“You fool.” She spoke rashly, unwisely, but with honesty. She had never wanted to care about these politics of courtship, the intrigue of who would own her and what everyone would think about it. “You cannot care for me. We’ve hardly met.” “I spent the winter listening to my people cry your name.” He stroked his charger’s mane between thumb and forefinger. “A good duke looks to his people’s loves. I have, of late, wanted to be a better duke. So. Perhaps I studied too well.”
