"Nonsense!" The word stumbled out of Esther's mouth before she could think of a more ladylike reaction.

It was indeed completely nonsensical.

The Duke didn't want to marry her? Of course, he did. All his actions said so. A blind man could read his intention clearly.

"It is not." Lord Greycoat replied calmly. "And I have a concrete explanation."

"There is no explanation required, sir." Esther interrupted him confidently. "I do not wish to sound proud, in fact, there is not but an ounce of glee I get from this however, the Duke really does intend to marry me. You might not be aware but this is the sole motive for him visiting London this season."

Lord Greycoat's blue eyes went wide at her words. "You say it with so much confidence as if the Duke himself must have informed you."

Esther scoffed to her side and fanned her face before speaking. Little droplets of sweat had started appearing at the edge of her hairline. "I reckoned you were a dear old friend of the Duke's but turns out you're not as close."

Greycoat only raised an eyebrow and she continued. "Sir, you must not know this but there exists an arrangement more than a decade old, established between the late Duke of Dales and my father whic-"

"I am aware." He said causing Esther to lose words.

"Pardon?" She mumbled.

"I am aware, Miss Sherborne. Of the arrangement and the Duke's opinion thereof."

"I see. So you're aware." Esther's voice had gone low on confidence. Shifting from one foot to another she searched her mind for something sensible to say. "Well, then I don't see why you shall carry any doubts in the solidarity of the Duke's intention of this visit. For I've indeed heard of his careless rakish ways but I'm hoping he's not so insensitive and wild to go against his late father's promises. Once again, pardon my words."

Esther watched Greycoat's face slowly lit up with a hint of amusement. His lips picked into a smirk on one side of his face. "Miss Sherborne you seem to voice your opinion quite boldly irrespective of your authority or knowledge on the man the said opinion relates to."

"I hope that does not offend you for that is not my motive at all." Her response only strengthened the smirk on his face, to her sheer disappointment.

He scoffed lightly looking at the ground and took two unnecessary steps closer to her, as she waited for him to spit out whatever evil thoughts were boiling in his head.

"In my friend's defence," he started speaking the smirk long gone from his hard face that now styled a clenched jaw instead, "he is indeed not so insensitive and wild a son to pay no heed to his late father's words, I assure you. But he is also not so immature and irresponsible a Duke, to just marry any undeserving vile woman and award her the status of the Duchess of his dukedom and the people thereof, on the mere account of an old arrangement."

It wasn't the words he used that offended Esther, it was rather the contempt and compassion they carried as he bore wells in her eyes with his own. He'd stopped speaking and if this was Esther's cue to respond. She was not in a position to do any such thing.

Slowly he took two backward steps restoring the decent space between them. "Pardon my words, Miss Sherborne." He added shortly after with mischief evident in his eyes and once again the smirk was back at its place.

After a long unnatural pause, Esther breathed out in shudders and still looking into Lord Greycoat's eyes she spoke demurely, "I see. Well, that's a relief, isn't it?" She awkwardly asked while Greycoat only watched her with a delightful expression that did not sit right with Esther's nervousness.

"If the Duke truly is such a great man despite the infamous reputation that goes around then I have nothing to worry about have I?" She chuckled. "I hope he finds a woman not undeserving and vile to whom he shall award the title of the Duchess of his dukedom and the people thereof."

"Indeed." Greycoat acknowledged, a smile forcing its way out despite his tightly clenched lips, proving how deeply he was enjoying her discomfort.

"Great. This has been a great conversation." She concluded and with both her hands, she gathered her dress. "However, I am afraid I must take your leave now, for I've been gone for quite a while and my mother must be-"

"No wait, Miss Sherborne." Lord Greycoat interrupted but she paid him no heed. With one slight curtsy, she started walking back to the front garden however, her heavy dress and even heavier embarrassment limited the size and frequency of her steps.

"Thank you for your time, sir." She spoke as she walked. "About your coat, I'll bring it to you one of these days when-"

"Miss Sherborne, I did not mean to offend you, please, stop." He caught up to her in no time with his long strides and comfortable attire.

"Oh, there's no need for apologies, I am not offended by the least. It's absolutely-"

Her steps were getting used to the ground she was walking on when an unannounced hand on her wrist halted her mid-step.

"Miss Sherborne." Esther's eyes widened as she turned around to look at him. Even more when she looked at his fingers wrapped around her bare wrist.

He pulled his hand off her skin as soon as realization dawned on him. "My apologies."

"You seem to have a lot of things to apologize for." Esther made a contrastingly sharp remark looking straight into his eyes.

Another smirk was the last thing she expected to receive.

"So you agree that it is necessary, the apology I mean."

"It is not. Neither is this conversation." Esther replied in haste and started striding once again.

"You're mistaken, Miss Sherborne. For this is a very important conversation and it is far from over." He was walking next to her once again.

"Not for me sir, no."

"Of course it is!" He jumped in front of her path and she stopped well in time to not collide with him once again. A frown that spoke annoyance grew firmer on her forehead but Greycoat seemed to not notice it. "Are you not curious at all as to why the Duke sent you a personal invite if it's not to fulfil the late Duke's promise?"

The concept was intriguing and for a moment Esther found herself wondering but soon she gathered herself. "Curiosity is a disease and I do not care. The Duke will not marry me, that is all I need to know." She said and looked away to express the gravity of her disinterest.

