Tall, Duke, and Dangerous (Hazards of Dukes #2) - Megan Frampton Page 0,75
to march around and dispense orders, but I cannot fathom how you can justify not asking your sister what she wants.”
“Hey!” Thaddeus exclaimed in protest.
Sebastian approached slowly, too familiar with Nash’s sudden temper to trust his friend wouldn’t erupt. I wouldn’t do that, Nash wanted to say. “Just think about what you’re doing with her. We don’t want her to get hurt.”
Nash opened his mouth to speak, but snapped it shut again. They thought he might hurt her.
Just what he was terrified of.
Why was he even spending time with her in the first place? He would only cause harm, he knew that. Especially with what they were doing now.
But he wanted her to make her own choices, which meant he would have to let her decide, once he’d told her everything.
Because he couldn’t keep it from her any longer.
But now was not the time—now was the time for him to sort it out through boxing with Finan, since he couldn’t seem to think properly without his fists.
“If you’ll excuse me,” he bit out, striding from the room, leaving Sebastian and Thaddeus likely to wonder just what the hell he was going to do.
Which meant they had that in common.
“I wonder what they’re all fussing about,” Ana Maria murmured as she surveyed the glorious mess that was one of the spare bedrooms.
The bolts of fabric were spread out on the bed, with others leaning up perpendicular against the bed. The colors clashed with one another and with the room, which had been decorated in the late duchess’s elegant, spare style.
Not Ana Maria’s exuberantly loud one.
She’d ask Thaddeus if she could work on these rooms after she completed her own. Or she’d just go ahead and do it without permission. It was a tiny rebellion, eradicating the duchess’s taste from the house, but it was one that brought her great satisfaction. Even though she hadn’t quite realized that that’s what she was doing.
“What is all this?” Jane walked into the room holding several pairs of Ana Maria’s shoes, obviously just fresh from being scrubbed.
It still made Ana Maria feel guilty that someone else was doing that now, but the servants would be appalled and annoyed if she tried to do their jobs.
“The Lees asked if I wanted to review their goods before they put them on sale to the general public.” Ana Maria gestured to the room. “And I did.”
“That duke brought you home in his carriage, didn’t he?”
Images of what had happened in that carriage immediately came to mind, and she felt herself start to heat.
“And something happened with him.” Jane shook her head as she clucked her tongue. “I don’t know why you don’t just marry that one. He certainly seems to like you well enough, and you him.”
She did like him. She liked him a lot. But there was something preventing him from trusting her with whatever secrets he held, why he needed to punish himself for his father’s behavior, and she would not compromise herself no matter how broad his shoulders or how clever his fingers.
“It’s complicated,” Ana Maria replied, advancing to the bed. She picked up one of the bolts, one of the most lively patterns, sighing in satisfaction.
“He hasn’t sent you flowers but he likes you all the same.”
Right. She’d forgotten. The earmarks of a presentable suitor were flowers, nearly all one’s teeth, and looking tolerable.
Not what she wanted in her life, even if Society thought she should be entirely satisfied.
No. She wanted to explore, to see what she was capable of when there were no limits on her.
She did not want to have to return to taking orders or seeming compliant when inside she was frustrated, or angry, or passionate, or concerned.
She’d done that for the first twenty-seven years of her life. She’d smiled through it, even, and everyone thought she was remarkably good-tempered, given how much she was berated and taken advantage of.
She’d thought so, too, but that wasn’t the truth, she saw that now. Underneath all the gentle smiles and murmured acquiescence was a furiously proud woman who wanted to decorate in the patterns and colors she wanted, anyone else’s opinion be damned.
It might seem a silly point, but it was her silly point.
And that, as she considered it, was entirely the point in the first place, wasn’t it?
So no, while Nash was most definitely teaching her things she was eager to learn, she did not want to be with him for the rest of her life. Not if it meant hiding parts