Would she be happy, though? Was there even the slightest chance? Ophelia needed to believe it.
“No,” she said. “That is all. Thank you.”
“You are welcome.”
She smiled a final time and turned to leave…
“Wait,” he said sharply.
She froze and her eyes widened because his tone was urgent. “Wh… what is…” Slowly, she turned back, and her eyes widened further because he was on his feet and walking toward her. “What are you doing?”
“Your gown…” He walked toward her quickly; his eyes focused on the sleeve of her gown. “There is a loose thread.”
“There is?” She glanced at her sleeve and saw the thread. It was small, hardly noticeable, but the Duke could not break his gaze from it. “Oh, that is nothing.”
“It is not nothing.”
He was on her then, so quick and so close that she gasped and caught her breath. Standing now, and less than a foot away, she had forgotten just how large he was, how powerful, and how intimidating. She wanted to shy back, to turn and hurry from the room, but she was frozen to the spot… shaking… utterly at his mercy.
He bit into his lip as he reached for the thread. Despite his size, his movement was soft and graceful and delicate. His fingers pinched the thread, steadied, and then tore it free in a single movement.
Ophelia’s heart raced as she watched the Duke. His brow furrowed as he studied the thread… and then it narrowed further as his eyes drifted from the thread to her face.
They stood inches apart, so close that she felt his breath kissing her face. His blue eyes, those sad and lonely eyes, drifted over her face and found her lips. It was subtle, but a spark lit behind his eyes, a sense of… she could not say. But he looked at her lips the same way that he had at that thread, as if something was out of place that needed to be fixed.
There was life in his eyes, unlike anything that she had seen from him before.
“Your Grace…” she uttered, her voice cracking. “What…”
Suddenly, his eyes widened as if only just realizing what he was doing. He turned away, stumbled back, and the moment broke.
“Sorry,” he said, unable to look at her. “I just… it is such a beautiful gown and…” He shook his head. “You should go.”
Ophelia did not argue.
She rushed from the room as if swept by a gale. And it was only once she was outside, the door closed firmly behind her, that she realized how quickly her heart thumped against her chest and how heavy her breathing was.
What on earth was that?
Ophelia could not say, nor did she want to consider it too closely. But as she made her way to her room, she could not help butpicture the look in the Duke’s eyes as he found her lips, and a smile gently curved up her own face as she did.
A marriage of convenience, he claimed this would be. Somehow, she doubted that it would be nearly so convenient as either of them wanted.
Was that a bad thing? Was that something to worry about? Ophelia could not say for sure, but she was curious to find out. And that alone was a reason to smile.
CHAPTER 7
This isn’t how it was supposed to be.
“Ophelia, dear, is something the matter?” Ophelia’s father sat just across from her, so close that he could reach out and touch her on the knee if he wished it. But his voice sounded one million miles away.
The day was technically as perfect as could have been hoped for. The sky above was clear blue, not so much as a cloud on sight, and the sun shone blessedly on all lucky enough to be found beneath its radiant glow.
Ophelia, too, to look at her in passing, one would assume that she was a princess, off to marry her prince. Her gown shimmered in the sunlight as it swept through the window. The green was radiant, the gold was transcendent, and its cut was both elegant and beautiful like that which she had dreamed of so often as a young girl.
Her hair, too, was worn in tight ringlets, the auburn color matching her dress perfectly. Make-up was done to whiten her face but color her cheeks pink so it appeared as if she blushed. And her jewelry, all precisely chosen, sparkling in the sun, nothing missing and more than she could have hoped.
And yet… Ophelia was unable to smile as she wanted to.