Page 6 of The Duke’s Goddess (Duke Dare #2)

“Do not be afraid to stand up for what you believe in, even if you stand alone.” –Joan of Arc

WELL, THIS WAS ABOUT to get ridiculous. Joan watched as the supposed-to-be-in-love couple approached, and she could see the coy look in Sally’s eye. Directed exclusively at James. Joan wanted to groan. And roll her eyes. And stamp her foot. And maybe just cart Sally away from the rake altogether. But of course that was not possible.

She thought her pre-dance advice had been sage and accepted. Apparently not.

“I could use a refreshment after that dance,” Sally demured. It was almost comical how she dipped her chin, fluttered her lashes, and peeked up at James while she said it. Joan challenged herself to keep her groans to herself.

Jacob didn’t notice a thing, the poor besotted fool. “I’ll go grab us some drinks.”

“Thank you, Jacob,” Sally said while eyeing James. Once Jacob was out of earshot, Sally did not relent. “Oh, is that another dance?”

Why yes, that is another dance. During a ball. That tends to happen.

“Are we all lacking a partner?” Sally asked without concern for her reputation or her future.

“Actually,” James started and paused. And Joan knew that he was giving her time to step in and decline the offer that she knew he was going to make. How she could read this man so quickly and easily already was terrifying. “Since Joan is hydrated now, we will have this dance together.”

And there it was. The exact response she had been formulating in her mind. Despite their differences, it was apparent that James shared one invaluable trait with Joan. Loyalty. James wanted Jacob to win the girl, so he wasn’t about to get in the way of that. And Joan was loyal to Sally’s reputation, and despite her friend’s lapse in judgment, she wasn’t about to let her make a foolish mistake.

One might think that Joan was about to make a foolish mistake by dancing with the rake she was trying to protect Sally from. They would be wrong. There was one clear difference between Joan and Sally. Joan wasn’t halfway in love with James. And she never would be.

It was one dance. Yes, there may be a little bit of gossip, but nothing that Joan couldn’t diffuse. It was an intimate ball, her brother-in-law was a duke, and she was simply dancing with one of her brother-in-law's best friends.

So, with that reassurance…validation…justification…excuse…Joan said, “Yes, that was what we decided.” And she took James's hand making their way to the floor, leaving Sally all alone. Well, now that wasn’t true. She was soon to be in Jacob’s ever-loving care.

“Don’t say it,” Joan preempted James's I told you so before he could produce the four disdainful words.

He chuckled. “Well, I did say—”

“You’re saying it.”

“It can’t be helped. It’s rare when a man gets to prove a woman wrong, isn’t it?” His smirk was just enough teasing, just enough affection, just enough arrogance to be just a little irksome. But somehow it was doing things to her heart as well. Things like melting it.

Serendipitously, James took that moment to twirl her, giving her a chance to catch her breath and collect her liquifying insides.

When she spun back to face him, she decided to concede his point. “Well, if you’re going to say it that way, I suppose I can accept to hear it.”

“Wonderful,” —he paused, exhaled to savor the moment, and then blurted out— “I told you so.”

A small chuckle escaped her lips unbidden. “I know when to admit my mistakes. I was wrong. I’m rather shocked to admit it, though I’m more startled to witness it—since I’ve known Sally for ages. But my friend is not as predictable as I once thought.”

“Is anyone?”

“I don’t mind saying that I’m quite predictable.” Besides her secret pastime and hidden token, she was quite predictable. It was not a trial to confess that.

“Are you?”

“Yes. I think I should know myself.”

“Would you have predicted that you would be dancing with me tonight?”

Her steps faltered. Damn this man. She really did not want him to be right twice in her presence, and so close together.

Silence was probably the best approach. That is, until he chuckled. And pressed his hand more firmly into her back. A nudge, if there ever was one. A nudge to encourage her to admit yet another mistake. A nudge that brought her an inch or two closer to him. A nudge that she wanted to ignore but couldn’t.

“Fine.” She huffed. “You are right. Again. I’m the cautious one. Predictable—usually—and I’m always watching out for the people around me.”

“If you’re busy doing that, then who’s watching out for you?”

An excellent question. Really, one that she should be asking herself. “Boudicca.” She sighed. “Any of my sisters, but more often than not it has been Boudicca.” She let her eyes scan the room for her newly wedded sister. She was nowhere to be seen for this dance. Likely she had snuck away with Wes for…a moment alone. Joan didn’t permit her mind to consider the intimacies between the two of them. Especially not right now while she was in the arms of a handsome rake. She was allowed to say that. His physical achievements were undeniable.

“She’s married now. That changes things.” James interrupted her thoughts.

“Yes, that’s very perceptive of you.”

“I’m a very perceptive man.”

“So I’ve perceived.”

His light chuckle rumbled through his fingers. The warm, strong fingers holding her and leading her through a waltz. And she couldn’t help but appreciate how good it felt to make a man laugh. Any man? Or this man? She wasn’t sure about the answer to that question. But at the very least, it was a light, frilly, feathery feeling to be able to make this man laugh.

“What are we going to do about our friends?” he asked and then swung her away from him, only to bring her back a second later. Truly, he was an elegant dancer.

“Should we do anything?” She didn’t really mean it, but she wanted to ask the question anyway.

