Page 7 of The Duke In My Bed (The Heirs’ Club of Scoundrels #1)

She sensed the duke was growing weary of their conversation by the deep frown line between his eyes, but she had more to say.

“My uncle never wanted the responsibility for us in the first place, so I am not surprised by his unscrupulous actions. But I can’t believe you would accept. A true gentleman wouldn’t have.”

“A true gentleman did—all because I made a promise to a dying friend. It’s also true your uncle left me no choice.

I couldn’t deny that I was the proper person to take care of the woman I said I would marry.

More than a dozen men heard me tell your brother I would.

And most of them have long wondered why I haven’t made good on my word. ”

“Rubbish! I don’t believe for a minute that anyone even remembers my brother, let alone your vow to him.”

“On the contrary, Miss Prim—they expect a gentleman to keep his word, so what am I to do? I can assure you the last thing I want is to be in charge of a gaggle of blond-haired, blue-eyed girls who run around the house screaming like banshees thinking the hounds of Hell are after them.”

Louisa expelled another harsh sound. She rose tall on her toes and lifted her face toward the duke. “Did you call my sisters banshees?”

His hard gaze bored into hers. “Did you and your sister race around this house making noises that would have woken the dead?”

She blushed despite her indignation. “You’re a beast.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, too.”

“That doesn’t surprise me in the least,” she countered. “Say what you truly feel about me, but do not speak of my sisters in such a manner.”

She heard him curse under his breath and saw the muscles working in his neck. “I said like banshees, not that they are.”

“Same meaning,” she said, pressing harder, unwilling to let him off the hook for his offensive expression or back away from him. “Would you say something so unkind about your brothers or sisters?”

“Yes. If I had any. It so happens I don’t.”

“Cousins, then.”

“I don’t have any of those either.”

She blinked slowly as she studied on that pronouncement. “It’s not natural for anyone not to have at least one or two cousins somewhere in their family.”

“I agree, but that’s the way it is. I’m afraid that blame will have to be put on my parents’ shoulders for being only children as well. And before you ask—yes, I do have a few friends, and they would only laugh at such a remark as I just made.”

“No wonder. It’s a testament to the kind of friends you have.

But no matter about that, I will see a solicitor tomorrow and tell him we must have a day in the Court of Chancery.

I have the right to protest what my uncle did, and I will.

I won’t have you responsible for us, and the court must get you changed for someone else. ”

He lowered his face closer to hers. “You know I can’t allow that.”

His words were spoken quietly, but Louisa bristled all the same, meeting him stare for stare. “How can you stop me?”

“Your uncle left you in my care. The courts are not likely to change that as long as I am willing.”

“My sisters are not some wild and reckless duke’s responsibility.

They are my mine to care for. Furthermore, my uncle could not force me to marry you, and neither can you.

I will not marry a man whose culpability led him to send me a halfhearted offer of marriage to try to rid himself of his guilt and shame, a man who is so rash as to race a curricle on a foggy night. ”

His nose edged closer to hers. “Did you call me wild and reckless?”

“From all I’ve read in the Society pages and the scandal sheets, the shoe fits perfectly, Your Grace.”

“So you get your information from the scandal pages and call it truth?”

“That and from what my brother told me before his death about you and his colleagues at the Heirs’ Club.”

“I assume he told you this after he’d had a pint or two of ale or more than a few sips of brandy.”

“Which you probably gave him to drink before he left London. So yes, I know about your midnight races, your card games that go on for days, and the many bedchambers you have slipped in and out of to accept a dare or to win a challenge. You should be called the Heirs’ Club of Scoundrels, from what I’ve heard, because that is exactly what all of you are. ”

His chest heaved as rapidly as hers. They were locked in a battle of wills.

She stared intently at him, and as she looked into the bright green depths of his eyes, she watched the lines around them ease.

Slowly she saw his broad shoulders relax.

His angry glare wilted. A smile spread his masculine lips.

His gaze dropped to her lips and lingered there. “You know, you are so close to me right now that I could kiss you, Miss Prim.”

All the breath seemed to swoosh out of her lungs and she blinked slowly. “Pardon?”

“You are so bent on getting the best of me that you haven’t even realized your lips are a mere fraction of an inch from mine.

I’m trying to decide if I should kiss you and be the wild rogue you accuse me of being, or if I should step away and be the gentleman you insist I’m not. Tell me, Miss Prim, which should I be?”

Louisa’s lips parted, she lifted her head, but then in a moment of sanity she whirled from the duke. She pushed her hair to the back of her shoulders again, shaken by the strange sensations the duke stirred inside her.

He chuckled softly. “I will take care of you and your sisters for now, Miss Prim. You cannot change that. I’ll set up accounts for you at the best modiste, millinery, and fabric shops in Town.

I’m sure there are other things you will need, so I’ll send someone around tomorrow who can help you.

I’ll see to it that Miss Gwen receives more invitations than she can possibly accept and that the patronesses of Almack’s are introduced to her at the first ball.

Then it will be up to you to see that she passes their inspection. ”

“Of course she will,” Louisa said, slowly regaining her composure.

He nodded once. “And as for you, Miss Prim, I will not ask you to marry me again.”

“Thank heavens,” she whispered, stepping back, her knees wobbly once more, though this time with something not so easily explained.

“I will wait for you to propose to me.”

Louisa blinked some more, and then blinked again before her mouth slammed shut and she glared. “Then you will die an old bachelor, Your Grace.”

“A challenge it is, then. I accept.”

He smiled so devilishly that her breasts tingled and a warm fluttering swirled in her lower stomach.

“I’ll show myself out,” he said.

Louisa watched the duke leave. What a smug man he was to think she would ever propose to him. But for an instant, if she were truthful with herself, she had contemplated receiving the kiss he offered.