Page 26 of Corrupting his Duchess

He only gave her a little assessing smile.

“Hmm.” She tilted her head. “And here I thought you were running from something.”

“Or someone?” Nathaniel added lazily, tossing a grape in the air and catching it with the ease of a man with no real problems.

Gretchen shot him a warning glance. “Don’t stir the pot, Your Grace.”

“Just trying to follow the plot, my lady.”

“There is no plot,” Anna said swiftly, cheeks coloring. “We’re simply talking.”

“Lively sort of talk,” Sophia said under her breath, failing to hide her smile.

Henry shifted a little closer, the angle of his body directed just slightly toward Anna now. “And here I thought I was being charming.”

“Oh, no,” Anna replied, finally glancing up at him. “That’s what Miss Lonsdale was for. You were perfectly charming a moment ago, didn’t you hear her giggle like a teapot?”

Nathaniel, reclined with his boots crossed, tossed a grape lazily into the air. “He gets that a lot. Girls love a man who looks like he’s hiding a tragic history and a gambling habit.”

“Neither of which apply,” Henry said dryly.

“You’re not tragic?” Anna asked, eyes narrowing with false innocence.

“Not in the least.”

“Pity.”

He laughed, genuinely, and Anna felt it thrum through her chest in a way she did not like. She turned slightly, pretending to brush a nonexistent crumb from her skirt.

It was Matthew who broke the quiet. “You seem to enjoy challenging one another.”

Anna glanced at Henry, the corner of her mouth lifted, “Only because His Grace insists on being…inscrutable.”

Henry’s lips twitched, though he said nothing. He simply watched her, his brow slightly furrowed but an amused gleam in his eyes. He was watching her now, studying her with that calculating look he often had when something intrigued him.

"Well, I suppose I’ll have to improve my emotional expression," Henry said, finally speaking up, the air of command he always carried even in moments of casual conversation. "Inscrutable, you say?" His voice was light but carried an undercurrent of something more.

Anna raised an eyebrow, her mouth curving into a half-smile. "Only in the most charitable sense, Your Grace"

"You wound me, Lady Anna," he said with exaggerated indignation. "And here I thought we were getting along splendidly."

Anna folded her hands in her lap, her tone still light but a little too pointed. “Well, if you’re collecting admirers, perhaps you ought not distract the rest of us in the process.”

There was a pause, just a breath too long.

Sophia blinked. Natalie glanced up from her book, curious.

Henry’s smile didn’t falter, but his gaze narrowed, intrigued.

Anna reached for her cordial, but her fingers slipped slightly—too quick. The glass wobbled in her hand. She steadied it, but not before Henry noticed.

Before she could answer, Gretchen sat up. “Enough of this gothic business. Let’s have a game.”

Nathaniel grinned. “Cards or scandal?”

“Is there a difference?” Julia asked sweetly, passing Anna a knowing look.

She leaned into Sophia, whispering far too loudly, “Is it just me, or do His Grace and Anna argue like a pair of fishwives?”