"Your Grace, please forgive my discourtesy," I said quickly, dropping the book in my hasty to curtsy.
I then realized I wasn't wearing shoes because I'd kicked them off to get comfy in my chair. Even better.
"At ease. I will not tell your mother," he said with the ghost of a smile on his face. "As long as you tell me what you were reading."
I gaped up at him in shock. This guy was surprisingly persistent in talking to a girl for someone who was nothing but a military counselor in the novel.
I tried to remember if it said whether or not he was married. He probably was. Duchess was a highly sought after title, after all.
But like most political marriages there was most likely no real affection between them. That was one of the central themes of this novel because Alpheus and Marcy overcame that cultural hurdle.
