Celeste Bradley - [Heiress Brides 03] by Duke Most Wanted

Author:Duke Most Wanted
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Graham retied his neckcloth with hard, impatient jerks. “That was quite a display. For a moment there I wasn’t entirely sure you were faking.”

He saw doubt flare in her cloudy-sky eyes. Neither was she.

“It looked as though you needed rescuing,” she said, giving a careless shrug.

He ran distracted hands through his hair to rearrange it. “I know you’re trying to help, Sophie, but Lilah is better than some insipid virgin bride!” He shook his surcoat out with a flap and shrugged into it. “The last thing I want is to take some inexperienced infant to wife!”

He’d have to start all over again now. Lilah wouldn’t be likely to forgive such a humiliation, not even to be his duchess. His head spun in circles with his heart, confused. What a sight Sophie had been when she’d fought for him! No one had ever fought for him in his life! Disturbed and unsettled and, of course, being him, he said the wrong thing.

“Duke to be had—cheap!—going fast,” he snarled.

He saw her recoil, the disappointment plain in her expression. “But Graham . . . Lilah? No number of fine waistcoats is worth spending the rest of your life tied to that—that—canine!”

Miserable, he gave as good as he got. “That’s easy for you to say. No one is giving me lavish garments for nothing!”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ve been given gifts for approximately a week. You’ve been parasitical your entire life!” She threw out her hands. “God, Graham! When are you going to grow up? When are you going to realize that life isn’t a toy-filled nursery where no one cares what you break? Is that really all there is to you—a three-inch layer of self-indulgence and arrogance, wrapped around nothing at all?”

Graham stopped short. “Is that how you see me?”

She went mulish, her arms folded, her eyes furious. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”

No, actually, there wasn’t. A careless man-boy, thoughtless and destructive. That was precisely who he was—or at least, who he had been.

Sophie misinterpreted his silence and rolled her eyes scornfully. Only then did Graham see the dampness in them.

“Soph.” He took a step toward her.

She turned away, giving him her back as she swiped a secretive hand at her eyes. “Bugger off,” she snarled. “I’m going back out there to find someone who has more on his mind than money!”

“You’ve turned into such a lady,” he teased softly. He made a grab for that hand and caught it. He tugged her around. “Sophie, don’t let’s be angry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She kept her face turned away. “I’m not upset. I’m just dead sick of you, that’s all. No time for this, I fear. Too many more important people waiting for me outside.”

He drew her chin about with tender fingers. “Here now. You’ve mussed your fancy doings.” He pulled out his handkerchief and dabbed at her powdered cheeks, smoothing the lines of her tears away. “There now, all pretty again.” He dropped a quick, meaningless little kiss on her lips, so close to his own.

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