Sun was now situated right at the top of their heads and the heavy dress was not helping in keeping the perspiration in control. Faint music from the garden was leaking its way to the backyard along with a mess of chattering and laughing. They all seemed pretty indulged but Esther couldn't help but wonder if her mother had arrived yet or not, which she probably had, and in that case, she would soon discover that she was missing.

She was supposed to be having a romantic conversation with the Duke of Dales at the moment but here she was, hiding in the secluded backyard with his friend making sure such a situation does not occur.

"Whatever are you saying, Miss Sherborne? We never established the fact that the Duke will not marry you." Lord Greycoat spoke in all seriousness and Esther's head snapped as she stared at him with bewilderment and more than one clear hint of fear.

She waited a moment for him to smirk like he always did or to laugh even and declare it a joke but none of it ever came. "Is that supposed to be a joke, sir?"

"Not at all." He crossed his arms on his chest, now that Esther did not seem to be in a mood to run away. "I only said earlier that my friend, the Duke will not marry an undeserving vile woman. We're yet to find out if you are one of those."

"I am one of those!" She blurted out.

"Beg your pardon?"

Esther folded her arms at her chest and tilted her chin upwards to level with his eyes. "In fact, consider me both, if that is what it takes."

Lord Greycoat squinted his eyes to slits. "You're a crazy woman, aren't you?"

"I am, and the Duke wouldn't want a crazy woman to become his Duchess, would he?"

"I don't know." He shrugged nonchalantly. "It is for the Duke to decide."

"What?" Esther's calm forehead was soon invaded by dense frowns. "This is insane! You are insane. I must go."

She'd heard that one bad apple spoils the barrel but she'd never experienced such intense application of the saying in her life until now. She was aware of the careless, nonchalant, insensitive character of the Duke or any man with that kind of wealth but she should have been smart enough to realize that his friend would be no different.

What a mess she'd gotten herself into.

She gathered her dress and now with a strong determination not to turn back, she walked past the padded pathway along the side of the grand Radcliffe mansion to enter the garden once again. Lord Greycoat was following her intently but he couldn't call after her as a tragic fit of laughter had taken over his senses. He probably couldn't even breathe well.

However, Esther had no time to turn around and check on his well-being. She was not in a state to. Annoyance and rage had formed an alien alloy on her inside and she only wanted to walk as far away from the lunatic man as possible. She wasn't looking where she was walking, all the messy thoughts and snippets from the aimless conversation were hardly giving her an opportunity to watch her steps.

Soft music from the orchestra on the left and the tempting aroma from the buffet on her right, invaded her senses the moment she entered the garden. Still far away from the major crowd of attendees, she kept walking. Her head felt dizzy and tired and the clutter of chattering and laughing, the volume of which magnified with every other of her step, did not help at all.

It irritated her how all those people could enjoy those conversations that were nothing but noise to her ears. All because of that stupid Duke and his crazy friend.

"Esther!" She heard him call from behind but she knew better than to turn around.

She accelerated her uneven strides to outrun him.

"Esther, stop." It continued.

How brazen of him to call her by her name in such a gathering, she wondered. But then again, he'd already been more civilized than she could expect from a man of his sorts. 

"Esther, where are you going?" It had started to get on her nerves now. She hoped for him to stop or he'd leave her with no other choice than to disrespect him gravely in front of the entire ton.

"Esther-"

That was it for her. In ignited rage and murderous intent, she began to turn around just to stop when her eyes found a familiar face in her front, her mother.

"my dear I've been looking for y-"

Lady Sherborne continued to speak but her daughter was in no state to have the conversation. The sudden unexpected change of view threw her off guard and by the time she realised it was her mother calling after her all this time, the ground under her feet had moved, her dress had got tangled in her feet, her fan flew and in no time she was falling on her back. She closed her eyes tight ready to meet the floor any moment while her hands flung around to hold on to any last ray of hope.

And it appeared just in time in form of a firm hand at her waist and her fingers dug on the broad shoulder to which it belonged.

For a moment she stayed like that, she wanted to make sure she was safe before she came back on her own feet.

"Esther, my dear, are you okay?" Lady Sherborne's words meant concern but her voice clearly sounded amused. Esther couldn't imagine what was so funny until she opened her eyes only to look straight into Lord Greycoat's clear blue ones.

All of a sudden, blazing heat rushed into her veins through the fingers with which she held onto his shoulders and her waist felt as if on fire under his grasp.

"Miss Sherborne?" He spoke, his voice full of delicate concern and unbelievably genuine warmth. She couldn't believe it was the same man she was having an argument with mere minutes ago.

Quickly, she let go of his shoulders and jerked his hand away from her waist. He took a step back as she smoothed her dress down with her hands hastily.

A little crowd of bystanders had gathered around them in a haphazard circle. Esther couldn't help but notice the eyes of the other young ladies pinned sharply on her waist, exactly where Lord Greycoat's hand had been a while ago.

"Mother! You've arrived." Esther muttered.

"Yes, my dear. I have, indeed." Lady Sherborne replied and then averted her gaze to situate it at Lord Greycoat, standing next to Esther.

"Lady Sherborne." He said warmly and greeted her with a nice civilized bow.

Lady Sherborne smiled her motherly grin and dropping to a soft curtsy, she said, "Your Grace."