An Unexpected Proposal (St Daine Family 1) Read Online Free PDF

her voice, a direct contradiction to the interest he had seen in her eyes only moments before, confused him. He knew he had not imagined the appreciation in her gaze after her slow perusal of him at the Kelsing ball the night before, either.
    Nay, he was not wrong about that, but perhaps he had been mistaken to think the flush warming her cheeks and the way she quickly averted her gaze meant more than he had assumed.
    He studied her now, noting the way her pulse jumped when he pulled her close. The way her eyes widened, though fractionally, when his hand touched her waist. The way her breath seemed to catch before she expelled it in an irritated little puff. No, he had not been mistaken, he decided.
    She was affected by him.
    So why, he wondered, was she behaving as if he had somehow insulted her by asking her to dance?
    “Of course I asked!” he tried to placate, but she was having none of it.
    “You asked my mother ,” she pointed out. “And despite how the two must seem the same in your mind, in mine, I can assure you, they are far, far removed.”
    Through the next several turns, Lucien stared at her, nonplussed.
    How could she be upset with him for asking her mother's permission to dance with her? Countess Sterne was there—he could not simply ignore her presence. Her ire made little sense, Lucien thought, giving his head a mental shake. But the crackle of incensed fire blazing in her eyes every time their gazes met assured him she was most certainly angry with him over something.
    “If you had truly wished to dance with me, Your Grace, you would have asked me and then politely deferred to Mother for her permission,” she pointed out. Her expression, however, clearly said had he done so she would have refused him out of hand, and finally, he understood. She was angry with him for leaving her no choice in the matter.
    Uncomfortable now beneath her direct, somewhat haughty scrutiny, he looked away. “I do apologize for my obviously misdirected inquiry, my lady, but you may rest assured that I would not have asked either of you had I not desired to be with you.”
    And he truly had thought her bold gaze and the lingering way she looked at him signified an interest in him on her part, as a dancing partner at the very least. Could he truly have mistaken the curiosity in her warm gaze for something else?
    Glancing across the way, his eyes caught Phoebe's, hers sparkling with a mocking gleam, and Lucien could have sworn a blush burned its way up his neck and onto his cheeks at her scrutiny.
    “Why?” Claire blurted out, and his eyes came back to her face, only to be met by a look of such accusatory puzzlement he was struck quite forcibly by the unsettling notion that she did not like him very much at the moment. “Why did you wish to be with me , Your Grace? We do not even know each other. Indeed, we have barely been introduced, while Melisande—”
    “Why do you dislike me so?” he countered.
    She looked away, and he reached up, his fingers lightly grasping her chin. Forcing her gaze to meet his eyes once more, he continued, “As you say, before last evening's ball we had not previously met, yet you insulted me there as if I had done you some great harm. And then tonight, you get all up in the boughs when my polite inquiry for a dance is directed at your guardian rather than you—as it rightly should be.”
    She tried to turn away, would have left him standing alone in the middle of the floor had he not held firm to both her waist and her chin. His gaze imploring, Lucien continued, “And now, this very minute, you seem determined to spend what few moments a mere dance requires in upbraiding me when we should be enjoying the moment, savoring the music and the movement, getting to know each other.”
    He relaxed his grip on her chin to run a finger gently along the soft curve of her jaw before tucking a stray tendril of her silky hair behind her ear, all without missing a step. “Why? What is it that you