An Unexpected Proposal (St Daine Family 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

imagine I have done to cause you harm, Claire, for I vow I do not recall having said or done anything during the few brief moments of our acquaintance thus far to make you loathe me.”
    “Miss Leighton, if you please,” she haughtily rebuffed, avoiding his eyes. Her bottom lip trembled, and Lucien sighed in defeat.
    “Very well, Miss Leighton. I apologize for any inconvenience your dancing with me may have caused and promise to return you directly to your mother's side the moment the music ends.”
    He remained silent throughout what remained of the dance, and true to his word, when the last note struck and after stiffly bowing his thanks to her for the dance, he tucked her hand securely into the bend of his arm and started straightly across the floor to deliver her into the care of her mother.
    Glancing quickly about to distract herself from the rather uncomfortable silence between them, Claire found her father's disappointed gaze resting on her, his eyes filled with censure. She could feel the weight of his disapproval all the way across the ballroom. Fix it , his expression seemed to demand, and Claire knew she dare not disobey.
    “It is Melisande,” she finally whispered as they made their way back to her mother's side. “You were maligning her.”
    Lucien drew up and then leaned close to better hear her over the noise of the crush as she hastened to explain. “In the receiving line at the Kelsing's, I—I heard you say....”
    She glanced away once before the full weight of her glare returned to rest upon him. “You were mean , Your Grace.”

4
    T hree days later , Claire was once again readying herself for a ball. Normally, she would not have wasted her time with donning her ballgown and slippers this far in advance of the dancing, but the Rothwyn's country estate was quite some distance away. By the time she and her family arrived, the festivities would be in high dither, leaving her no time to disappear into whatever room she had been assigned to change.
    Though she would use it as her explanation if pressed, an eagerness to be prepared for the evening from the moment she stepped down out of her family's carriage had nothing to do with the true reason Claire had taken such pains with her appearance tonight. Nay, her reasons were much more practical. Having bungled the first affair in which she and Melisande attended by accidentally gaining the notice of the Duke of Rothwyn herself—the sort of attention she was supposed to be courting for Mel—Claire vowed she would not again forget herself and her campaign to help Melisande secure the proposal she sought would begin in earnest from the moment of her arrival at the St. Daine's private house party.
    Studying herself with a critical eye in the tall, polished glass of the cheval mirror in the corner of her dressing room, Claire decided her goal to make herself look completely uninteresting and unapproachable this evening had most certainly been achieved. The darker pastel gown she had chosen was actually a rather murky green and matched both her slippers and the combs Aggie had used to pin up the heavy mass of her hair. She had also chosen a matching satin ribbon sporting her mother's favorite cameo to wear at her throat and an ivory lace fan shot through with ribbons of the same dull, turbid shade of green completed the ensemble. Aside from rolling in the dust before they reached the duke's estate, Claire determined, there was not much else to be done for dulling her appearance...or rather, none that her parents would allow. With a sigh, she stepped away from the glass and made her way downstairs to wait for her mother and father. She was not looking forward to the tedious carriage ride but there was no way either of her parents would have turned down an invitation from the Duke of Rothwyn—especially not when that invitation allowed them not only to mingle with friends and acquaintances but also to forward Claire's introduction to every eligible male who