste, but he didn’t ask, so I don’t think it matters to him.”

She hoped that was the case. She thought perhaps the man simply assumed she was still a maiden and didn’t think to question it.

Jeremy looked quite angry, so she decided to shift the conversation to the part he would enjoy.

“As a countess, I won’t be able to train horses any longer, but I will be giving you Arabella as a gift. She is, after all, what brought you into my life and I will always think of you fondly.”

“I come back to find the woman I hold in the highest regard has contorted her very existence into something she never wanted to be in an effort to do the very thing she never wanted to do, and ye think to appease me with a fucking horse?” His anger caused his Scottish lilt to be more pronounced. He took a deep breath, but it didn’t seem to help calm him.

But no, the breath was just so he had more oxygen to continue yelling at her.

“Did ye consider once in this preposterous plan that I had offered for you already? If you wished to marry, you had only to speak to me about it and I would have renewed my offer.”

“I did consider it. But you weren’t here, and I didn’t know when you would return. But even if you had been here, I knew you didn’t really want to marry and I couldn’t ask it of you.”

“If you’ll excuse me, I must return home.” He turned for the door and didn’t so much as look back at her as he stole from the house.

Tears flooded her eyes when she heard the front door open and close.

That hadn’t gone as she’d expected at all.

She’d hoped that in the time he was gone she’d gotten over him. But when he left, it felt as if he’d taken a large part of her heart with him.

*

Hale walked about Mayfair unsure of where he was going or who he might have passed without so much as a greeting. He was angry and didn’t know who he was angry at.