When the Duchess Said Yes Read Online Free PDF

at the single whitewashed bench, clearly meant for trysting.
    “This is madness,” she said, pulling her hand free. “I can’t stay here with you.”
    “Hush,” he said softly, bowing low before her, all dark-clad elegance. “Do you hear the music? Pray honor me with this dance, my fairy queen.”
    She shouldn’t, she shouldn’t, yet there she was, taking his hand. He was taller than she was, so tall that she had to tip her head back a bit to meet his eye, rare for her with anyone. He drew her forward, into the center of the little clearing, and they turned with the music. Of course he danced well, assured in his steps without the fussiness of a dancing master. Likely he did everything well. A gentleman like him would. Moonlight splashed full across his face, and Lizzie sighed.
    “Oh, my, look at you,” she whispered with a certain despair as he guided her through the steps of the dance. “I know that is monstrously rude of me to say, but—but look at you.”
    He cocked one dark brow. “You say that as if I’m the Tower of London, a site to be recommended to visitors.”
    “I say that because you are so handsome.” Her smile felt as wide as a common fool’s, and she couldn’t makeherself look away from his dark eyes, his black hair, and the clean, sharp line of his jaw. “Perhaps the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.”
    He laughed again, a sound she was sure she’d never tire of. “You’re only saying that because I said you were beautiful.”
    “I’m saying it because it’s the truth.” His shoulder beneath her hand was wide and strong, made for her to lean upon. “I’m not very good at dissembling, you see. I’m much better with the truth.”
    “A beautiful woman who cannot lie.” He placed his hand on the small of her back, finding a place below the wings. “What a rare and wonderful creature.”
    She frowned, concentrating on keeping her spangled skirts clear of her heels without tripping him, too. “But you, sir, are not being truthful. I am not beautiful, especially not the way you are. I am comely, but not beautiful. Everyone says so.”
    “Then everyone is wrong, sweeting, and that is the truth.”
    “No.” The silk flowers in her hair wafted back and forth on their wire stems as she shook her head. “My cheeks are too round and my hair too dark, and I have a bump in the middle of my nose from falling from an apple tree when I was six. So I will grant you comely, even striking, but not beautiful. No. You are beautiful, like the plaster statue of Adonis I saw last week in the museum.”
    “Not quite.” His laugh had dropped to a chuckle, so warm that the sound tickled down Lizzie’s spine and back up again. “Adonis. My God. Didn’t your mother tell you that a pretty face can hide an ugly soul?”
    “Hardly.” Her smile turned wry. “She would say a pretty face would be the first one asked to dance at a ball.”
    “Then that explains why you are here with me now.”He drew her closer, close enough that she felt the plush velvet of his coat against her bare skin. Their dancing slowed to a sway as he leaned closer, his face over hers while the lights in the branches twinkled overhead.
    She knew he was going to kiss her. She also knew that if she’d any sense of decency, she’d turn away and deny him. But then she likewise knew herself, and was dreadfully aware that there’d be no denying anyone, however deserved. Instead she raised her mouth a fraction, challenging him.
    “You can’t explain fairies,” she said. “We are beyond reason and capture.”
    “Not to me,” he said. He bent lower, his mouth brushing over hers. “Kiss me, my fairy queen.”
    Her heart racing with anticipation, she closed her eyes and offered her pursed lips, the way she’d observed other ladies do.
    But observation wasn’t experience, and at once she could tell she wasn’t doing it right. She realized that as soon as his mouth found hers and without a word he demanded that she relax