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Looking at him was most intoxicating—the more she looked, the more she was lost.

She heard him laugh and realized he’d been talking to her but she’d been too distracted again.

“Pardon me, Your Grace.” She flushed. “I usually pay more attention.”

He smiled slowly.

“It is all right.” He nodded. “I’ve been told I’m very distracting company.”

She quirked an eyebrow at his arrogance. “Far from it,” she teased. “Who is to say I don’t have a lover on my mind?”

“You do not look the type to entertain lovers.”

She tried for a flirtatious grin, wanting to hide how her cheeks reddened at that last word. “Do not underestimate me, Your Grace,” she warned playfully. “There are a lot of things you do not know about me.”

He laughed loud and long, drawing the attention of the people around them. When he calmed, he spun her in a move that made her dizzy as the musicians played a lively tune.

“To be rather honest, Your Grace, I am somewhat relieved that you asked me to dance,” Arabella admitted, looking over his shoulder at the older gentlemen looking longingly at her.

“Why is that?” the Duke asked, his eyes on her.

“While I love my brother, I find tonight’s turnout a little grim,” she said, glancing around, looking anywhere except at him.

He let out a hearty chuckle again. “I am amazed by your ability to make me laugh, My Lady. I find that I have had little reason to before tonight.” He smiled. “Indeed, Lord Thorne had mentioned that you were not fond of tonight’s—oh, what did he call it? Right.Options.”

“I fear he may be correct.”

Talking to the Duke was a lot easier for Arabella than she had imagined it would be. She had imagined that he would be stiff, much like a lot of the other men of the ton. But she had never been happier to be proven wrong.

“Tell me, does that still ring true now?” he asked, twirling her around once. “Do you still find all of your options grim?”

“I guess that will depend on how I feel by the end of tonight,” she replied, not quite sure where her sudden bout of courage came from.

The two danced in companionable silence for the next half minute or so, simply enjoying each other’s company. Edward was the first to speak up.

“To be rather honest with you, I was not looking forward to attending tonight’s party,” he admitted. “But as it is, I find I’m sufficiently entertained.”

Arabella looked up at him quizzically, not wondering why he hadn’t wanted to attend, but rather why he came. Her family’s standing in Society was way beneath his, so he wasn’t obligated to attend the party. Unless…

Arabella remembered the rumors surrounding him and the warning her sister and the maid had given her.

She didn’t dare repeat the rumor to his face, but her expression said it all.

“Enlighten me, Your Grace,” she demanded despite herself.

“Your company has proven most enjoyable.” He nodded. “I’d like to ask for a continual dalliance between us.”

Her eyebrows rose to her hairline. Was he asking for…?

“I apologize if I have misspoken,” he added. “I only wish to have the pleasure of your company if I have to attend any more torrid affairs.”

“Are you calling our ball a torrid affair?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “You’re absolutely incorrigible.”

“You wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”

“I truly wouldn’t.” He laughed.