Read Online Why Do Dukes Fall in Love?: A Dukes Behaving Badly Novel by Megan Frampton - Free Book Online Page B

thoroughly as the brandy
     did. He’d have to test it out, perhaps do something nice for someone who wasn’t she.
    Although he wouldn’t want to be so hasty, would he?
    “Can you answer a question for me?”
    Michael shrugged. “If I want to, of course.”
    Did she roll her eyes at him? He thought so. He liked it.
    “Why are you working so hard?” she gestured to the room. “You already have all this, you have more than sufficient funds,
     and you could just do the minimum of management to keep it all going. Why do you push yourself?”
    He inhaled sharply, wondering why it felt as though she had gotten to the heart of him, somehow. Again. And with just a simple
     question. He took another sip of brandy, considering whether or not to answer, or to just shut her down with one of his usual
     rude comments.
    And surprised himself when he did answer. Even more surprising was how it felt to have her ask one of those insightful questions
     he’d thought about. Like sharing something of himself, and he wanted to do more of it. But only with her, and because it was
     she. “I suppose it is because I wish to strive to be the best I can be, whether it is the best duke, or the best manager of
     my holdings, or the best representative in the House of Lords. Anybody can do what is necessary, and even perhaps do a little
     more, to congratulate themselves on making a bit more effort.” His lip curled. “Those people don’t know what it is to try,
     to run the risk of failure.” He shrugged, meeting her gaze. “I do.”
    She regarded him with those dark liquid eyes, and it felt as though she were staring through into his soul. Fanciful though
     that sounded.
    “I can understand that,” she replied slowly. She looked away, toward the shelf filled with books, then out the window. Not
     that there was anything to see out there, nothing but darkness and a few trees brushing the window. “There aren’t many men
     in your position who would continue to strive, to value the importance of trying to be something more.”
    “I am not most men.” He stated it plainly, aware it was absolutely true and also that it could be seen as arrogant. Which
     he definitely was.
    She looked back at him, a wry smile on her lips. “I admitted that before. Are you asking for a compliment?” It sounded as
     though she was . . . teasing him? He’d never been teased before. That he knew of. “You are definitely not most men,” she repeated,
     this time in a voice that sounded as though it were redolent with meaning more than the few words she’d said. It made something
     quicken inside him, but also made him feel the stab of poignant emotion he hadn’t had in thirty years. Of the potential for
     loss, but the equal potential for gain.
     
    Edwina knew she couldn’t blame her shaky feeling on the brandy. She wished it were as simple as that. But she’d had only a
     few sips, and she had to admit that she’d been all fluttery inside for nearly the entire evening, as soon as it was clear
     he was going out of his way to be pleasant to Gertrude. That surprised her, given how abrupt he was normally, and how he seemed
     almost proud of his brusqueness.
    “Why were you so nice to my daughter?” She might as well ask him; it wasn’t as though he were bound to take offense. He hadn’t
     taken offense at anything she’d said thus far, from when she thought his plans were too ambitious, or that he had dealt with
     a tradesman poorly, or when she’d been short with him in the morning, before she’d had her coffee. In fact, at times it had
     seemed he had pondered what she had said, as though he were sifting the information through his hardworking brain. As though
     her opinion mattered.
    “Why wouldn’t I be? It seemed as though it would be a better expenditure of energy to be nice and have her relatively appeased
     through dinner than to antagonize her and have to deal with that.” His mouth curved into a smile. “Besides which, I do