“You’re very quiet,” Dashwood pressed. “Am I forgiven, or will you make me work hard for it?”
Dorothy turned to him, only realising he was standing closer to her than she expected. God, she hadn’t expected that. Now her heart was racing to the point she felt a little dizzy. He was looking at her earnestly.
Dorothy licked her lips, seeing his eyes focus on her mouth. Now her lips were tingling. She had to be going mad if her body was racing like this.
“You’re right. I didn’t deserve that.” She lifted her chin. “I was in that engagement as well, and while I didn’t like it, I didn’t complain and have a tantrum. Unlike some people, I was going to do my duty.”
Dashwood arched an eyebrow.
“You’re determined not to like me, aren’t you?”
“Have you given me reason to like you?”
“I saved you from breaking every bone in your body.”
“That you did. And I’m grateful for you saving me when I was in a bad position. But that doesn’t mean it goes towards completely redeeming you.”
He looked amused.
“Ah. I see.” He took a step back and folded his arms. “I can see I’ve got to work harder to get your approval on anything, then.”
“If you can show yourself to be a decent person without even trying, then you might be on the way.”
“You think I can’t be decent?”
Dorothy could see that he wasn’t upset. He was teasing her. And she found that she liked it. She tapped a finger to her lips and pretended to think.
“Well, I think … you’re going to have to actually be decent before I can make an opinion on that.”
#
She was spritely tonight, even at this time of the night, and Lucas liked it. There was more to her than he had initially thought.
He was really beginning to regret fighting this engagement as much as he did. If he had actually taken the time to meet Dorothy and got to know her, Lucas knew he would have had a different opinion of her.
There’s no guarantee that you would have got the real Dorothy in front of you, and you wouldn’t have made any effort anyway.
Lucas hated that this was more than likely what would have happened.
He should be backing off and leaving her alone. They were alone, after all. While he doubted anyone was walking around at this time of night, Lucas didn’t want to put Dorothy in a position where she would have her reputation damaged. He should have been a gentleman.
And yet he couldn’t leave. He wanted to stay with her and find out more.
“What book are you looking for?”
Dorothy blinked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“What type of book do you want to read now? Did you manage to get through that other book?”
He gestured towards the table, where the offending item lay. Dorothy fumbled, her cheeks darkening in the dim flickering light.
“I … I think I made a mistake getting such a big book. I wanted something a bit better to handle.”
“Something that’s not going to make you hurt yourself.”
She bit her lip, and Lucas wished he could do that himself. Feeling his erection stirring again, Lucas cleared his throat and stepped away. He was relieved that he was still in his shirt and breeches instead of his nightshirt.