Tall, Duke, and Dangerous (Hazards of Dukes #2) - Megan Frampton Page 0,60

replied.

Ana Maria glared at her friend, who just kept regarding her with a skeptical look.

“You have to let me do some things,” Ana Maria continued, this time in a less peevish tone.

“I know it’s hard for you, adjusting to all of this,” Jane said softly as she gestured to the room. “But we all want you to succeed, and it will be more difficult for you if you can’t stop thinking of yourself as a servant.”

“I don’t.”

Ana Maria was taken aback herself by how quickly she spoke. But she didn’t feel like a servant. Not anymore. She felt like an entire person, one who had the benefit of a title and wealth, but one who was also adept at making her own decisions—something she wasn’t certain other more traditionally raised young ladies knew how to do.

“Good,” Jane said. “So you’ll be choosing your own husband and settling into your own household.” She made it sound like an inevitability, and Ana Maria felt herself recoil.

“No!”

Jane’s eyebrows rose. “But I thought you didn’t want to be dependent on your cousin forever?”

Ana Maria felt as though she were choking from her emotion. She couldn’t speak for a few moments, just shook her head. “I—those aren’t the only options.”

Jane folded her arms over her chest. “What else is there, then?”

“There’s me! And what I want to do!”

Jane narrowed her gaze. “And what is that? Because I can’t believe you want to return to doing what you used to. Even if it were possible.”

“No, I don’t.” She paused. “But I want to do something. And that something is not get married to somebody with teeth and flowers just because there are no other opportunities.”

“Not that big lummox!” Jane exclaimed.

Ana Maria’s face grew hot. Jane looked smug.

“I thought so.”

“No, that is not happening.” Ana Maria spoke firmly, as if that would stop Jane from talking.

“I’ve seen how you look at him. You’ve always looked at him that way.” Jane shrugged. “Now that you are who you are, finally, why can’t it happen?”

Ana Maria plopped down on her bed, gesturing for Jane to sit beside her. “It sounds so easy when you say it.”

“But it is easy. The duchess wouldn’t have allowed it. She’d have been too jealous of your position, but now that she is gone and your cousin is in charge? Why not?”

“He doesn’t want to for some reason.”

“What possible reason could that be? Is he damaged in some way?”

Ana Maria blushed even more at Jane’s implication, and the fact that she knew the answer, nearly firsthand, so to speak. “It’s not that. He is most definitely not damaged.”

At least not that way—but she knew he was hurting; his offhand comments and various grunts and growls told her that much.

“Oh, so it’s like that, is it?”

“Can we stop having this conversation? I need to go to Miss Ivy’s today. I am going to help Miss Octavia redecorate.” Possibly she could match her cheeks to the red silk she imagined using on the walls.

And then she remembered it wouldn’t be the perfect day, after all. “Drat! And Lord Brunley is coming to take me to see his chestnuts.” Why had she agreed? Idiot, idiot, idiot.

“I just want you to be happy.” Jane reached over to take Ana Maria’s hand. Her fingers were rough with calluses.

“I will be, I promise.” With or without him, she thought. Because she was in charge of her own happiness now, and she wouldn’t wait while some confused behemoth sorted his thoughts. But she would go ahead and take what she wanted, if he was willing.

“What time is Lord Brunley arriving?”

Ana Maria shook her head. “I think this afternoon sometime.”

“Miss Ivy’s first, then, is it?” Jane said as she rose from the bed. “I thought you were going to redo this room first?”

“I can do both.”

Ana Maria stood as well, gazing around at the understated colors of her bedroom. Her soul longed for color and vibrancy, and now that she was set on her course, she would get it.

“You can.” Jane spoke with the same confidence Ana Maria felt. “Now let’s get you on your way so you can accomplish everything you’ve ever dreamed of.”

“And then I have to go see Lord Brunley’s brown horses,” Ana Maria said in a disgruntled tone.

“He likely won’t allow you to redecorate them,” Jane said in a sly tone, making Ana Maria laugh.

“Duke!”

Nash groaned as he heard his grandmother’s voice down the hall. He rose from his chair, going to the door of his study to