Page 40 of Corrupting his Duchess

“I look at you like someone who needs a stern warning.”

His brow arched. “Then by all means, warn me. Use that devastating tone.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re impossible.”

“And you,” he said, stepping close enough that she had to tip her head back to hold his gaze, “are luminous when you're angry. Terrifying, too. It’s a heady combination.”

“That’s not a compliment.”

“Oh, it absolutely is.” He gave a soft chuckle, then tilted his head. “You’re here to tell me off, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” The word came out sharper than she intended. She cleared her throat. “I am.”

He moved to the side, circling slowly, studying her like something he meant to memorize. “And is this how you usually tell men off? In a nightgown? Alone in their rooms after midnight?”

She flushed, flustered and furious all at once. “I was not thinking clearly.”

“I hope not,” he said smoothly. “I’d be very disappointed if you were thinking clearly while doing something so deliciously improper.”

“You shouldn’t flirt with me.”

“I don’t flirt,” he said, amused. “I provoke. You flirt.”

“I do not!”

He laughed. “That’s exactly what someone flirting would say.”

Anna stepped back, toward the hearth, trying to catch her breath. “This is exactly why I came,” she said more to herself than him. “To remind myself that you’re dangerous. That I have responsibilities.”

“To marry, you mean.” He was beside her again, too close. “To someone proper and dull.”

“To someone who won’t try to kiss me in the shadows and then pretend it meant nothing.”

He froze. “Is that what you think I’ve done?”

“I don’t know what you’ve done. You flirt, you mock, you smirk,”

“You drive me mad.”

The words dropped between them like a stone in still water.

Her breath hitched. “What?”

“You walk into rooms like you own them. You challenge every word I say. You look at me like you see something I haven’t shown anyone in years. That is not something I can ignore, Anna.”

It was the way he said her name. Like it cost him.

She let out a soft, helpless laugh. “You are impossible.”

“And you are here.”

That did it.

That maddening patience. That quiet, steady gaze that made her feel unspooled. He wasn’t asking for her kiss, he hadn’t askedfor anything, and that was the most dangerous part. Because it meant she had walked into this of her own will.

Her heart thundered as she stepped toward him. Close enough to see the golden flecks in his eyes.

“I shouldn’t,” she whispered.