An Unsuitable Duchess Read Online Free PDF

card party this evening.’
    ‘I still do not understand this attraction you have to Helena. She, my friend, is the devil. Tell me she is nothing more than a passing fancy.’
    ‘I do not understand why you are so against my association with her.’
    Hart leaned forward across the carriage. ‘She wants to improve her rank.’
    ‘As do most women of the ton .’
    ‘Tell me you are not thinking of marrying her.’
    ‘It hasn’t crossed my mind. You are mistaken about Helena. She has informed me that she has no wish to marry again.’
    ‘And you believe her?’
    ‘She has not given me a reason to doubt her.’
    He and Helena shared a mutual physical attraction. She was the widow of the Earl of Wentworth and missed her marriage bed. She told him she enjoyed her independence. It was the perfect arrangement. Julian would never pay for sex. He wanted shared desire.
    Hart opened his mouth to say something, but then turned and looked out of the window. ‘Mark my words: Helena is trouble. You’d best remember that.’
    However, at that moment Julian was having a difficult time remembering anything about Helena at all. His thoughts kept returning to a warm smile and a pair of lovely eyes.

Chapter Four
    F or days Julian couldn’t seem to rid himself of the pull the American woman had on him. Suddenly she seemed to be everywhere. Each time he saw her their eyes met briefly, but he refused to pursue an introduction. Any enquiries he made about her would lead to speculation. He did not need members of the ton thinking he was panting after some American, even if that was exactly what he was doing. She was too tempting—and all wrong for a man who needed to live up to the Lyonsdale title.
    The crackling and popping of the fire broke the silence in the library, where Julian and his grandmother faced each other over a chessboard. Absently twirling a glass of his favourite brandy on the Pembroke table, Julian wondered if the American would be attending the Langley ball later that evening.
    ‘Your mother went to a musicale at the Morleys’ tonight. I assume you were invited as well? You had no desire to attend?’
    ‘I had already accepted another invitation,’ Julian said as he slid one of his black pawns along the board.
    ‘You do not like the girl?’
    He gave a careless shrug. ‘I have not spent enough time with her to form any opinion of her character.’
    ‘You have danced with her recently.’
    ‘She is a rather quiet partner. Do not fret. I am aware of her family’s history and I know she is an appropriate choice.’
    ‘It matters not to me if she is the one you will choose. I will not be marrying her. She does show quite well, though. I wouldn’t think it a hardship to produce an heir with her.’
    Julian jerked his head up. ‘This is hardly a topic you and I should be discussing.’
    ‘Why not? You’re a grown man. We have both been married. I doubt there is anything you could say that would shock me.’ She arched a challenging brow.
    His stomach gave a queasy flip. ‘You are my grandmother.’
    She took a sip of her sherry and waved her glass in the air. ‘Is that the best you can do?’
    ‘It was not meant to shock. Discussing my marriage bed with you is unsettling, to say the least.’
    ‘I am mentioning it because I know how important finding a suitable partner in bed can be for a happy marriage. Your grandfather and I had a happy marriage. Did you?’
    Every muscle in his body turned to stone. She knew he hated discussing Emma. It was too painful.
    He shifted his attention back to the board, trying to blink away the wretched image of his wife’s lifeless form lying on the bloody sheets of her bed. He’d been holding her hand when she had slipped away. Offering her comfort at the end had been the least he could do, since it had been his fault she would never see her twentieth year.
    ‘I had a satisfactory marriage,’ he bit out, moving a random chess piece.
    His grandmother’s attention was back