All Chapters of A LADY FOR A DUKE : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

“Actually, people agree to the strangest things when money is involved.” He gave her another smile, non-threatening and pleasant. “But I can see you’re not convinced. Well, that’s fine. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try,” Pushing himself out of the armchair, he rose to his feet. “Don’t fret, Anna. I have other options.” Anna blinked, clearly surprised. “So…that’s it?”“What did you expect? That I would march you at gunpoint to the altar? Of course not. That would be far too mediaeval of me. Well, don’t let me keep you.” Cedric turned and strolled casually to the door, pulling it open. “You probably have a lot to do and I don’t want to take up any more of your valuable time.”He’d unbalanced her, that was clear. Which was all part of his plan. If she didn’t like being told what to do, he wouldn’t tell her. He would coax her into it, seduce her. She was probably wise to a bit of reverse psychology, but he guessed that she wouldn’t be able to help questioning him all the same. She neede

It was the Duke’s fault, of course. All of this was his fault. If he hadn’t been the man she'd met beside the lake, the man who’d made her lose her temper and nearly slap him. If he hadn’t been that man, then none of this would have been a problem.She would have accepted his proposal without if not a second thought, then at least a third thought. But he was that man and so she couldn’t risk it.It’s not him that’s the issue. It’s you, she told herself.Her jaw got even tighter and she was conscious of her father’s gaze on her, cold and disapproving. How could she explain to him what the issue was? That she was afraid of being in the Duke’s presence because twice now he’d made her forget herself? That even the touch of his hand and a glance from his relentless dark gaze made her feel shaky with anger and desperate with a hunger she didn’t understand?Yes, it was true. It wasn’t the Duke himself she was afraid of but of his effect on her. He reminded her of how she had used to be, wild

Cedric stared at his own reflection in the windows opposite him, the tiger’s smile vanishing, the intensity of his disappointment surprising him. Did you really expect her to agree to everything?.Yes. Yes, he had. She was passionate and she wanted him, that had been obvious to him the moment he’d first spotted her watching him swimming in the lake. He didn’t think he’d been wrong. He knew when a woman desired him. So what was the problem?Good question. One you could ask yourself.Denial had never bothered him before, not that it happened very often, but still. So her refusal shouldn’t be an issue. And yet it was. And he had a sneaking suspicion he knew why. That it was about how she’d made him feel out there beside the lake and in the sitting room of Haerton, the fire of her passion lighting him up, chasing away the ghosts of his past. Making him feel alive.And which in turn made him uneasy. He didn’t like acceding her any power and yet there was no denying that she had some. Other

He also wanted to discuss it with her, suggesting she join him in the city at her earliest convenience. She didn’t particularly want to discuss it with him, since she didn’t much care about the wedding itself, but, as refusing to go just because she found his presence threatening would be admitting far too much, and her father now had a full-time caregiver, she felt she had no choice but to agree.And so a few days later she found herself on a helicopter, a building nervousness along with a strange sense of anticipation collecting inside of her. She tried to ignore both sensations by watching the unrolling green of the countryside below her and attempting to enjoy the novelty of flying, since she’d never been in any kind of aircraft before, let alone a helicopter.But all too soon they were approaching the city and once again she was faced with the reality of having to be in the Duke’s disturbing, compelling and dangerous presence. The thought made her heart beat fast and her palms fe

“So I’ve heard.” Anna clasped her hands together to stop them from fidgeting. “Again, nothing that would make me afraid of you. I do wonder, though, why you haven’t answered my question. You’re marrying because of a will, so why do you need a wedding when a quick ceremony in a register office would do the trick?”“An interesting question.” Cedric was very still, his lean, powerful body perfectly at rest, which somehow relaxed her, easing her urge to fidget. “The fact is, I’m a very busy man. I work hard and then I play hard, and in the past that hasn’t left a lot of time for other things. I hadn’t thought a family would be important to me, but I admit that after my father died, that changed. I am the only Blackwood left, and so I want a son to carry on after me.” Something she didn’t understand shifted in his eyes. “Would you really blame me if I wanted wedding pictures of his parents to show him when he got older?”It certainly sounded good. Almost as if he believed every word he’d s