Tall, Duke, and Dangerous (Hazards of Dukes #2) - Megan Frampton Page 0,51

to do anything so demeaning.”

Ana Maria nudged Ivy in the shoulder. “You’re a fancy aristocrat, aren’t you?”

Ivy shook her head vigorously. “Not anymore, not since I had the audacity to open a gambling house and marry an illegitimate man. I far prefer this life, to be honest.”

Ana Maria rolled her eyes. “I can tell that, anybody can tell that. I thought that since you seemed to take to it so well, and it doesn’t seem as though Octavia has suffered, I should try. I don’t think the life of a traditional aristocratic lady is for me.”

“Marriage, children, good works?” Ivy asked in a gentle tone. “Do you not wish for any of those?”

Ana Maria’s chest felt tight. “I do want those things.” She thought of all the flowers in her salon, flowers from gentlemen who didn’t know her. Didn’t want to know her. But they did want to know her dowry. “But I can’t see how, not in my current situation. I don’t want a gentleman who wouldn’t be proud of who I was before, and none of the gentlemen I have met, or will meet, would be anything but horrified at what I used to do.” Except Nash, of course. Because he’d seen it all, and she knew he wouldn’t judge her. If anything, he’d likely respect her more because she’d been more than a decorative object.

Ivy arched her brow. “I think you’re not meeting the right kind of gentlemen. Perhaps you should spend more time at Miss Ivy’s?”

Ana Maria laughed. “Is this your not-so-subtle way to get me to come lose money at your establishment? You know I would do that anyway.”

Ivy shrugged. “But if you come with the purpose of losing money and meeting someone who might pique your interest, it’s two goals you would accomplish instead of one.”

“Very efficient of you,” Ana Maria remarked.

Ivy rose, gesturing for Ana Maria to stay seated. “I have to go, your brother is at home with just the dogs for company.” She winked. “And I find I miss him.”

Ana Maria rolled her eyes. “People in love are so dull. Always talking about their love, thinking about their love, being with their love—”

“Just wait,” Ivy warned. “It will happen to you. And you’ll wonder how you ever breathed without the other person.”

She waved goodbye, as though she hadn’t just sent Ana Maria into a flurry of confused thoughts, then set off through the doors and back onto the dance floor, making her way toward the front of the house.

Ana Maria watched her go, longing warring with worry as she pondered Ivy’s words. You’ll wonder how you ever breathed without the other person.

She already spent far more time than she should thinking about Nash. If he weren’t in her life—when he was married to some Society lady who wanted to be a Society lady—would she miss him?

The sharp ache in her heart answered her question.

She wasn’t in the ballroom. The candles were just as bright, the music just as lively, the refreshments just as delicious.

But everything seemed dimmed.

He took one more thorough look, meeting a few people’s gazes, their smiles changing as they saw his glower. Good. Fewer people to talk to.

Though that was the direct opposite of what he should be doing here.

“Duke!” His grandmother rapped on the floor with her cane, as though making certain he heard her.

He not only heard her, he felt her. Every time he thought about what his blackguard cousin might do to his half siblings. Every time he walked through the mansion—his mansion, even though it still felt odd to claim it—he felt as though there was a second duke there, one who was cruel and unforgiving and violent. The past of his father and the future of his cousin, if he didn’t do anything to stop it. Him, if he allowed himself to feel.

“Yes, Your Grace?” he said, turning to look at her. Forcing himself not to fold his arms over his chest. He knew that position was deliberately aggressive, he’d used it for that very effect many times in the past, and he did not want to appear that way in front of his grandmother. Not that she would be intimidated if he did—the only thing that seemed to rattle her was when he appeared without a shirt.

Good information to have, should his goal ever be to thoroughly befuddle his grandmother.

“You should be dancing.” She gestured toward the dance floor with her cane. “You’re just standing there, not talking to anyone, not asking