Cathy frowned, racking her brain for a similar memory. “I cannot remember. I... I cannot remember a thing from last night either.”
Panic began to set in. Her breaths came in shallow bursts now, but it seemed that the Duke was not convinced. He scoffed, his lip curling mockingly into a knowing smirk. She did not like that. She did not like that at all!
“How perfectly convenient. Neither of us has any recollection of what happened the night before. Though you do not look like thesort who drinks to the point of oblivion. Did you wait for me to start swaying to lure me here? Was this your plan? Did you wish to trap me into marriage?”
The last two words made Cathy feel hot smoke coming out of her ears. This man did not know her at all. She was not one who would ever trap a man. Let alone a libertine like him!
“How dare you?” Cathy asked, the feeling inside her chest about to explode. “I would rather crawl through the mud while feeding pigs than be shackled to a rake who cannot find his own rooms. I am not that desperate!”
“Oh, but you are, Miss Quinten,” the Duke argued, with that irritating smirk of his. “You are more than desperate. Do not act as if you do not know what your father has done. He has gambled away everything, including your and your sisters’ dowries. Your estate is falling apart. So, it is quite easy for me to assume that you had other motives. You must have led me here. I would not have known where your room was otherwise.”
The audacity of that cad!
This time, he scrambled for the rest of his clothes and attempted to dress himself in the face of Cathy’s growing wrath. She herself knew the extent of her humiliation, her cheeks burning hot, as she threw a pillow at Tristan. He caught it easily and discarded it onto the floor.
“You know nothing of my family!”
“Oh, but I do,” Tristan retorted, as he straightened himself. His shirt was on, but it was visibly wrinkled. Cathy could not help but notice how tall he was, and how his height made the room feel small and the ceiling low. “Thetongossips about everything, including you, of course. They say that you have been trying tomanage what are supposed to be your father’s affairs.”
“Get out of my rooms,” she whispered with as much control as she could muster, her lower lip trembling with barely contained rage. “Get out before I find something with which to crack your skull.”
As he adjusted the rest of his clothes, it only dawned on her that he was still half-naked and his male anatomy was in her hand not too long ago. She felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach at the thought of that velvet skin that turned hard like a weapon in her grip. Despite her growing hatred, she could not look away from his broad, muscled back. She did not know that a man could also look like a work of art from behind. Of course, that was something she would never admit to him.
Her breath hitched when she realized the weight of her indecency.
No, Cathy. This is not the way you should think. You have already compromised your family’s name by sleeping with a man about to be married!
The touch itself was accidental, but thinking about how he felt in her hand was something else. She was a hypocrite! Outside this room, she was the embodiment of decorum while her pulse raced at a mere glimpse of the Duke’s naked back. It was mortifying. She needed to fix this. She needed to fix herself.
“Before you go, can you tell me if... Did you compromise me, Your Grace?” she asked, swallowing hard. “Please tell me the truth so that I may know what to do.”
The Duke paused his dressing to look at her. For a second, the mockery and anger were gone from his eyes. Those green eyes flickered momentarily, holding a curious expression she wantedto fully understand. They roved over her face and then her lips, before snapping back to her eyes.
“I might be a rake, Miss Quinten, but I assure you that I would never do that even if I were drunk. If I had tasted you, I would have remembered. It would still have been on my tongue.”
Relief coursed through Cathy, although his last sentence should have been enough for her to punch his face in on an ordinary day. Then, she realized what he had just said and felt stung for some reason.
“So, you would not even touch me even if you were intoxicated? Am I not worth any interest to you even drunk?”
Tristan sighed at that. He truly did sound weary and would rather be out of the door by now.
“Please do not get the wrong idea, Miss Quinten,” he explained. “It is not because of you. I am getting married tomorrow and have given my word to my betrothed. This is my wedding party.”
Cathy sat up straighter then and clutched the duvet against her chest tighter. The mention of the engagement and the wedding party brought her back to the reality of their situation.
“Just get out. We shall not speak of this to anyone,” she said, her voice taking a steely edge. She gestured at the door, as if dismissing a stray dog. “Prepare yourself for the wedding, and we shall ensure our paths do not cross for the remainder of the party.”
The Duke put his coat on, his eyes lingering on her. Perhaps she imagined it. After all, she was not in her right mind at that moment.
“Of course, Miss Quinten. I will leave you with the knowledge that for someone so bookish, you have a remarkably firm grip.”
He tilted his head to the side as if expecting her to gasp or blush or throw something else at him. Instead, Cathy merely arched an eyebrow.
“It is a pity, then, Your Grace, that you do not possess a firm character to match. Now, leave and close the door behind you.”
Chapter 2
“Just what happened last night?” Cathy whispered to herself.