Free Simply Voracious by Kate Pearce Page A

mean.”
    “If you wish people to think that we are so attracted to each other that we intend to marry posthaste, you might want to smile at me a little more.”
    She sighed. “I’m sorry, Paul. I’m not feeling too well tonight.”
    “Then let me take you back to your mother.” He stopped dancing and began to lead her back across the dance floor until she pulled at his hand.
    “Can you take me somewhere not quite so unbearably hot?”
    Paul glanced around and changed direction, bringing her toward the open floor-length windows that looked out on to the balcony. He found Lucky a chair and sat opposite her.
    “Is that better?” He took the ivory fan out of her unresisting fingers, opened it, and started fanning her.
    “Much.” She glanced back through the window at the dancing couples. “Are we all right being out here?”
    “As we’re going to be married, I would hope so.”
    “As to that . . .”
    Paul tensed as she stared at him. “You wish to break it off already?”
    “No. It’s just that everything is far more complicated that I realized. By trying to avoid my fate, I’ve simply exchanged one set of problems for another.”
    Paul stopped fanning her. “Not quite. I’m not a money-grubbing bastard who forced himself on you to get his hands on your father’s fortune.”
    She gaped at him. “I wasn’t comparing you to him at all!”
    “Well, that’s what it sounded like.” He realized he was glaring at her in a most unlover-like way. “Has he approached you again since we last spoke?”
    “No, he hasn’t, thank goodness.”
    “Is he here?”
    She hesitated. “I doubt he has the necessary pedigree to enter this particular gathering. To be honest, I didn’t even think about him being here. I was waiting for you.”
    He felt himself relax. “A wise decision, but let me know if you see him and I’ll get rid of him for you. Is that really what is worrying you?”
    “ Everything is worrying me. Even my mother is suspicious of my choice.”
    “The duchess?” Paul blinked. “She’s always been one of my greatest champions.”
    “But I’m her only surviving daughter. She wants me to be as happy in my marriage as she is in hers.”
    “And she doesn’t think I’ll make you happy?”
    Lucky reached out and patted his knee. “I told her that you would never want to hurt me.”
    “Then why was she concerned?”
    Lucky shrugged. “Oh, she thought I might be marrying you to please my father. She has no idea that I’m marrying you to prevent him from hearing the worst of me.”
    Not deceived by her light tone, Paul regarded her for a long moment. He’d always wondered exactly what the duke and duchess had heard about his wild past and his current sexual activities. “You can still tell him the truth, Lucky. That really would be the simplest thing to do.”
    She set her mouth in an obstinate line that he was coming to know very well. “But I’m not a child anymore. I can’t expect everyone to solve my problems for me. It’s bad enough that I have to involve you.”
    Paul held her gaze. “Lucky, involving me was the most intelligent thing you’ve done so far.”
    “I know that.” She smiled at him. “I think I’m all right now. Shall we go back in? I suspect we’ve given the gossips plenty to talk about for the rest of the night.”
    Paul stood and took her hand. “I’ll come and take you out tomorrow so that we can converse more comfortably.”
    “That would be lovely.”
    He took both her hands in his. “Just remember there is no right or wrong way here. There is only what we choose to do and how we choose to do it. No one can make us feel bad about that except ourselves.”
    She pulled out of his grasp and patted his cheek. “I never knew you were quite so profound, Paul.”
    Neither had Paul until he started wanting to make everything right for her. It was a strange feeling, being the responsible one, the one everyone was depending on. He’d avoided that all his life, but