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He let out a long sigh as he shook his head, his gaze on the ground as he seemed to struggle to collect himself.

“I, too, have an unwanted and persistent person in my life,” he said after a time with clear distaste. “I understand how… uncomfortable such a situation can become.”

Madeleine let out a hollow laugh.

“You have ladies threatening to make you a husband against your will?” She couldn’t help it. The tease. It was entirely inappropriate, but it flew out of her mouth all the same.

Percy let out a huff of a laugh through his nose, and he glanced up at her.

“In a fashion,” he admitted.

Madeleine studied his expression, taking in the way his thin lips accented his white, straight teeth, how his dark brows and lashes framed those glittering emeralds he called eyes. There was no real amusement in what he was saying, despite the laugh. How many ladies, how many mamas, had tried to trap him the way Herbert had just tried to trap her?

“My father wishes to marry me to the first appropriate nobleman of high rank who asks for my hand,” she found herself saying, coming back to her own problem. “He will not be pleased that I have rejected the Earl of Mowbray’s son and heir.”

“Surely that bloke is not your only suitor,” Percy scoffed. “There will be others.”

“It does not matter,” she replied quickly. “The refusal has been given, and he will be furious with me until I either fix this situation or find someone of higher rank to marry. Something which I will not do.”

“Why not?” Percy asked, shrugging once more. “You could. You are beautiful enough to catch the eye of any man here.” Percy’s hand gestured toward the ballroom beyond.

Madeleine tilted her head as she sat up a little straighter. Did he just call her beautiful? Herbert had as well, and it had filled her with self-loathing, but as Percy said it, warmth gathered in her belly as she felt her cheeks flush red.

Trying to hide her reaction, she shook her head and replied, “I have no desire to marry, ever.”

Percy’s brows shot up in surprise. “Never?”

“Never,” Madeleine adamantly confirmed.

Percy grunted.

“Your father will not be pleased to hear that.”

“No, he will not,” she agreed with a heavy sigh. “This night has turned a nightmare. An utterly destructive nightmare.”

“Now, now,” Percy mocked. “No need to think so negatively, Monkey. You are too intelligent for that.”

Another compliment. Those, combined with the measures he’d used to nullify Herbert; made her draw only one conclusion: the man must be drunk.

“You could pretend to be courted by someone of higher rank. That might buy you some time with your father,” he offered with a careless shrug.

Madeleine looked up at Percy in surprise and nearly laughed. Yes, definitely drunk.

“And who would do such a thing on my behalf, Your Grace?”

Percy shrugged his shoulders carelessly. “Me.”

A jolt of emotion suddenly had her sitting up with a rigid spine. Surely, she misheard.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Me,” he answered quickly with another shrug. She studied his face closely, looking for that mocking glint in his features, but found none.

“You?”

“Me,” he nodded in confirmation.

“Why would you do such a thing for me?” Madeleine asked in consternation.