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She forced a smile, fluttered her eyelashes, and then hurried away before he could change his mind. Through the crowd, she made sure to go in the opposite direction of where her mother was standing in wait. Where she was going, she had no idea. So long as she could not be found.

Diana found such a spot a few moments later.

It was around the side of the great manor, technically not a part of the back garden, rather a pathway that connected the front drive to the back garden. It was a narrow maze of hedges, and she was happy to sit herself in a small alcove that they made while she pondered what she was going to do.

I cannot let him get his way. No matter what, I will not give in to the marquess.

Easier said than done. The marquess was clearly a man who got what he wanted. Worse, her mother was through being patient and if he insisted on courting her, even marrying her, she knew her mother would jump at the chance.

This meant that Diana was going to have to do something brash. Something that would turn the marquess off completely. A risk, she knew. But desperate times...

A chance presented itself a moment later.

As Diana sat hidden in that small alcove of hedges, she heard footsteps approaching. They were heavy, so they must have been male. In her mind, it was the marquess, coming to see where she had gotten herself off to.

This was her chance. Alone, so there would be no social embarrassment. If she was to... strongly turn him down, perhaps that would be the end of it? Not something that Diana wanted to do, but something she must do.

The footsteps came closer.

She was crouched down, but she got to her feet, bracing herself. An idea suddenly came to mind, a means by which she knew that she could turn him away while claiming that she was simply trying to defend herself – she was being followed, she was fighting for her life! It was not her fault, and she was simply acting accordingly.

Through the hedge she spied a thick stick, and she snatched at it, holding it above her head as if she meant to hit who came for her. Which she very much did.

Her breathing rose. Her heart began to race. Flashes through her mind of what her mother would say when she found out, pushed down because the footsteps were upon her. A shadow rounded the small alcove and without stopping to consider the consequences, she acted.

Diana swung the stick with all her might and --

A pair of strong hands caught her arm in a firm grip.

“What on earth are you doing?” spoke a voice she did not recognize, belonging to a man she had never seen before.

Diana gawped at the stranger. From his dark mane of hair to his dark green eyes to his square chin to his indomitable presence, she found herself completely in his thrall.

Her heart was still racing, but it was for a different reason than what had set it off earlier. It was... confusion? Excitement? Embarrassment because she could not believe what she had just tried to do. And to a man such a this! Someone so gorgeous as he.

Who is this man?

ChapterTwo

“Well?” the stranger asked again, still holding her by the arms with a firm grip; by the forearms, not so hard that it hurt, of course, simply hard enough that it was like being caught in a vice. “I confess, being physically assaulted by a woman appearing from the hedges was not what I had in mind when I decided to duck out from the party early. Is this my punishment for leaving without saying goodbye?”

“I...” Diana had no idea what to say. Mortified, was how she felt. “I am sorry.”

He frowned. “Is that all you have to say?”

“I did not mean it.”

“To attack me?”

“I was not attacking you!” She realized he was still holding her by the wrists, and she tried to pull them free, but he refused to yield. If anything, his grip only increased. “I was simply... caught by surprise.”

And still, she hung onto the stick with both her hands.

“And what are you doing out here exactly?” He looked past her, into the little alcove she had been hiding in. “Are you not a little old to be playing hide and seek? Although I admit, this is not a version of the game I am aware of.”

“I was not playing anything.”

“Were you lost?” He was smirking now, as if how uncomfortable he made her amused him. “Do you need directions back to the party? It is a straight shot down the path. Frankly, I am not certain how you came to be lost in the first place.”