Page 54 of Her Heartless Duke

Still, he could not let her leave just like that. They had just slept together, damn it. He had taken her innocence from her. If Daniel were to demand justice for his sister at dawn, he would be well justified in doing so.

“Olivia,” he began. “About what happened—”

She whirled around, her eyes narrowed. The chemise slipped off one dainty shoulder and Isaac found himself momentarily distracted until she bit out rather curtly, “What do you mean about what happened?”

“About what happened between us tonight, damn it!” he nearly burst out in frustration. “We just—”

“Nothing of consequence happened.” Her voice was flat, her eyes as still as a mountain pond. “You do not need to explain. We both know that whatever it was that occurred between us… well, it remains here. It cannot go anywhere else.”

Isaac was flabbergasted at her nonplussed response. Perhaps, he should be relieved that she was handling it all so calmly. He had all but ruined her and if word of this ever got out, she would never be able to hold her head up in Society again.

She let out a soft sigh and he wished she would say something—anything—other than this dreadful calmness.

“You like Lady Vivian,” she continued, her tone that of an adult placating a small child. “And I… well, I like someone else.”

“You like someone else.”

She nodded with a small smile. “That is correct.”

Who?Isaac wanted to ask. Instead, he chose to keep his mouth shut.

“We simply gave in to our impulses. Nothing more,” she continued, standing before him fully dressed but with her hair still gloriously unbound.

She looked so calm and collected, but Isaac felt almost defeated.

“Yes, I suppose you could put it that way,” he muttered finally.

“Lovely,” she beamed at him. “I hope this will not change matters between us, Your Grace.”

Your Grace. Only an hour or so had passed when she was wailing his name in ecstasy. Now, it was merelyYour Grace.

“Of course not,” he replied.

“So, our lessons will carry on as usual?”

“You may come back tomorrow. Same time.”

She flashed him a grateful smile. “Thank you, Your Grace.”

“Anytime, Lady Olivia,” he muttered, keeping his hands behind him so that she would not see how he had clenched them into fists. “I shall ask Horace to summon the coach to take you home.”

“There is no need,” she told him with a slight shake of her head. “I can take a hackney—”

“I insist.”

“Very well,” she nodded with a slight smile—one that he was beginning to dislike. “Then, thank you very much, Your Grace.”

“Just wait here while I have the carriage prepared.”

He saw her nod again before he strode out of the grand ballroom of Anderleigh Hall, nearly bumping into poor Horace, who was probably hovering just around the corner, waiting to be summoned.

“Your Grace!” he exclaimed.

Isaac found the man’s exuberant cheerfulness almost blinding and most terribly irritating presently.

“Lady Olivia will require a carriage to take her back home to Bennet House,” he told the butler curtly.

“So soon, Your Grace?”