Richard
I kept my eyes on the duchess as she walked away, her hips swaying with deliberate defiance. The fitted training trousers clung to her in a way that felt almost intentional, as if she knew exactly how dangerous she looked.
I smiled.
Everything was unfolding precisely as I’d planned.
The tea party. The pressure. The discomfort I’d planted so carefully. Driving her toward me while wedging distance between her and Alexander, it had all been deliberate. And now, with my proposal delivered directly to Duke Lombardy, the final piece is in motion.
He would have no choice.
“We’re returning to the palace,” I ordered the knights waiting nearby.
The carriage door shut behind me, wheels already turning as we departed the Lombardy estate. By the time we arrived, my father would know. Wo
