“Trifle with you?” A look of hurt flashed across his piercing blue eyes. “I do not know what you mean, Miss Hervey.”
“I do not understand why you wanted to dance with me twice,” she replied flatly.
The Duke looked at her strangely. She knew that her questioning of him was not the kind of behavior he would be expecting from a young lady in her position, but she could not help herself. She had to know his motive for behaving in such an unprecedented way. No man had ever shown her so much attention, apart from Lord Harry in those very early days when they were just getting to know one another, before the need for secrecy had begun. And now, even he ignored her at every social event, leaving her to stand without a partner for every dance.
“Miss Hervey, you really are most baffling,” the Duke said, his eyes meeting hers with a curious gaze. “Did you not wish to dance with me? You have my most sincere apologies if you felt coerced in any way.”
“No, it is not that, Your Grace,” she replied almost too quickly. “But it makes no sense to me. There are so many more ladies in the room who would be much more suitable partners for you.”
“You do say the strangest things.” He leaned against the wall where they were standing and drained his glass of punch. “That punch really is most pleasant, is it not? Rather strong, though.”
“Pray, Your Grace, do not change the subject!” she insisted. She was determined to find out the truth of it. Perhaps it was some prank, some joke amongst him and his friends?
“Madam, I do not fully understand what you wish me to say.”
She swallowed. Even for someone as candid as she, this was not proving to be an easy conversation. “I simply do not understand, Your Grace, why someone in your position would choose to dance with me, not once, but twice. In all honestly, I cannot comprehend your intentions at all.”
“You suspect me of some ulterior motive?” he asked, an incredulous note creeping into his voice.
“Your Grace, I do not wish to insult you, but you must see how it appears to me? You return after a long absence into the heart of society, and you bypass all the other ladies of the ton and focus your attentions on me, to whom no one ever pays the slightest bit of notice.” She wondered as she said the words if it might appear that she was trying to get him to flatter her, to compliment her, but she suspected that he would not. She thought that he would be too generous for that.
“Miss Hervey, I shall tell you the truth of it, and I beg you to believe me,” he said firmly. He cleared his throat before continuing. “I enjoy your company. You are different from all the other ladies of the ton. You speak your mind rather than simpering behind your fan. And I find it refreshing.” He paused, looking at her intently. “I did not want to dance with your stepsister, even though society may decree her to be a more suitable partner for me. I wanted to dance with you.”
Charlotte digested his words slowly. “Because I am different?”
“Indeed,” the Duke replied. “Spending time with you gives me pleasure. Is that so hard for you to believe?”
“Your Grace, it is very hard for me to believe,” she said, tearing her eyes away from his and looking across the room to where Lord Harry stood, still conversing in an animated fashion with Miss Thomas. “Very hard indeed.”
* * *
For one of the first times in his life, Luke felt himself almost lost for words as he looked at Miss Hervey. She was, in all honesty, the most singular woman he had ever met. What other young lady would upbraid a gentleman in such a way, essentially accusing them of having an ulterior motive in asking them to dance? The whole situation was most unusual.
“Miss Hervey,” he continued, determined to try again. “It gave me pleasure to thwart your stepmother’s blatant attempts to push Miss Jarvis onto me. I will not deny it. But I wanted to dance with you simply for the pleasure of it too. You must believe me.”
“You wished to use me as a tool, then, to show the world how rebellious you are? That you refuse to dance with the eligible young ladies and choose a misfit of society instead?” Miss Hervey replied. Her cheeks were coloring now; he hoped it was with emotion rather than from a surfeit of punch. The drink was not strong enough, though, to have such an effect on anyone, even someone unused to drinking alcohol. It was more likely that she was becoming angry with him. She was not one to hide her feelings, after all; he had seen that on the day they had first met.
“I do not consider you a misfit, Miss Hervey,” he replied, trying to keep his tone calm. He had to admit to himself, though, that this conversation he was presently engaged in was not like any he had ever had in a ballroom before. Not like one he had had anywhere, in fact. “I consider you to be singular, and very interesting, but not a misfit.”
“Do not mock me, Your Grace!” she protested. “I had thought you were too generous for that, but I see I was wrong. Is some friend of yours about to jump out at us from a hiding place to laugh with you, that you have succeeded in making the whole room gape while you danced with the least desirable lady of the ton? Is that the game that you are playing with me?”
“Miss Hervey, please, you say such dramatic things!” He tried to speak lightly, to dissipate the growing tension between them, but he could see from the look on her face that his efforts were in vain. Her color was rising with every moment that passed.
“No, Your Grace, I will not have it,” she replied hotly. “I will not have you behaving as if I am some exotic bird, some odd creature to be stared at and marveled at.” She placed her empty glass down with a thud and stared at him, her eyes flashing. She looked exactly like she had done on that sunny afternoon a few days ago when she emerged through the woodland, disheveled and covered in mud, ready to chastise him for reading her letters.
“Miss –” Luke protested, but she would not allow him to speak.
“Your Grace, I have told you what people think of us here, of my sister and me. And I am sure that you knew already, before you met me, as our reputation is considerable. So, what else am I to think? That you toy with me for your own amusement, or perhaps to make some point, although I do not know to whom you would wish to make it. To show everyone that the great Duke will not conform to what society expects of him, perhaps.”
Luke felt somewhat flummoxed by her tirade because, of course, she was right in so many respects. He did not want to behave the way everyone expected him to, dancing with all the pert young misses and indulging their mothers with tedious small talk. Bowing and scraping to their fathers and pretending not to be embarrassed when the subject of dowries was dropped into conversation. He did not want to live a conventional life, even though he knew that this was the path laid out for him as a duke with a large estate and many responsibilities. But he did not, nay, he could not allow her to believe that she was a mere trifle to him.
“Please, Miss Hervey, you must allow me to explain,” he said, softening his tone now. He was desperate to persuade her to calm herself a little.
“No, Your Grace, you must allow me to explain!” she insisted. “I do not wish people to spend time with me because they find me amusing or novel. I wish people to seek out my company because they genuinely like me.” She paused, it seemed to Luke almost to catch her breath, as the flurry of words poured out of her. “I know how people see me, and I know that anyone who spends time with me in a place like this must have some kind of ulterior motive. Especially someone like you.” She finally stopped and closed her eyes for a moment, as if she was spent by the outpouring of emotion. When she opened them again, he thought he saw the faintest hint of a tear in the corner of one of those mysterious brown eyes.
“Miss Hervey, please, do try to calm yourself,” he said in a low voice.
“I am perfectly calm, Your Grace,” she bit back, although her tone did not match her statement. “But the truth of it is clear to me now. If you genuinely wanted to spend time with me, then you would be forced to hide it and conceal any interest you might have in me.”
