He felt that what she really was offering him was her heart.
It had been impossible for him not to be delighted that she obviously preferred him to any of the other men who constantly surrounded her.
Quite a number of them were almost as important as he was and one man in particular would finally become a Duke when his cousin, who had produced no direct heir, died.
It must have been after he had kissed her one night in the Conservatory of the house they were both attending a ball in, that the words, ‘will you marry me’ quivered on his lips, as he took them from hers.
Then, just as he was about to speak, the dance must have finished and several other people, talking loudly and laughing, came bursting into the Conservatory.
The Duke and Penelope were too late to move away and then it wa
