To Desire a Wicked Duke Read Online Free PDF

betrothed and then later called off the engagement …”
    “That would only postpone the inevitable scandal,” Ian replied. “Given my reputation, a betrothal that doesn’t lead to marriage would be even worse for you in the end, especially after what Lady Wingate’s guests saw today.”
    Tess clenched her teeth and continued pacing. Watching her, Ian decided he would do better to let her rant for a while, to burn her anger out. In the end, she would see there was only one course open to her.
    Turning, he sat down in a chair, then stretched out his long legs and crossed his boots at the ankles. “Pray tell me, what objections do you have to becoming my wife?”
    She shot him an incredulous look. “You must bejesting. There are countless reasons, but the chief one is that you don’t love me, and I don’t love you.”
    “You have far too many romantic notions. Members of our class marry for a host of socially accepted reasons, but love is rarely one of them.”
    “
I
planned to marry for love, and you are not the sort of man I could ever love.”
    Ian winced inwardly at her stinging avowal, although outwardly he shrugged. “I suppose you are still in love with Richard.”
    “Of course I still love him.”
    He had suspected as much. Even if Tess was officially out of mourning for her late betrothed, she was still devoted to his cousin’s ghost. “I’m afraid that can’t be helped.”
    When she made no reply, Ian adopted his same provoking drawl. “Your trouble, Miss Blanchard, is that you are overly idealistic.”
    “And you are an unabashed cynic.”
    “No doubt I am.”
    Cynicism was bred into him; he’d learned it by imitating his illustrious father. But love was a concern all on its own.
    He was not enamored of Tess. Oh, he desired her … intensely. It shocked him how much he wanted her. But desire was not the same thing as love.
    His attraction to her had always irritated him, Ian acknowledged. And it would likely be even worse now that he knew what it felt like to have Tess in his arms.
    He shifted in his seat, recalling the rioting of his senses when he’d embraced her on the chaise a shortwhile ago. His first taste of her had been beyond all expectations, and so had his reaction to her. Even though she kissed like an innocent, he’d never felt such hunger, such fierce impatience with a woman before. Admittedly, he’d lusted after Tess for years. He’d fantasized about claiming her, about losing himself in her—
    Sharply, Ian disciplined his thoughts. “Love is vastly overrated,” he told her.
    “Even if it is, you know very well we would never suit,” Tess retorted. “We would make each other extremely unhappy.”
    That was indeed a possibility, Ian thought, although he made no comment.
    “Besides, you obviously dislike me.”
    That wasn’t the case at all. “I don’t dislike you.”
    “You always act as if you do.”
    Only because he was determined to hide his desire for her.
    Aloud he said, “Your fierce aversion to me is hardly flattering.”
    “I have no wish to contribute to your self-conceit.”
    “Don’t turn waspish, darling,” he remarked in a light tone.
    She blushed, even as her defensive gaze met his. “I am merely stating a fact. No doubt there are legions of females who would be enthralled by your proposal, but I am not one of them.”
    Ian wondered how many women would leap at the chance to wed him, not to mention bed him. But not Tess. She was unique in that respect, along with many others.
    “You have made your point,” he said evenly. “Youdon’t wish to wed me. But you are forgetting the advantages.”
    “What advantages?”
    “You will find there are significant benefits to becoming my wife. A duchess can get away with a great deal more than a mere young miss.”
    “I know that,” she answered, an edge of bitterness in her tone. “But I will gladly forgo such pleasures.”
    “Can you afford to turn down my fortune when your chief patron has given