School For Heiresses 2- Only a Duke Will Do by Sabrina Jeffries

Author:Sabrina Jeffries [Jeffries, Sabrina]
Format: epub
Tags: Sabrina Jeffries
ISBN: 1416516093
Publisher: Pocket
Published: 2009-03-04T06:10:11+00:00

“Really?” she said coldly. “Do tell.”

“I didn’t mean to say what I did, I swear.” His hands clenching the reins, he stared at the macadam road. “That night when you told me I mustn’t see you again until you came of age, I saw my plans crumbling. The words just came out—”

He halted, realizing how feeble it sounded. Yet it was true. Desperate to keep from losing the king’s influence, he had spoken the fateful words that had changed his life forever: Run away with me. I love you. Marry me.

A second later, he had regretted them. Even in the throes of his youthful ambition, he’d realized he’d gone too far. But he still had not taken them back.

And when her face had lit up and she had said yes, kissing her had seemed perfectly natural. Especially when he had dreamed of it for weeks, had thought of it in the night, had burned to touch her—

“The point is, sir,” Louisa said, “I don’t care anymore if you’ve changed. I don’t intend to marry anyone ever. Neither you nor any other man.”

He refused to believe her. His sister had professed the same desire until she had succumbed to Draker’s advances. So if Louisa meant to drive him off, she would have to do better. “Say what you will, you are not the sort of woman to—”

“Dedicate her life to a cause?”

“Give up men. You are too passionate to endure life as a spinster.”

“Just because I melted into a puddle when you kissed me seven years ago—”

“And four nights ago,” he growled.

“I told you, that was an experiment. It didn’t mean anything.”

He eyed her askance. “And that is why you avoid me.” His sarcasm thickened. “That is why today you were headed off to hide—”

“I wasn’t!” With a furtive glance behind her, she lowered her voice. “My cause is just more important than you or me or what once happened between us.”

But a pretty blush stained her cheeks and her hands trembled, which sent a surge of triumph through him.

“Prove it.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Prove that your cause is more bloody important than anything else. Let me advise your committee. You know very well I can be invaluable to you. And don’t give me that rot about not trusting me. If I wanted to ferret out your secrets, I would. But give me a chance, and I can be very useful in helping you navigate political waters. I want to be useful to you.”

At least until he married her. He had nothing against her admirable group, but they were headed for trouble if they kept listening to her. Reform groups that got on the wrong side of public opinion only succeeded in setting back their cause.

Since she was the one pushing them into politics, they would be better off without her. Then they could return to aiding convict women until their reforms could be legislated at a reasonable pace by reasonable men like himself.

And if taking Louisa out of the group damaged

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