Heartless by Mary Balogh

do it.
    For the rest of the evening, she was aware of him seated close beside her with every single fiber in her body.
    Anna sat beside the duke and opposite her sister and godmother in the darkened carriage on the return journey, her heightened awareness of him making the space seem smaller and almost suffocating. He did not touch her though she could feel his body heat with the arm closest to him.
    â€œYou enjoyed the play?” he asked her.
    She turned a dazzling smile on him though she could barely see him in the darkness. “Oh, yes,” she said. “It was wonderful. Even more wonderful than I imagined it would be. Did you not think so?”
    Her godmother, Anna noted, was talking rather animatedly to Agnes. Anna suspected that Lady Sterne was tactfully trying to give her some semblance of privacy.
    â€œI enjoyed the
evening
,
”
the duke said quietly, emphasizing the last word. “I am afraid my mind was distracted from the play.”
    â€œOh,” she said. The word came out as a breathless little sigh.
    He said nothing, but held her eyes for a few moments before she smiled at him again and turned her attention to the seat opposite.
    When they arrived at Lady Sterne’s house, the Duke of Harndon stepped inside with them. But he set a staying hand on Anna’s arm as her sister and godmother proceeded upstairs. He waited until they had reached the top of the staircase.
    â€œI would ask leave, madam,” he said, “to call on you tomorrow morning to discuss a matter of some importance with you.”
    Tomorrow morning? A matter of some importance? Anna’s heart began to beat uncomfortably and her mind began to race too fast for rational thought.
    â€œYes, of course, your grace,” she said. She sounded, she thought, as if she had just run a mile against a stiff wind.
    There was a further short silence.
    â€œYou are of age, madam?” he asked.
    â€œYes.” Her eyes widened. “I am five-and-twenty, your grace. I am perhaps older than you expected.” Suddenly she was desperate to make herself seem quite unattractive to him. Perhaps she had misunderstood him. Surely she had. But why had he asked if she was of age?
    â€œI would not, then,” he said, “have to talk with your brother in advance of discussing any matter with you?”
    She stared at him wide-eyed. “No,” she said, her voice a whisper.
    And then Lady Sterne reappeared on the stairs to invite the duke to come up for refreshments. He refused politely, bowed to both of them, and took his leave.
    â€œFaith, child,” Lady Sterne said, coming the rest of the way down, linking her arm through Anna’s and leading her back in the direction of the stairs, “you look a handsome couple. And I declare, he had eyes for no one but you all evening. I believe ’tis not being overfanciful to expect a declaration before summer.”
    â€œAunt Marjorie!” Anna exclaimed in dismay. Though in truth—why was he going to call tomorrow?
    â€œAgnes is waiting in the drawing room,” Lady Sterne said, leading her goddaughter up the stairs. “We will all three plan the wedding over tea before retiring for the night.” She laughed merrily.
    Anna, entering the drawing room with her, wished more than anything that she could go directly to her room and lock her doors, even against her mind. She felt slightly sick to the stomach.

6

    L UKE had the distinct feeling that he had started something he could not stop and that he had started it from a wholly mad impulse without giving it due thought—or any thought at all. He ate his way doggedly through breakfast, though he felt as much like eating as he would feel like jumping into a pit filled with vipers.
    He thought carefully back over what he had said last night. Had there been any ambiguity in his meaning? Anything that would enable him to withdraw honorably? Could he perhaps make it seem that he had merely