How to Fool a Duke (The Husband Dilemma #1) - Lancaster, Mary Page 0,14

where they sat together. “It seems I cannot take my eyes off of you!”

“Whatever do you mean?” Sarah asked, obviously upset by the tone Arcadi had taken with her.

“First the duke, and now this man. Are you here to sing, Miss Sarah, or to snare a husband?”

Leonard gritted his teeth, moving closer to the edge of the settee.

“No.” Lady Whitmore squeezed his hand. “Let this play out naturally, please.”

With a nod of compliance, he tried to relax again.

“That is an impertinent question,” Sarah said. “After all the weeks I have spent with you preparing for tomorrow, I would think…”

Arcadi clapped his hands loudly, interrupting her. “Then you shall sing!” he commanded.

“Yes, I know, tomorrow evening.”

“No.” He pointed at the pianoforte in the corner of the well-appointed drawing room. “Now.” He stormed over to it, pulled the bench out, and dropped onto the cushioned seat, cracking his knuckles and positioning his fingers over the keys.

The moment his fingertips made contact with the instrument, the heavy mood in the room lifted, and poetry of sound, soothing and hauntingly beautiful, tamed the beast inside Leonard. He looked about the room, noticing the same effect it had on everyone. That was why such an ill-tempered man would be tolerated in any setting, his talent overshadowed his poor manners.

Even Sarah had seemed to be transformed, her features serene as she approached the pianoforte, though Leonard swore her hands were trembling as she clasped them in front of her.

“What will she sing for us?” he whispered to Lady Whitmore.

“I am sure one of the pieces selected for her performance tomorrow.”

“One would think her master would wish her to rest the night before such an important event.”

“One would think,” she agreed as she gazed in the direction of Sarah.

The music lightened, and Sarah opened her delectable mouth, and the first line of Robin Adair lit the duke on fire with admiration and lust. Miss Sarah could charm the paper off the walls if she so chose.

Upon singing the second chorus of the beloved song, something swift and painful slammed Leonard in the chest. Realization… What a fool he had been, blinded by feminine beauty, outwitted by a girl who had once thrown apples at him, smacking not only his carriage, but his head—several times. This time, he could not control himself and shot up from the settee, suddenly an empowered predator, lurking along the perimeter of the room.

Miss Sarah could not hide her true identity from him any longer! And Lady Whitmore must know it, for she had gasped when he left his seat with such force. Yes, that hoyden could dress herself up in silk gowns and walk with grace as any fine lady would, but those eyes, that almost crooked smile that made her more tempting than any woman he had ever seen before, gave her away.

To think he had almost offered for her when she was still climbing trees like a wild lad. Yes, he had been amused by her unbridled ways, but she would never be a duchess, that’s what he had thought then, but now?

He stopped just a few feet from her, gaze roaming freely over her as she sang, her dark hair hanging in loose curls down her back, her powder-blue gown demurely cut to fit her curves but not reveal what was underneath. He breathed in her lavender perfume, loosening his cravat just a hint so he could swallow more easily. She didn’t just cause his pantaloons to tighten, his throat and heart squeezed at him, too!

Damn fate for throwing them together this way. It would have been better if he had never met up with her again, for he had heard how disappointed she had been when he had refused the match those two long years ago. Though he had not refused the girl outright, he had preferred to find a mature woman to take as wife.

He found himself smiling so hard it hurt.

“Your Grace,” he heard Sarah call.

“Yes?” His eyes had never left her, but his thoughts had wandered into the past.

“The song has finished, yet you are staring at me, almost through me.”

The duke searched for Arcadi, but the man was nowhere to be found. “Your master?”

She rolled her eyes. “He is my teacher, sir.”

Yes. “And quite taken with you, I think,” Leonard said.

Her eyes widened. “Y-you think Signor Arcadi is in love with me?”

Jealously pricked Leonard. “I do not recall saying love, Miss Sarah.” Leonard knew Arcadi’s reputation with women across the continent.

“Yes, you said taken