Chapter 2 #2
“I prefer my study, broad daylight is overrated. As for tea, I can arrange for that.”
Prim felt the feelings she harbored all day, with every passing minute, every moment, every heartbeat leaping to her throat, rise to rightful indignation.
“Why didn’t you come?” She asked sharply.
It was the Duke’s turn to avoid her eyes. But not to retain his calm. He was clearly avoiding her. His gaze fixed right over her shoulder, his hands hiding in the pockets of his breeches, his jaw ticking, his eyebrow raised.
Oh, no, Prim realized in dread.
The Duke believed that she was responsible for the sheet.
He thought the same thing that her parents thought.
He knew, of course, that every little thing on the sheet was a blatant lie, so he could only surmise that she provided the faux scandal to force his hand.
And here she was, in his study, after hours.
Now that she has seen him up close, she was certain that the entire ton was thinking the same.
There wasn’t a woman in all of England who could coax tender names from a man like the Duke.
Least of all her. He was impressive, she was not.
Everyone knew that the Duke wouldn’t waste his time with someone like her.
Prim’s resolution crumbled. That is why he didn’t come.
He accused her of this, he thought of her as an opportunistic schemer.
He was not going to help her. She was alone in this.
She had to protect her sisters at least. How?
In the eyes of everyone, she was either a shameless seductress or a malicious trickster.
Her lungs squeezed painfully. Something inside her tightened so fiercely it hurt to breathe. All her confidence gone, her anger evaporated by the fortitude of her shame and despair. She couldn’t bear to look at him anymore.
“Miss Jenkins?” He must have seen the sudden change in her disposition.
Prim didn’t know what to do.
“Are you feeling well, Miss P.J.? Five minutes passed, and you have yet to insult me.”
Prim looked at her gloved hands that tightened around her reticule. She didn’t dare look up and see the same look her own parents gave her this very morning.
“Look at me.” His voice was commanding, a deep, naturally hoarse timbre.
Prim didn’t comply, not out of defiance, but out of pure fear. She was at the edge of the cliff, and seeing his accusatory look would tip her over.
“Miss Jenkins,” he sounded so much closer. “I said, look at me.”
She pulled the side of her lip again and again and shook her head in denial. This couldn’t be happening.
“Miss P.J.”
He was right in front of her. She could feel his aura suffocating her, feel the warmth coming off his body, useless against her cold skin.
That changed rapidly. He raised his arm, the rustling of his shirt echoing in the room.
Then Prim felt his fingers catching her chin and forcing her to look at him.
A current like lightning travelled through her body when his skin made contact with hers. Gloves were not a fashion choice, they were armor. And now she was defenseless.
The Duke pulled her chin up. And given their height difference, Prim was forced to crane her neck, expose it completely. Still, her eyes were cast down, almost closed.
“Miss Jenkins,” he said lowly, the strength lined underneath a thrilling feeling. “You will look at me.”
“I didn’t write it!” Prim blurted out.
The shock was enough for the duke to release her.
“You didn’t write what?”
“I didn’t write the sheet,” Prim said, still avoiding his eyes. “I know you think I did for nefarious and indecent reasons, but I swear I never-”
“I know you didn’t write it.”
“Of course, I didn’t write it, Your Gra… Excuse me?”
“I know you didn’t write this letter.”
Prim’s eyes snapped to his so fast, she almost got dizzy. The Duke was looking down at her with a straight face.
“You…” Prim struggled to find words. “Everyone else seems to be under that impression.”
“Well, not me.”
Prim looked in his eyes again, inquisitively. His eyes searched hers with intensity, the firelight flickering in those bottomless blues.
He was sincere. This man, whom she didn’t know and whose name was dragged with hers into the mud, believed her to be innocent. Perhaps she was too hasty in judging him.
“I bet, Miss Jenkins,” he chuckled, “that this interferes with your insulting schedule.”
Or most likely she wasn’t all that hasty.
“I will squeeze all my insults in the next half hour, I promise,” Prim deadpanned. “How are you sure, I haven’t written that embezzled lie, Your Grace?”
“The seal. It’s wrong.”
Prim glared in confusion.
“Arrogance is the downfall of men,” The Duke scoffed.
“There are exceptions to this rule, unfortunately,” Prim murmured. “Please elaborate.”
“It’s true I ordered a new seal with the protruding tongue. It’s not here, though. So, whoever forged the article knows about the order, but not that I don’t actually have it.”
“I see,” Prim frowned and caught her chin with her finger in thought. “So, it’s someone close enough to know of the new seal but not close enough to know that it was not delivered. The article was not aimed at me.”
