CHASED BY THE DUKE

8. Date

CHAPTER EIGHT

Maybe sooner or later she would figure out who he really was but for now her ignorance of who he really was, piqued his interest of her even deeper. There was just something about that woman that awoke something in him and Liam was keener now more than ever to figure out what it was.

“Not nice of a duke, you know,” His gaze flaunted over to the woman sitting across him. Dressed in a simple yet elegant dress that accentuated the color of her eyes sitting on a face worth a painter’s imagination, one could easily understand why Princess Mary of York had been receiving quite the attention since they walked into the Grand La Alma restaurant. It was one of those restaurants visited by high profile people that do not want the public’s eye on them.

“Hmm?” he grunted, straightening from where he sat.

“You asked a lady out for coffee then never showed up only to cancel after thirty minutes of making her wait. Then you ask me for dinner and I feel like I’ve been talking alone for a long stretch of five minutes while you seem enthralled with a world of your own. So, tell me, dear Duke of Cornwall, are you playing hard to get or do you just love enjoying watching a woman grow frustrated over you?” Mary questioned, her blue eyes settling on the duke’s handsome face. It would be a lie if she said the duke’s good-looking features had not crossed her mind one or two times before. He was a pleasant sight to look at and he was constantly the topic chatter among the women in the palace back in York.

“Playing hard to get?” He raised an eyebrow, letting a second or perhaps two to slip by before his lips parted to continue,” This is merely a courtesy call. You know better than anyone how these courtesy calls are important,”

Mary took a sip of wine from her glass, an appreciative look dancing on her face at the taste of it before she questioned,” A mere courtesy call, you say?”

“What did you think it was? A date?” He did not mean to come across as curt but Mary didn’t seem offended by his tone. Instead, she just smiled as though it didn’t happen.

“I was hoping it would be,” She answered.

“What?”

“Don’t be a child, Liam,” she paused, setting down her glass with care. She couldn’t drink more than that with the fear of embarrassing herself in the public eye. She had been groomed just like anyone else with a royal claim to know how to behave in public. Reputation, as her mother would say over and over, was the most important aspect of any royal. It had been fed to her that a princess should be held at high standard .

“Mary, I hold you in such high respect and so it is because of this respect that I do not plan on holding my tongue. You and I are nothing more than just royal officials and if my mother put you up to this, I’d suggest you take a step back and reconsider,” Liam said. He should have known his mother would go ahead and manipulate Mary, roping her into his life one way or the other.

“Your mother seemed to think you actually wanted to ask me to be your date at your sister’s wedding,” she seemed unfazed but inside she had to admit she was slightly hurt by his blatant rejection. She was used to men fawning over her and not being rejected so outright.

“My mother is a Queen that believes she knows what is the best for everyone. Look Mary, you are a very attractive lady capable of doing better than settling for me,”

She leaned slightly forward,” Do not worry, Liam. I would not settle for you either. A man who catches the attention of many women is not exactly my type. I just thought I’d do this for the sake of our old college days and your family’s good relationship with mine,” she was not about to let him feel like he turned her down. Her pride just wouldn’t let her.

“So you would be my date to my sister’s wedding?” He questioned. Showing up with Mary as his date at the wedding would put his mother off his back. She’d eventually stop bugging him about his love life.

“Only if you ask nicely,” she teased, her lips parted into one beautiful smile.

“Hmm...now that is the Mary from College, I remember. Do you still drink in secret?” He questioned, his own expression relaxing into a smile. It had been the one secret that only Liam knew but as fate would have it, after college they had been pelted with duties that slowly saw to their friendship deteriorating.

“Once or twice in secret. If mother were to know, I’d be grounded. Imagine it leaking into the news and people laughing at me for being grounded at twenty-six,” she laughed airily.

The spent the rest of the night, reviving old memories of them in college.