Dangerous in Diamonds Read Online Free PDF Page B

land while there is still some light. Perhaps when I return, you will be kind enough to give me a tour of your very rare blooms.”
    A glance from those gray eyes. Direct. Knowing. She saw his game. Which did not mean he would not win the match.
    “We retire early, Your Grace.”
    “I will not be gone long.”
    “Perhaps in the morning . . .”
    “I expect to leave early. This evening would suit me far better.”
    “It will be too dark to see much.”
    “We will bring a lantern.”
    An exasperated frown marred her brow. “I can see that you are accustomed to having your way.”
    “Having my way is the best thing about being a duke.”
    “Then, once again, I would be foolish to refuse you.”
    He bowed to take his leave. “You may refuse me whatever you choose, Mrs. Joyes. I will not hold it against you.”

Chapter Three
     
    H e had beautiful hands. That was what Daphne kept noticing about Castleford at dinner.
    Thoroughly masculine but also undeniably elegant, those hands had compelled her attention. She had seen many gentlemen’s hands, but none so flawless, she was sure. They were far smoother than her own, she judged at once. All the gloves and creams in the world could not maintain a lady’s hands if a woman used hoes and shovels more than any lady should.
    She probably should have given him some brandy or wine. She might have erred in refusing to. That was the question with a man who imbibed to the extent Castleford did. Would spirits dull his senses or make him rash?
    She did not know. So she had relied on those stories, told by their mutual friends, of his whoring and drinking. The two seemed to go together, and she had thought it best not to stoke any fires. But if they did go together, then perhaps if he drank he only bothered with whores and left such as her alone.
    She paced the library after he left. She could simply retire and not be here when he returned. He had said she could refuse him anything. Only she did not think he meant the tour of the gardens. She suspected he only referred to what he would try to do once in the gardens.
    The scoundrel expected to seduce her after knowing her less than a full day! The conceited man assumed she would just fall at his command, yield at his whim, give herself to a drunkard who was practically a stranger, and who did not come well recommended by the little she knew of him. His unfounded confidence was unparalleled.
    Did he count on her not believing him about being able to refuse? Did he anticipate compliance because of this property? That would be just plain evil. And he had given that reassurance, hadn’t he? Still, it worried her that perhaps he would take offense, and things would take a bad turn when he made his decision come Tuesday.
    After fretting over the question, she realized there was no choice here. She would have to take him at his word. If he put them all out because she rejected his intentions, she would make sure those mutual friends learned the truth of it.
    Indeed, that possibility might be her most formidable protection. Hopefully Castleford cared about his long friendships with the Earl of Hawkeswell, Verity’s husband, and Lord Sebastian Summerhays, who had married her cousin Audrianna.
    She heard the horse outside and froze in place. Her stomach lurched. At least it would be dark in the garden. She would not see his expressions or his eyes with those golden lights.
    She would be less likely to be charmed by his alluring combination of insouciance, with its air of carefree indifference to everything, and that undercurrent of intensity that implied quite the opposite.
    He was dangerously handsome, and that always gave a man an unfair advantage. But she wasn’t some girl anymore whose head could be turned by the seductive flatteries of dashing men.
    Then it occurred to her that some light might be a good idea. He might be less bold if it were not totally dark. If she chose their path carefully, they would be visible from the house if