A Dance to Tempt the Duke - Chapter 13

Felicity stared back at him, words, excuses, explanations whirling around in her head and refusing to settle into coherent sentences.

‘You saw me kissing Edward?’ she finally asked, almost hoping against hope it was not true even though she had heard it with her own ears.

‘Although kissing is the polite way of describing the behaviour in which the two of you were engaged.’

He stared down at her, his implacable glare a stark contrast to the look of passion she had seen only moments ago. ‘But there was one thing you can be grateful for. I was the only one to see you in his arms, with his hands all over your body, your clothes almost falling off you.’

He flinched and momentarily closed his eyes, then looked back down at her, his expression steely. ‘If anyone else had seen, your reputation would be in tatters. Or rather, you would have the reputation that you so rightly deserve.

‘It’s not what you think.’

He glowered at her as if she were beneath contempt. ‘I believe it is exactly what I think and what I saw with my own eyes. After giving me the impression that I was the only man courting you, you were giving yourself to another man?’

‘No,’ she insisted. ‘No, you’re wrong.’

With every cruel word she felt she was being further crushed under the weight of his disdain.

‘It isn’t like that. It was never like that,’ she choked out. ‘There was only ever you.’

‘Does that mean my eyes deceived me? Was it some sort of trick of the light? Was I delusional? Was it another woman in the arms of Montgomery, one who looked exactly like you? So what bizarre lie do you intend to try to use to explain your behaviour?’

He looked down at her, fierce anger sparking in his brown eyes.

‘It was none of those reasons, of course it wasn’t. But I can explain,’ she cried out. But what could she say to this man, the man she had loved, that would make him understand why she had to kiss another?