“They’re made for each other. She just doesn’t know it yet.” How intriguing that James should think so too. Was it that obvious to everyone? Or only those closest to either Jacob or Sally? Or was James as perceptive as he claimed to be?

She wanted to know his answer. “Is that so?”

“You don’t think so?”

In fact, she did think so, but did she want to agree with a rake?

“Well…” She found Sally on the sidelines sipping a lemonade. Surprisingly, she wasn’t watching them dance. Instead, she was talking with Jacob. A small smile lit her face. “She’s in love with you.”

“No, that’s not love.” He said it so matter-of-factly that Joan was compelled to challenge him.

“She thinks it is. How can you be so sure it isn’t?”

“First of all, love doesn’t exist. Second of all—”

“Wait. That was a rather large first of all. It warrants some discussion.”

“Not sure it does,” James hummed as though he was pondering her prying statement.

“Trust me.” She paused to consider her next move.

“I do.”

That flustered her. “You do, what?”

“I do trust you.”

“You do?” Well, that was odd. He hardly knew her.

But he didn’t expand upon it other than to say, “You seem trustworthy. I’m a good judge of character.” Then he winked and added, “Trust me.”

And…she wasn’t sure if she did or not, so she let that jest go unanswered.

“About love…” She still wasn’t sure what she wanted to say at this point. Try to prove its existence? Seemed an unlikely achievable goal with the time constriction of a single dance. Maybe a simple challenge? Or just a statement of her opinion on the matter?

“Yes. What about it?” His eyes were glimmering. Almost hopeful. Eager for her response. She had better make it good.

“Yes, well, love is love.” That should do it.

He threw back his head and laughed. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Flustered, Joan pushed the conversation along. “What’s your second point as to why Sally couldn’t love you?”

“Ah yes…Second of all, even if love did exist—which it doesn't—she doesn’t know me.”

“Perhaps she knows enough.”

“She thinks she knows enough,” he corrected.

“You don’t believe in love at first sight then?”

He looked down at her then, and she wished he hadn’t. His ocean blue depths almost pulled her down and away from having her feet on solid ground. She blinked to dissolve the moment, but he continued gazing into her eyes. She had to wonder what the devil he was looking for.

“I would say no, I do not believe in love at first sight.” But his response did not sound as confident as nearly everything else the man said. “It doesn’t matter what I believe about love.” Joan watched his corded neck swallow, knowing there was more to this than what he was disclosing, but she could see he wasn’t willing or ready to discuss it.

He plodded on with his point, “What signifies here is that Sally is better off with Jacob. We both agree on that, don’t we?”

“Yes, that’s true.” She really couldn’t not agree with that. Especially since anyone would concede the point.

“If she thinks she’s in love with, or even if she is in love with me—which I highly doubt—then we need to redirect her attention to Jacob. If she sees who I really am, and sees who Jacob really is, there’s no question who she’ll pick. For marriage,” he added the last two words with a wink.

Joan skirted her eyes away while the blush crept up her neck.

“How do we do that? How do we get them to fall in love?”

“There are a few tactics we need to implement.” His eyes glimmered in mischief. Joan could appreciate that the duke liked to scheme. “First of all, of course I’ll avoid her as much as I can. If that means I end up at your side a little more frequently than before, so be it.”

A flutter swept through Joan’s body. “Why would you be around me more?”

“It’s a safe bet.” Another wink. “Also, if she thinks I’m interested in you at all, that might deter her affections.”

It seemed sound. But Joan’s mind was fully fuzzy at the moment, and sound wasn’t sounding as it should. Her mind (which at the moment was overtaken by her body) was focused far too much on the warmth of his hand on her back as his thumb slowly brushed up and down about an inch worth of space. That inch of space on her body had never felt so alive.

“Second of all, whenever the four of us are together, I’ll be sure to pair up with you. And you’ll do the same.”

She nodded along, though she wasn’t entirely sure what she was nodding to.

“And the last part, the falling in love, is the hard part. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Her eyes were glued to his lips. Soft-looking lips. Lips that had kissed many women, and from the rumors, kissed them well. What would it be like to be kissed by him? His lips were moving. He was saying words. And she was pretty sure he was waiting for her to say something.

“Wouldn’t you agree?” she heard the question now, but what it was in reference to, she wasn’t sure.

“Would I?”

“I thought you would.” He gave her a quizzical look.

“Then I’m sure I would.” That seemed the safe answer.

“Splendid. We’ll discuss this further, but this will have to do for now.” He leaned in and whispered something that if she had been paying attention didn’t need to be communicated, “The dance is over.” And then he was removing his hand from her back. And she was pulling herself back together from the liquid puddle she had become.

What had just happened? One minute Joan had been perfectly in control of herself, her thoughts, her body, and the next second it felt as though all those parts of her no longer belonged to herself. Her thoughts had vacated her body, perhaps even the ballroom. Her body moved at the whim of a thumb tip. A thumb tip!

It must just be the wedding. And talk of love. The environment was setting a mood she hadn’t expected to succumb to. And really, what kind of man spoke of love and marriage to a woman? It was unheard of. That’s why marriages were arranged. Didn’t James know anything of how polite society worked? No matter, now that Joan understood why she had been so affected by their dance, she wouldn’t allow for it to happen again. Really, there wouldn’t be the same opportunity again anyway. It’s not like they would find themselves dancing together again at someone’s wedding talking about love for a second time.