Read Online Thawing A Duke's Heart (Faces of Love Series #1) by Jessie Bennett - Free Book Online

could ever think that someone as alive and energetic as you would want someone like me is unfathomable.” He sighed heavily. “I am not angry with you. Granted, I was when Dunlop told me, but now meeting your family, well your mother, I understand your motives.” He was still speaking to me in cooing tones, gently brushing my cheek with his thumb. “You are so…you could do so much better than me.”
    I simply nodded my head in understanding. He was being kinder than I deserved.
    “Just because there is no love doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness, contentment, with,” he paused for a moment. “With another man.”
    I looked up at him again. He was struggling to get the words out, as if the thought of me with another man sickened him.
    I put my hands on his chest. “But you know that love is real. You have felt it, Your Grace. Dunlop told me about Abigail.”
    I immediately regretted what I said. I had promised Dunlop secrecy. It had just come out. I wanted him to know that he could find it again. That there was still hope yet for him to find his one true love somewhere. He didn’t need to give up and shut himself off to the world. I had this desire for him to see that he could be happy again.
    He tensed under my touch and took a step back. There wasn’t much room in the alcove. He must have decided it didn't put sufficient space between us. He quickly looked around the corner, and seeing that everyone had already gone into the drawing room, grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall.

CHAPTER 10

Proving You Wrong

    * * *
    H e was practically dragging me . I could feel the heated anger radiating up from his touch. Finally, he stopped in front of the library. Opening both mahogany doors, he shoved me in and shut the doors promptly behind us.
    He was pacing back and forth, clenching and flexing his fists. I could tell he was working hard to put his emotions in check.
    “That rake! How dare he tell my personal business to the world?”
    I was afraid to answer. I wasn’t exactly sure if he was talking to me. I had to do something to calm him though.
    “In Dunlop’s defense, it was only Elisabeth and I. He didn’t mean it in a malicious manner. I’m sorry I brought it up.”
    He huffed and continued pacing. I watched him march back and forth, the sound of his rich brown boots clicking on the wooden floors in front of the mantle. I debated sitting on the small sofa behind me, or one of the reading chairs. I was afraid to move though; I didn’t want to anger him more. So I stood still as a statue, waiting for his emotions to subside.
    “I know that it must be heartache for you to think of it. I am truly sorry I brought it up,” I tried to pacify him. “But it is proof that deep down inside, you do believe in love, that it is possible. You could find it again.”
    “Now stop right there!” he said in his commanding Duke tone.
    He stopped his pacing and came down on me with all of his anger. “I was stupid! I was a stupid boy! Frivolous and innocent and unrealistic!” He was waving his hands around. “Nothing good can ever come of that kind of irrational behavior. I didn’t love her. I was attracted to her. I was settled in the fact that we would be matched together, nothing more. She, on the other hand, lusted after others, and was not sensible enough to be responsible about it.”
    “She hurt you, but that doesn’t lessen what you felt for her.”
    He gave a cynical laugh. “It was attraction and nothing more. Love is nothing more than a fabrication of carnal desires. It is simply a whimsical name for irrational behavior. It can happen to anyone, no matter who the person is. It is animalistic and nothing more.” He said all this with irritating finality.
    He was standing in front of me now, having stopped his pacing. I could feel the heat of his heaving chest from his rage. I wasn’t frightened by him though. As angry as he was, he was also open and truly vulnerable for the first time. I was so