Page 17 of A Duke in Her Fate
“My mother and my two sisters.” Isla swallowed. “We’re the last of our line except for some distant cousin who left Scotland for the Americas a long time ago. And you?”
He gave a shake of his head. “Smaller. Does this mean you assist,” he had to pause as they separated for a short spell. But then he picked it up again with, “In the management of your household?”
Seeing as he ignored the odd look she sent him, Isla supposed she had best reply. After they moved together through two other dancing partners hands, she answered, “I do, yes.”
Before she could ask him a question of her own, the man had another. And another and then another. The entire dance left her breathless not for her own dancing skills, which were perfectly sound, but the barrage of questions that he brought her. It felt like she was being tested.
He asked about children, discipline, church, and horses.
“I thought…” Isla inhaled deeply as they paused between dances for the next of their set. “Your Grace, I thought you wanted a betrothal. What am I to make of this interview?”
He glanced at her. “This is how I am moving forward for our betrothal. There is nothing untoward here. I simply wish to know the woman who may enter and manage my home.”
“Very well. And yet…”
Turning toward her, he raised an eyebrow. It was an intimidation tactic. A very good one. But Isla had herself a spine and a strong chin that she raised in response.
“This doesn’t feel very romantic,” she told him.
He took her had to lead her into position for the next dance. “Few marriages are founded on romance. Keep that in your novels, if you please.”
Irritated, Isla bit her tongue to hold back any unseemly response that would surely have eyes on them once again. She let part ofthe dance slide by in silence, ignoring his continued questions until he was scowling at her.
So she asked one instead. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you doing this? You’re asking me about children and then you say there is no such thing as romance.”
“That’s not what I said. What I am saying, Lady Isla, is that there will be nothing romantic between us. I don’t need anything from you but a presentable wife amongst the ton.”
I suppose that’s a compliment he considers me presentable. He really does keep his distance from London. What everyone must say about me, I cannot imagine. No one likes the Scots. And to have one steal away a duke, goodness gracious, I will be a pariah should I wed him.
Isla swallowed. “I think you should know…”
“I know enough. I know I need a wife. And I know why you lied.” He finally deigned to look down at her. That steady gaze of his made her breath stall.
Suddenly dizzy, she started to tip backwards. She did it without thinking and nearly lost her balance. But there was the duke, his steady hands on her to keep her upright like he knew what he was doing. There was a flurry of dancers all about that let himget closer to her for just a second, where he whispered his next words.
“You are protecting yourself. I know that much, and I don’t need to know anything more. This is the bed you have laid for yourself. I have accepted your lie for a very specific reason, and you now have to make it the truth.”
“Wait, what do you mean?” She stammered, clinging to him. “What reason could that be?”
He was pulling away before she could stop him. “I’ll explain later.”
While the man was intimidatingly direct, he was also inconveniently vague. She didn’t like it. He was too confusing for her. Why couldn’t gentlemen say what they really thought? At least in Edinburgh people would tell her what was going on. Now, she couldn’t sort out if she was being insulted or blackmailed or something else.
What am I getting myself into?
The duke quietly snorted like he had heard the question. Isla gulped, wondering if she had said that aloud.
Except she couldn’t ask, and he wasn’t about to tell her.
“If you agree to marry me,” he told her, “we will be partners. That is all.”
“Partners,” Isla echoed quietly.
The dance came to an end only for her to realize she was still griping him. Her hand tightened on his upper arm in surprise. And then for a second, she thought his arm did the same. Was he flexing?
