Tall, Duke, and Dangerous (Hazards of Dukes #2) - Megan Frampton Page 0,49

a fog that was curvaceous and laughing, that made him want to feel things.

Which was truly dangerous. That kind of feeling fog could also make him feel far too much, which would inevitably lead to passion and desire and other darker emotions. Things like jealousy and lust and longing.

“Yes, my apologies, my lady.” He tried to use the tone his secretary, Robert, employed when he was letting Nash know he disapproved of something without actually saying it.

Her sparkling gaze dimmed for a moment, and he felt the rush of another intense emotion—self-loathing. Why couldn’t he do this without hurting the people he loved?

No. No, he didn’t love her. He cared for her, as the sister of his best friend, as a person he had known his entire life. He didn’t love her.

He couldn’t.

Because if he did, he would hurt her.

“I was remarking that I have a few open spots on my dance card,” Ana Maria said. She raised the card in question, and he noticed the only claimed dance was with Lord Brunley.

He heard a noise, and realized it was a growl. Coming from him.

She raised an eyebrow. “So from that, I understand that you would like to claim a dance?”

His grandmother cleared her throat in a meaningful way.

But damned if he could figure out the meaning. Did she want him to dance with Ana Maria because then he would be seen dancing, and therefore, possibly, more appealing to the ladies he would dare to court? Or did she want him to gently reject Ana Maria, because then it might be misconstrued that they were courting, and therefore he was not an eligible candidate for the ladies he would dare to court?

Yes, it was entirely ironic that he wished she had just spoken instead of making a noise. Ironic and also aggravating.

But Ana Maria was still looking up at him, a challenging expression on her face.

He took the small pencil she held in her other hand and scribbled his name next to the supper dance. It would mean spending more time with her than just the usual dance would require, but it would also mean that there was no possibility she would get stuck with some lord for all that time who was only hungry for her dowry and didn’t appreciate the woman attached to all that money.

“Thank you, Nash,” she murmured, taking the pencil back from him. She glanced behind him to where his grandmother sat. “Pardon me, Your Grace, I am going to find my cousin, the duke.” She returned her gaze to Nash. “I am looking forward to our dance. You should ask some other ladies to dance also, I am certain they would appreciate it.”

But her words didn’t match her expression, and now he couldn’t even figure out what words meant, not when the person speaking had such a different look on their face than what one would have expected.

“Uh, yes,” he said, feeling more and more like an idiot.

An idiot who was most definitely not in love with anybody and whose only strong emotions were for fisticuffs and whiskey.

Keep telling yourself that, a voice said in his head.

He gritted his teeth as she walked away, his eyes unable to keep from following the gentle sway of her hips.

“It is unfortunate you have deemed her not suitable,” his grandmother said in an acerbic tone. “Because she is the only lady I have seen you speak with that seemed to understand you.”

And that’s what made her so dangerous.

Chapter Twelve

Ana Maria focused on keeping her posture straight and her expression cool, as though she had not just spoken with the person whose very existence was making her feel all sorts of ways all at the same time.

Perhaps her efforts would mean that other ladies saw Nash as a viable suitor, not an enormous grunting lummox who stood in the corner at parties and glowered.

And if it then meant he asked one of those now-appreciative ladies to marry him? She’d have to be pleased at the outcome, because it would mean someone would be happy.

Just not her.

“Ana Maria!”

She turned as she heard her name called, her face breaking out into an enormous smile when she saw who it was—her sister-in-law, formerly Miss Ivy, who still owned the club named after her. Now she was Mrs. Sebastian de Silva, and she and Ana Maria’s brother lived in a house down the street from the club, while Ivy’s sister Octavia had taken over all the rooms in the back of the