Page 62 of Winning Her Duke

“I—no.”

“Very well. Thank you for your time. I will see you this evening.”

He saw her to the door and returned to his study, suddenly feeling exhausted.

Chapter Eighteen

“I really don’t think I should attend the ball this evening. I believe it would be better if I stayed out of the eye of the ton until people stop speculating about the reason Hale is not speaking to me.”

Gia had her fingers clenched together in front of her chest in a gesture of begging and yet Lydia didn’t even consider it.

“You need to attend tonight. I believe everything will work out for the best.”

“What do you mean?” Gia squinted at her friend. “You don’t have a plan to match me up with someone odious, do you?”

Lydia gasped in mock affront. “Who have I ever matched you up with that was odious?”

Gia shook her head. “I’m sorry. You’ve been wonderful, and I’ve been so difficult. You probably wish my father would have left me in Surrey while he visited London.”

“And miss the theatrics upon your arrival? Surely not.”

It was quite humorous now to remember how her father had performed so terribly to get her to London. Though it hadn’t been very funny at the time.

“I can’t believe I fell for his ruse.” Gia frowned. “Perhaps I’m not as adept at seeing a man’s true intentions as I once thought.”

“You miss the duke?”

“He was my only friend here, aside from you, of course.”

“Let us go to the ball and see if we can’t find you a new friend.”

Gia didn’t want to disappoint Lydia again so she walked into the Worthington ball with every expectation she would find the first woman her age and make her acquaintance. But before she had the chance, her gaze met warm blue eyes she knew all too well.

“The duke is here,” she whispered to Lydia. “He’s coming this way. What should I do?”

“You should stand still and allow him to approach and see what he has to say.”

Gia fought the urge to run from the room and stood fast, waiting the excruciating hours it seemed to take Hale to arrive in front of her.

“Good evening, Your Grace,” she said and dipped into a curtsey.

“Miss Gia, you look lovely as always. Would you honor me with a dance?”

“Oh. Of course.” She held out her hand so he could jot his name on her dance card. “Are you certain?” she whispered so only he could hear.

“Surely no harm can come from a simple dance.”

“No. I imagine not.”

He nodded and walked away.

As awful as the past week had been without him, tonight seemed so much worse that he was there but she didn’t know what to expect.

By the time it was their turn on the dance floor, she wanted to run from the room and go home. But she was an adult, and adults did not run away from uncomfortable situations. No matter how much they wanted to.

“He’s not going to bite you. You must relax,” Lydia said as Hale headed in her direction to collect Gia for their dance. “Smile. You look as if you are heading to the gallows.”

Gia wasn’t so sure she wasn’t, for Hale looked like he was being forced to eat slugs.