Chapter Nine #3
He chuckled. ‘Yes, I am, and that is exactly how I know, Miss Granger.’ He also knew he would never be good enough for her, despite her sweetness, beauty and his intense attraction to her.
He was also too selfish, too careless and she deserved…
everything. He cast the thoughts aside as they made his chest tighten.
He wished it were not true. He wished he could indeed be the better man and the prince she deserved.
But he was merely a beast unworthy of her beauty.
And he also needed a dependable wife he did not love. This marriage of his was to be a contract, not a love affair, and he cared for Ophelia Granger too deeply already. What a mess a marriage with her would be.
No. He just had to keep reminding himself that she was not his match, and she never would be. He simply wouldn’t allow it.
There. Now that was settled.
‘And do you know how to win over a lady, my lord? It has been some time since you have had to woo anyone, if I am not mistaken?’
Her words, while said sweetly, held a sharp sting. He frowned at her. ‘You are not mistaken.’
‘Then, I think it best we use the days we have between now and the ball to begin a tutorial of sorts in those ways of wooing.’
‘You plan to give me a tutorial in such matters?’ To his credit, he spoke the words without laughing. He stood and paced around his desk. ‘While I mean no blatant disrespect, I do not think you can school me on such matters when you have even less experience than I.’
‘Oh, no?’ she asked, standing up as well. She lifted her brow and popped her hands to her hips. My, she was pretty when she was irritated, which made him want to drive her mad.
‘No, I don’t,’ he countered, committing fully to his stance.
‘Then what do you propose, my lord?’ she said with a sigh.
‘Shall I bring in Miss Hastings so you will choose to trust my judgement?’ She walked closer to him, settling far too intimately into his space.
So much so that he took a step back only to be confused when she took another step toward him, her gaze locked on his. His pulse increased.
What was she doing?
She smiled and stepped back. ‘Just seeing if you were still able to hold your ground, my lord,’ she replied.
‘If I were a lady who was interested in you, I would be quite put out by your refusal of my attentions just now.’ She sighed.
‘But perhaps you are right. You know all there is to know about a lady and her desires and I do not.’
Lucas sputtered out a reply while running a hand through his hair. ‘I was simply…being gentlemanly.’ When he faltered before meeting her gaze again, Miss Granger wore a rather bemused expression with her hands clasped against her chest.
‘Gentlemanly?’ she challenged.
He stood taller, adjusted his cravat and stepped into her space this time.
‘And what would you know about standing your ground if you faced a similar advance, Miss Granger?’ He met her gaze and leaned his torso forward, extending his hand, moving it just behind her waist, careful not to actually touch her.
She froze, her wide eyes following his movements, her lips slightly parted.
When he reached for the book resting behind her on his desk and brought it back to show her, she exhaled and released an airy, ‘Oh, my lord, I could have handed you that.’
‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘You could have, if retrieving it was my sole purpose.’ He left his intention hanging in the air.
She frowned. ‘I see. Trying to prove a point?’
‘Yes. That perhaps both of us need some refreshers on how to manage the other sex if we are to secure a match, whether it be now or later.’
She flushed at the word sex and immediately he regretted his turn of phrase as her reaction made him think of a thousand other images he shouldn’t, namely what such an intimacy would be like with her.
It was evident she was inexperienced, but something told him she would be an eager and willing student.
Cad. Get a hold of yourself.
Standing his ground with her was going to be difficult, but he had survived worse, had he not? He just needed to practice his self-control.
He could master his emotions and this inconvenient attraction to her. He could. Starting now.
He sniffed and turned to sit in the chair behind his desk to create a physical barrier between them. Spending time with her would be a joyful torture, but he couldn’t bring himself to end it, even if a part of him knew he should.
‘As much as I am reluctant to admit your point, my lord, I do believe you have one. May I?’ she asked, gesturing to the smaller bureau with its own set of ink pot and quill.
‘Of course,’ he replied and encouraged her to sit.
‘It shall only take me a few moments. I need to adjust the schedule I created before arriving.’ Miss Granger gathered the rolled parchment she had brought with her and settled in at the bureau with it.
After opening it and securing the edges down with items she found on the desk, she began editing her work.
As promised, it did not take too long, but Lucas found himself impatient to see what she was crafting and tapped his fingers along his thigh where no one else would see.
When she finished, she sprinkled some sand over her work, and shook off the excess. His pulse picked up speed. She rose, walked over to him and spread out the parchment before him.
‘Our plan, my lord. Look it over.’
She settled into the chair opposite him, and as he scanned the document, he tried not to be ill.
Almost every square on the calendar he had created a few days ago contained a meeting, outing or discussion of some sort.
She had even inked in that awful masquerade ball with a sketch of a detailed mask to mark the occasion. His stomach clenched and curdled.
This was a ridiculous number of commitments for a socialite, let alone a recluse like him.
He set it down, met her gaze and said the only polite thing that came to mind. ‘Absolutely not.’