Chapter 11

Anna studied him. He didn’t seem all that cut up about his father’s quite recent death, which was puzzling. Perhaps they hadn’t got on. “That seems very…”

“Old-fashioned?” the Duke finished. “Yes. Remarkably so. My father was a very old-fashioned kind of man, not to mention vindictive. But that’s another story.”

It certainly sounded like a story. But not one she was interested in, sadly for him.

“What has this got to do with me marrying you?” Anna asked.

“My personal assistant found a note in my father’s papers signed by your father, promising a marriage between the Seventh Duke of Springbrook and your father’s daughter.” He gave her that predator’s smile again. “I am the Seventh Duke of Springbrook and you, I believe, are your father’s daughter.”

Anna smoothed her already smooth jeans then clasped her fidgeting hands in her lap. “Yes, but my father said it was a gentleman’s agreement. A handshake that they both then forgot about.”

“He certainly