The Arrogant Duke

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

1832

Marcela Church walked like the confident debutante she was. She is beautiful with her naturally curled blond hair, forest green eyes and creamy white skin.

Men wanted her - and she had always been smart to use to her advantage.

Through her four years of being a debutante, she had received multiple, countless offers, and yet she accepted none of it to focus her eyes of the grandest of price that her beauty and elegance could give her.

Edward Knight.

Marcela had heard that he had recently inherited his father's dukedom and fortune. He was only four and twenty, but he had a wealth that could feed their family and sustain a luxurious lifestyle for the next hundred generation.

He was the complete package, everything she deserved.

She knew that he was unmarried. Apparently, his betroth had left her not a year ago. Her name was Grace Hamilton, and she was her age as well. Marcela had been acquainted with her in a party or two before.

She hadheard that Edward had been heart broken. He truly loved her, and yet she chose to be with another man.

How foolish of her, but Marcela was grateful that she was anyway. It had given her the greatest opportunity that she would ever receive in her life.

All she had to do now was please the Duke in all ways she knew possible.

When she heard that Edward Knight would be attending one particular ball in London, she had seized every moment possible to prepare.

Marcela spared no expense in making sure that she had the finest gown made by the best seamstress that London had to offer.

She looked at herself in the mirror - she thought it was stunning. It could certainly give her any man she set her eyes to. It was the most daring dress she had ever seen.

The dress was colored in the shade of roses. It almost had no sleeve except for a strIp of ruffle that covered neither her shoulders, nor her arms. It dropped too low, she thought as well. The collar revealed most of her neck line that one could almost peek through her tempting chest. A silk bow was tied beneath her bust to accentuate her tiny waist.

Marcela was so sure that men would be aroused and captured was the fact that the dress outlines her curves. It was almost tight fitting.

She knew that after this night, she would be addressed as a temptress.

The dress suited who she was very well. It was confident, daring and fearless.

No man could resist a woman such as she, not even the reserved Edward Knight.

1832

"Edward," Marcela's voice echoed through the halls of the quiet mansion. "I am coming in."

It had not occurred to Edward that it was already morning. He had drank his way through the night, and emptied three bottles of liquor. He had fallen asleep in an uncomfortable position in his chair sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

His head was pounding hard to the rhythm of Marcela's disturbance.

"Come in," Edward answered irritably.

A visitation from a face he did not want to see was not the best way to start the morning, or rather, the afternoon.

The door was pushed open by the familiar face that haunted and pursued him for the past three years.

"Good Afternoon, Edward." Marcela entered the study with a tray of tea. "I've heard that you drank through the night, is there something I should know?"

"No, but I do." Edward said sternly. "Why are you here, Marcela?"

"I came to visit my betroth," Marcela answered.

Edward knew she was lying. "Why are you really here?" he asked once again.

"Papa has been bothering me about our engagement," Marcela replied truthfully. "I am almost five and twenty, Edward. When are you planning to marry me?"

Edward became silent for a moment. "Go back to London, Marcela. We shall talk about it there."

"I can't," Marcela said. "I told Papa that I came here to plan our wedding. We have been engaged for the past three years, I do not see why now is not the perfect time to be married."

"I am breaking our engagement, then." Edward announced coldly. "I never planned to marry you anyway, Marcela."

"What?" Marcela asked, clearly dumbfounded. "I do not understand."

"I only asked to marry you because I thought that it was convenient at the time." Edward explained. "Now, I do not need you in my life. So please, go back home."

"You're still drunk, aren't you? You smell of liquor." Marcela asked. "You've told me this before, and you were often making a joke out of it."

"I am perfectly sober," Edward said. "And what I joked about before was also the truth."

"You're lying," Marcela accused. "Why?"

"I have no other reason to tell you besides the fact that I do not want to spend the rest of my life with you." Edward replied coldly. "Please go, I have a terrible headache."

Marcela approached Edward and boldly sat on his lap with her legs wrapping Edward's thighs almost rubbing herself through his crotch. "Why?" Marcela asked seductively as she pecked tiny kisses on Edward's neck slowly. "I've given you everything you want, and I can offer you so much more.

I allowed you to ruin me, so that nobody else but you could have me." Marcela stood up and slipped her flowy gown off of her body. She had no undergarments on and fully exposed herself to Edward in broad daylight. "You want me because I've satisfied your every need, and I am always at your beck and call, dear Edward." She sat on Edward's lap with her legs crossed, and she kissed Edward one more time. "Tell me you want me as well and I will give myself to you right here, right now."

Edward remained composed. "Stand up and get dressed, Marcela."

Marcela's delicate fingers continued to play, and one by one unbuttoned Edward's shirt. "Your mind says 'no', but your body says otherwise. You're aroused, Edward. Very aroused."

"If you do not get up, I will throw you to the side of the road, naked." Edward warned.

"Tell me why, then." Marcela opened his shirt and exposed his chest. "Why are you throwing me away?"

"Because I've promised myself to another." Edward replied, pushing Marcela to the ground. He stood up himself and arranged himself to decency. "I cannot - I will not marry you because I do not love you. And I will not succumb to your tempting because I love her and because I respect her as a woman because she does not throw herself at me like you do."

In the middle of his speech, the door opened and Grace appeared looking pleased to see him. "I entered because nobody answered when I knocked. I assumed you were still ... asleep."

Marcela stood up still naked, staring at Grace as if she did not belong there.

Grace clutched at the knob with her mouth wide open. "I'm sorry, I did not know that you were with company. I think I'll come back some time ... never." Grace closed the door and left Edward and Marcela alone once again.

"I may have forgotten to mention that she has been here since early morning speaking with Jessamine." Marcela smiled at Edward with a look of deviousness. "She did not want to bother you because you were still asleep."

Edward was enraged. "You conniving snake," he spoke with pure hatred. "Get out of my property."

Edward ran after Grace and slammed the study door shut, leaving Marcela alone