Page 32 of An Inconvenient Duke

But she didn’t have the strength for more right then. Heaving out a long exhale of exasperation, she faced the door. “Claudia, I don’t—”

She froze. Not Claudia.

Marcus.

He stood in the doorway, surprised to find her here. Alone. But of course he was. After all, Dani had been as thick as thieves with Claudia and Harriett tonight, not moving from either lady’s side for fear of exactly this happening—finding herself alone with Marcus. She’d wanted to avoid at all costs a continuation of their last conversation in the carriage.

Apparently, fate was out to get her.

He stepped into the room and closed the door. But when he stalked slowly toward her, his dark gaze daring to trail over her and heating her skin everywhere he looked, it wasn’t panic that spiraled through her but something else just as intense, just as unsettling.

“If you’re looking for Claudia,” she interjected before he could speak, “she’s gone up to check on Pippa.”

“I wasn’t.”

When he stopped in front of her, she lifted her chin, readying for battle. “If you were looking forme, then you should know that I—”

“I wasn’t,” he repeated with a lift of his brow.

Well,thatstung. Yet it wasn’t enough to tamp down her suspicions. “Then why are you here?”

In answer, he stepped around her to the liquor cabinet and held up a bottle. “The best port in the house. If Trousdale and I are to be subjected to talk of weddings and trousseaus for the remainder of the evening, then we’ll need to be properly fortified for it.”

“Oh.” She frowned with chagrin, feeling like a goose for thinking he’d sought her out. Most likely, he hadn’t given last night’s kisses a second thought, when they’d been practically all she’d been able to think about. “So if we’re here, and Claudia is upstairs with Pippa, then poor Mr. Trousdale—”

“Is alone in the drawing room with the viscountess,” he finished as he removed two glasses from the cabinet.

Poor Mr. Trousdale indeed. “By all means, you should return and rescue him.”

“I think Trousdale can fend for himself against an old woman for a few minutes.”

“Then you don’t know Auntie very well. At any moment, she’s likely to launch into her story about Napoleon.”

“Let me guess.” He poured the dark port into both glasses. “Boney had a pet pig who helped him invade Russia.”

“A greyhound named Pierre, actually.”

He froze for a beat, then replaced the bottle. “You are making that up.”

“I wish I were,” she sighed.

He sent her a pleading look over his shoulder. “Don’t make me go back there.”

“Well, you cannot stay in here with me.”Alone.

“Why not? I think we have a lot of things to discuss, don’t you?”

“And I think I’ve said all that needs to be said about those things.”

“Not even close.” Walking back to her, he held out one of the glasses.

She glanced down at the port, recognizing it for what it was. Not a drink but a challenge. And not to see if she would dare to take it or decry that proper ladies didn’t drink port but if she were bold enough to remain here with him.

But she’d never backed down from a challenge in her life and accepted it. “Thank you.”

With a knowing smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, he crossed behind his desk and gestured toward the pair of wingback chairs across from him in invitation for her to sit.

Dani hesitated. She knew she shouldn’t. In fact, she should have already left to rejoin the others in the drawing room. Sitting would only invite him to delve further into her secrets and to chastise her once again for the dangers of Nightingale. Yet she couldn’t help herself. This was her opportunity to put an end to all his prying…and other things he had no business doing with her.