Four Dukes and a Devil Read Online Free PDF Page B

nonsense. You want to keep all men at bay.”
    She turned to him, her eyes widening. For a second, she was speechless, and he knew he was right even before the denial reached her lips. “I wish I hadn’t started this nonsense,” she murmured.
    “Yes, it’s bringing me too close.”
    Her brows came together in a frown. “Would you stop that? We are in a roomful of people with prying ears.”
    “No, I don’t believe I will,” he said. “I’m ready to be done with games or guessing.” He leaned forward. “And I don’t care that we are surrounded by people. In fact, I welcome it because what I’m feeling right now is real. Surprisingly real.”
    She pulled back, resting her hands on the armrests. “Please, don’t speak to me that way, Your Grace.”
    “Why not?” he asked evenly, watching her every move, every breath.
    “Because…” She looked away.
    He waited.
    Her gaze swung back to meet his, her vulnerability clear in the depths of her somber eyes. “I don’t trust what I feel when you are near,” she whispered.
    Her candor went straight to his heart, momentarily stunning him by the intensity of his own reaction.
    When he didn’t speak immediately, she rushed on, “There can never be anything between us—”
    Roan found his voice. “Why not?”
    “Because,” she said as if it were an explanation.
    “Because I’m Irish?” he demanded.
    “ No, ” she hurried to say. “Because you are a duke. Because you could do so much better than I. Because I’ve made choices in my life that have been unconventional—” She paused, and a shudder went through her before she finished, “Because I’m old.”
    Roan had been listening to her litany of objections, but that she thought herself old startled him enough to laugh. He regretted his response the moment the lines of her face tightened.
    Not wanting her to form the wrong impression, he reached for her hand. “Anyone believing Miss Susan Rogers is so ancient as to be on the shelf is a daft fool,” he said. “As to the others, let me be the judge of the sort of wife I want. I don’t live my life for others, and advise you to follow my lead. Most people don’t know what they want, so they settle for rules and the opinions of others. Be brave, Miss Rogers. Be bold.”
    “If only it were that easy, Your Grace,” she said sadly.
    “ It is .”
    Abruptly, her whole manner changed. She pulled her hand from his. “Lord and Lady Alberth.”
    Roan could have cursed the interruption. He had been so intent on Miss Rogers, he’d forgotten they were in a crowded ballroom. He rose, placing Miss Rogers stockinged foot on the stool. “Alberth,” he said greeting.
    His lordship did not acknowledge him. Instead, he snapped to Miss Rogers, “Have you seen our daughter?”
    Miss Rogers pushed herself out of the chair. “I was looking for her, my lord,” she said. “When I was—” She broke off as if words failed her. “Distracted,” she finished weakly, awkwardly slipping on her shoe.
    Roan offered a hand to help her, but she ignored him.
    “I want my daughter,” Alberth said, his voice tight with rage. “I want her now.”
    “My lord,” his worried wife said. “We don’t know that she could have run off with Gerald Grover—”
    “She shouldn’t have been given the opportunity,” Alberth said. “ She” —he nodded to Miss Rogers—“was supposed to keep her eyes on her.”
    “Let us adjourn this discussion to a more private place,” Roan said, moving to stand between the very angry Alberth and Miss Rogers. Too many people were taking an avid interest in the conversation.
    “The only thing I’m going to do is find my daughter, Your Grace. This woman was supposed to watch her.”
    “Alberth, you are working yourself up over nothing—”
    “ Nothing? She’s my only child, Your Grace. I must protect her. And while I worry, this woman”—he nodded toward Miss Rogers—“is-is diddling away with—with—” His voice broke off as if