“Do you always have a frown on your face or is that because of me?” she asked him, taking one last peek through the bush before she walked to the other side of the garden.
Colin chuckled, surprising himself with the sound. She was quite different from all the other women he had met today. He never would have believed anyone would have been able to treat him as she had, him, a Duke. Not that she knew he was one. Although he had a feeling she would not have treated him different if she knew.
“What is your name?” he asked, not answering her question.
“Why do you wish to know my name?” she asked him in return, moving away.
“I wish to know how to address you the next time I see you,” he replied and watched as something in her eyes changed.
“You were right. I should not be here and you should not have to address me if we ever met again because we should not have met,” her words rushed out as she looked around with panic in her eyes.
“I merely wish to know your name. Surely, that is not enough to cause panic?” he asked, confused by her sudden behavior especially after how brave and stubborn she had been all along.
“I should not be here. It is quite inappropriate for us to be alone in a garden, with no chaperone as you have said,” she carried on, pacing the open space as her eyes began to fill with even more panic.
“My father would have an even longer lecture for me if he finds out about this. That is if he hasn’t already discovered my absence and already has plans to do so anyway.”
Colin watched in fascination as she rambled on endlessly before pausing. She spared him one last glance and without a word, turned around and ran out of the garden, leaving him standing there, baffled as he contemplated what just happened.
