Page 21 of The Lion Duke's Proposal
“So you want to…what? Ruin me in revenge?” Julia asked flatly. “If that was your aim, you should have been plain from the beginning.”
“That’s not my interest at all.” Leander was shocked. “I simply want to retrieve the item your father took from my friend. It was a family heirloom, the kind of thing with sentimental value that can’t be replaced. Only Lord Norish knows where it is.” He paused. “Do you really think me the type of man who would set out to ruin an innocent girl?”
Julia shook her head. “Perhaps it was unkind of me to say that. I judged you to be the type of man who would bend the rules to achieve his aims, and who could be utterly ruthless in doing so.”
“Looks can deceive,” he admitted, “nevertheless, I would never cause harm to someone innocent. Particularly, another victim of Lord Norish.”
There was another long silence. He supposed she must be processing everything he’d just told her. He knew he was asking a lot of her by proposing this agreement, and he hoped that having been honest with her, he might have earned a little more of her trust.
“And our dowries?” she asked finally. She bit into her bottom lip, and Leander wondered why the sudden question. “You would ensure it gets to us? If I were to agree to your proposal, I mean.”
“Of course,” he replied. “Once I am face-to-face with Lord Norish, I’ll be able to ensure we all receive what’s due to us.”
“You think yourself a persuasive man, don’t you?” she said wryly.
“Iknowmyself to be a persuasive man,” he replied, grinning widely. “It’s not often that I fail to get what I want once I set my mind to it. Which reminds me, Miss Norish, you still owe me a dance.”
“You really wish to dance?” She turned to look at him properly, and he thought he saw a faint blush staining her cheeks. He liked it.
“We made a deal, didn’t we?” He held out his hand.
“Just so we’re clear, this doesn’t mean I’m accepting your offer,” Miss Norish stated as she took his hand. It was the first time he’d touched her, and for a moment, he was distracted by the warmth of her fingers through her gloves. “It’s just a dance.”
“Just a dance,” he agreed, shaking his head to clear it, and led her back into the ballroom just as the dancers were beginning to line up. “Although, if I may ask - does your sister have any current prospects?”
She looked down quickly, as if trying to hide her expression. “No.”
“Well then, Miss Norish,” he continued as the music began, “You shall have to make your decision sooner rather than later, wouldn’t you say?”
“You act like it’s a foregone conclusion,” she pointed out.
“Well, like I said…” He drew her close before spinning back out. “I know myself to be a very persuasive man.”
She blushed again, and for a moment Leander forgot himself. He wasn’t trying to build a scheme to trap her father, and she wasn’t just his co-conspirator. He was simply a man, and she was simply a woman, enjoying themselves in the moment as the music carried them from one movement to the next. She moved so gracefully, and her hair flew around her face, framing the freckles that spanned her nose. He hadn’t noticed them before.
Then the music ended, and with it, reality returned. She bowed politely and left to return to her sister. Leander was left lingering a few seconds longer on the dance floor, trying to commit to memory what that tiny moment of joy had felt like.
It was a feeling he’d not experienced in a very long time.
Julia tossed and turned under the covers, unable to sleep. The beds at the Pridewell estate were the most comfortable she’d ever seen in her life, but for some reason, her mind just wouldn’t allow her to relax. She rolled over again, staring at the ceiling and willing herself into slumber.
“Are you awake, Julia?” a small voice came from the other bed.
“I’m sorry, Poppy,” she replied in a whisper. “Did I wake you?”
“No. I can’t sleep.” Poppy sat up in bed and lit a candle, the flickering light illuminating her worried expression. “I’m worried, Julia. Lord Blackwell didn’t approach me all evening. Do you think I did something wrong?”
Julia’s gut lurched. Quite aside from everything that had happened with the Duke, which still played on her mind, she hadn’t yet had the chance to tell Poppy or Lady Bendon what had transpired between herself and Lord Stockhill earlier in the evening. “Poppy, it’s nothing you did, I promise.”
“But it is something?” she asked, latching onto Julia’s words. “Tell me.”
Julia sighed. She hadn’t wanted to discuss it tonight, but it was clear that neither of them was going to get any sleep at this rate, so she lit a candle of her own and moved over to Poppy’s bed. “Lord Blackwell came to speak with me at the ball tonight.”
“What did he say?” she asked eagerly, then took note of Julia’s face. “What did he say?” she then repeated, in a slower and more anxious tone.
“He very much enjoys your company, Poppy,” Julia explained, “and he returned to his mother yesterday, informing her of his intentions to court you. But she has been negotiating with Lord and Lady Burbank and wanted to know what we could offer. So tonight, Lord Blackwell came to ask me about the circumstances of your dowry in order to see whether he might finally turn Miss Burbank down and make an offer to you instead.”
Poppy’s face was ashen, and her voice trembled as she spoke. “What happened? Please, Julia, just tell me.”