The Duke looked at her with amusement.
“Reasonable thinking. I know. Quite a shock,” she answered to his incredulous look. “Someone is after you. Then all I am is collateral?”
“I have entertained the idea.”
“I was so engrossed in my problem that I hadn’t examined that angle. They used me because I am a nobody. Plus, my family’s reputation…”
The Duke stepped away and went for the whiskey decanter. He seemed tense, and anger radiated off him in suffocating waves. There was a reason the thought of the Duke being the one targeted never crossed her mind. Who would be foolish enough to go against him?
“Either way,” Prim said since the hour was getting late and the Duke was consuming alcohol at an alarming pace, “we need to work together to address this problem.”
“I totally agree.”
“Such a novel sentiment, I am sure. Is there a plan?”
“Be mine.”
Prim’s body seized all functions. All her cognitive functions were focused on analyzing what he said. Her jaw slacked, and she shook her head lightly in disbelief.
“Such an intoxicating idea,” she said pointedly.
“Are you calling me drunk?”
“I am not calling you. You are apparently.”
“You did promise to insult me for the next half an hour,” the Duke chuckled.
“You are not in any state to discuss seriously on the matter.,” Prim said, and turned to leave.
“I am sober. And I am offering the only solution.”
“Your Grace, what are you offering, exactly?”
“Courtship. Fake, of course.”
Prim studied him, a dangerous endeavor, looking upon his face, but she needed to know if he was serious. Unfortunately, the Duke seemed to be totally sincere in his proposal. He set the glass aside and walked up to her, the same way a wolf carefully circles its prey.
“Come on, Miss P.J.,” he purred. “You must agree this is the optimal path.”
Prim tightened her jaw and inhaled. Being courted openly by the Duke would temporarily, at least, hush the gossip.
“It is the last thing that the culprits would expect of me,” the Duke said, his voice laden with contained anger. “We’ve established that they are arrogant. And arrogant, angry people make mistakes. Only you, me, and these people would know that this is fake.”
“So, they wouldn’t expect you to behave decently. They seem to know you intimately. Perhaps a scorned lover, though the list must be exhausting.”
“Two insults in the same breath. I am impressed.”
“Impressing you is my life’s goal,” she said, sarcasm dripping with every word.
His look turned cold. His mind seemed to focus.
“It’s my job to lure them out,” the Duke replied darkly. “So, do you agree?”
He was once more close to her. Prim hated the fact that he was this tall, dominating over her.
“Your reputation will be restored. Gentlemen will notice you. You will certainly get suitors. Envy works wonders on men.”
Prim felt dizzy from his suffocating presence, his look dangerous and inviting. It was as if he were asking her to play. And for a moment there, she was tempted to.
“All you need to do is play your part,” he said darkly.
Play her part. The Duke was ready to play a game and she was just a pawn. She would have to pretend being smitten by him, bask in his false attention, feel lucky and grateful that the Duke, awed by his regard.
All the while knowing that he was a man that calmly watched a woman run away from his home in the dead of the night, crying. This plan would have Prim dangerously indebted to such a man. She might have better fate with the lions in the ton’s arena.
“I am honoured by His Grace’s proposal,” Prim bit with the way that showed that she really was not in fact honoured, “but I am afraid I will have to decline.”
Prim had no mood for games, no matter how alluring they seemed. Especially with a man like him. She may be in a dire situation, yet Prim still had enough of her dignity intact to refuse to entertain an infamous rake.
That last thought was the coup de grace.
She realized that she was in fact alone, at night, and chaperoned in the study of the most reckless rake in London.
Alone with a man whose name was enough to cause a scandal.
She must have been mad coming here at this hour without anyone knowing. It was time to end this foolishness.
“Now,” Prim felt a primal instinct of survival come over her. “I will take my leave, Your Grace. Good night.”
“Very well,” the Duke said lightly.
Prim felt relief as if she were in a vice and now allowed to breathe. She took one step towards the door, but didn’t go far. The Duke and his massive body leaned to her, cutting her flight to freedom and sanity abruptly.
“Let me make myself clear, Miss Jenkins.” his voice stole her breath. “Someone wants to hurt me, and they are using you as their weapon of choice. Your reasonable thinking must tell you that we are bound by this.”
Prim’s knees were ready to give in, and cold sweat ran down her spine. The Duke delivered the final blow.
“Whether you like it or not,” he said in her ear, “you are mine to protect.”
Prim didn’t even realize that she ran away till she was sitting alone in the hack, her heart in her throat.