Page 101 of Dukes for Dessert

His eyes met hers with a smoldering heat, and she had to clench her thighs together against a wave of arousal. “The pleasure was entirely mine.”

“Not entirely. Don’t make me argue with you.” She winked at him before departing the dining room.

As she entered the drawing room, she looked for Cecilia. Her new friend owed her an explanation.

Unfortunately, Juno had to patiently wait to draw their hostess away from Lady Bentham and Mrs. Hadley, two ladies who liked to talk incessantly. At last, she had Cecilia alone. Then a footman offered them glasses of madeira.

“Why thank you, Vincent,” Cecilia said, taking one of the wineglasses.

Juno also took one and swallowed a sip as the footman moved on. She fixed an expectant stare on Cecilia. “Are you playing matchmaker with me and the duke?”

Surprise rippled across her features. “Of course not. Why would I do that?”

“I can’t think of a single reason, particularly since you also recommended me to Lady Gilpin. However, I can’t discount the ways in which I’ve been alone with the duke today.”

“Because of the ride back in the coach?” Cecilia waved her hand. “I do apologize for abandoning you to travel with my husband.”

“You also didn’t spend any of the promenade with me, despite looking back to check on my progress.” Juno narrowed her eyes. “You weren’t checking my progress, though, were you? You were trying to see if I was still with Dare.”

Cecilia’s lashes fluttered. “‘Dare?’”

A low sound vibrated in Juno’s throat.

“Goodness, you sounded like him just then.”

“I did not.” Perhaps a little.

“Why are you calling him Dare?” Cecilia asked coyly.

Juno rolled her eyes. “Because I grew tired of calling him the rigid duke.”

Cecilia’s eyes rounded. “Did you call him that to his face?”

Ignoring the question, Juno took another sip of wine. “You also sat me next to him at dinner again when there was no reason to. Do you deny that you’re playing matchmaker?”

Lifting a shoulder, Cecilia also drank. “Do you deny that you and he are attracted to each other?”

Was it obvious? Juno tamped down a surge of apprehension. “That doesn’t signify.”

“Doesn’t it?” A glint of triumph lit Cecilia’s eyes.

“You can’t think he’d marry me. I don’t even want to get married.”

Cecilia looked down at her wine. “I’m sorry. I should have spoken to you first. It’s only that, well, you seem to share the connection that he and Lady Marina lacked. Call me a romantic, but I believe in love.” Her gaze drifted in the direction of the dining room, and Juno thought she must be thinking of her husband.

“I used to,” Juno said quietly. “I think perhaps I stopped—at least for me—when my husband… Well, when he turned out to be not quite what I’d hoped.” His penchant for drink and general lack of focus on her and their marriage had become troublesome before his death. She’d hoped they would get back to the bliss of their courtship, but then he’d tumbled down that hill.

“That sounds like quite a tale. If you believed in love once, you will again,” Cecilia said with a smile. “You just need to meet the right person. Perhaps you already have.”

“The duke?” Juno scoffed. “I am not in love with him.” She was something, though. He wasn’t at all the type of man she would have expected to provoke romantic thoughts. Yet she’d thought of him far too much since kissing him. Thoughts that had only multiplied—and intensified—since their ride together in the coach earlier.

“I just hope you aren’t closed to the idea,” Cecilia said warmly. “It would be a shame to miss out on something special, even if it isn’t forever.”

Of course it wouldn’t be forever. He needed a duchess, and that could never be her. As tempted as she was by him, she needed to keep her eye on the future. That future contained Lady Gilpin’s daughter.

To that end, Juno ought to go and speak with her. But the gentlemen started to filter into the drawing room, and Juno held her breath waiting for Dare to appear.

He filled the doorway, commanding her complete attention—from the thick, dark hair atop his head that she hadn’t yet gotten to run her fingers through to the delectable athleticism of his body, obvious when he walked, but even more so when he held her in his arms. Heat suffused her, and she wondered how she would stay away from him for the duration of her stay.