Page 47 of The Duke’s Defiant Love

"Isn't it?"

"No."

She looked at him.

"Then what did you want?"

He opened his mouth. Nothing came. And that silence told her everything she believed she needed to know.

Her smile faded.

"Very well."

She turned toward the window.

"I will marry you."

Something in his face went very still, some argument rising behind his eyes that he did not, in the end, give voice to, and the quiet that followed felt considerably colder than anything that had passed between them in the library the night before.

"As you wish," he said finally, and the formality of it landed like a door closing somewhere she had not meant to let one close at all.

The morning passed with an uncomfortable sense of inevitability. By noon, Dr Hartwell and Sebastian had settled upon the necessary course: a special license, obtained as quickly and quietly as possible. Sebastian found himself standing outside the Hartwell residence once again, waiting for Amelia to join him.

He had not seen her since their conversation. He was beginning to regret every word he had spoken. The front door opened. Amelia stepped outside. She wore a dark cloak over a simple walking dress, her gloves already buttoned, her expression composed.

Too composed.

Sebastian inclined his head.

"Miss Hartwell."

"Your Grace."

He nearly winced at the title.

"Are you ready?"

"As ready as one can be for a morning spent arranging one's own marriage."

His mouth twitched despite himself.

"I deserved that."

"I know."

She walked toward the carriage. He followed. For several seconds, neither spoke.

Then Sebastian opened the carriage door for her.

"Thank you."

She climbed inside. He followed. The door shut.

And suddenly they were alone.

The carriage ride to Doctors' Commons passed in the tense silence of two people who had a great deal to say and had agreed, without either of them stating it outright, to say none of it.

"You are very quiet," Sebastian said finally, when the silence had stretched past what either of them could comfortably sustain.