Lady Adventuress 01 - His Wayward Duchess Read Online Free PDF

she had never met him! And yet, in that cruel world she would have never spoken with him, never shared that one precious cotillion set – and weren’t even such little things worth all the pain in the world?
    H ow ardently she wished he would look at her. Really look, and see her, as she saw him. Like light breaking out of the clouds, or the sudden solution to a riddle, or waking up and finding that it had snowed overnight and now the world was covered in the purest white.
    “Holly? Holly, are you well? You have gone pale.” The duke was on his feet instantly, and by her side.
    She thought she would wil t when he touched her arm with good-natured kindness.
    “Yes, thank you. Just a little lightheaded. It must be the impending storm,” she said, blinking furiously before she could do anything even more mortifying – such as burst into tears.
    Holly had never b een one for crying – Rose was the sister expert in artful waterworks, and Arabella in temper tantrums. But now she wanted nothing more than to throw the biggest tantrum of all, at the whole injustice of her situation. She wanted to cry and throw vases and be truly awful.
    But that was childish and the duke would indubitably think her mad. Heartbreak would never occur to him as the cause of her sorrow: so trite and silly a malady.
    “ Some wine?”
    He held the fine glass out to h er, almost as though he meant to help her drink from it.
    Holly forced herself to shake her head instead of jerking well away from him. “Thank you, no. I think I shall be right again in a moment.”
    The duke nodded and returned to his seat, still watching her carefully. No doubt, he was wondering if he would have to call for a vinaigrette.
    Holly fought to get her des pair under control – this was most unlike her. Rose was the one always falling in love and suffering from cruel heartbreak.
    She forced herself to speak. “I wonder if there is anything immediate you would like me to start on, now that I am here? Anything particular you wanted of me?” Because at least households were something she knew: they were predictable, manageable, mundane.
    “Start?” the duke echoed, thrown by the change in topic, and the strange look in her eyes. Was that pain? And a muted hope? She looked at him with all the hope of her heart and he wasn’t at all certain how he ought to respond. He wasn’t certain she even knew how she was looking at him.
    Was there more to the question than was evident at first sight? And what did he really want of her? He had asked himself that several times since spotting her show of stubbornness in the park, and then again the question had completely plagued him when he had offered for her.
    Strathavon considered what he ought to say. Marriage, after all, was well and good from a practical perspective: a lady was needed to run the house, and do something about all the silverware which generations of past ladies had left behind.
    And she had spoken like she knew just how to head a grand house.
    But as far as he was concerned, any domestic entanglements were to be avoided at all costs. He could not take the risk of them – next , he would be compelled to hold her hand or to kiss her, and then, before he knew it, he would fall in love and then find himself broken at the inevitable loss of her.
    Because loss was inevitable, especially when you forgot to expect it. If there was one thing of which Strathavon was certain, it was that he did not wish to feel the desolation of loss ever again.
    The impossible sentiment in her eyes made something deep within him tremble. It was really simple once one thought about it – no good could come of letting Holly’s eyes affect him. But what lovely eyes she had…
    He discovered that he’d lost all interest in his supper.
    He needed an heir, eventually. That couldn’t be avoided. It was up to him to continue the family line. But that was a consideration for another time. He wouldn’t think about it just then.
    What h e