Beauty and the Duke Read Online Free PDF Page A

undertake an expedition. They chose him.” She was thoughtful as she turned and sipped from her cup. “Do you ever regret not marrying and having children?”
    “Regret is as useless as a three-wheeled cart on a bumpy road. Never go through your life regretting anything, dear.”
    Sunlight spilled through the windows behind Lady Sophia and warmed the air. The green walls topped with classical frieze matched the room’s enormous fireplace and served as a background for the many antiquities the family had collected during years of traveling abroad. Christine always found as much comfort and inspiration in this room as she did in Sophie’s sage advice.
    “I see Lord Sedgwick attended the gala,” Sophie said.
    Christine stiffened. Aunt Sophie had to go and bring up the inevitable. “If you are wondering if we spoke, the answer is yes,” she replied, dumping another hefty spoonful of sugar into her coffee. “He attended with his sister.”
    “His grace is courting the ton for another bride, who will give him an heir. They claim no proud papa is standing in line to wed his daughter to him.”
    “Truly, Sophie,” Christine said quietly. “You are as bad as the rest. It is no wonder he chooses to remain in Scotland, the way people treat him here. Besides, he doesn’t need an heir. He has a daughter. Scottish law allows a daughter to inherit.”
    “His duchy is an English patent, dear. Not Scots.”
    “Oh.”
    Aunt Sophie studied Christine, then returned her attention to the paper. She chuckled. “Your uncle must be apoplectic. My sister’s side of the family never did have the sense of an acorn, which is why they are now poor.”
    Christine carried her cup to the window and stared outside at the azaleas. This was not a conversation she wanted to have. “C. A. Sommers won the Fossil Society’s award last night,” she said after a moment, changing the topic.
    “I never doubted that outcome for a moment,” Sophie said.
    Christine turned. “I wish you could have been there.”
    Sophie looked up, her blue eyes blinking. “What would I do at a function where I would be required to be nice to those bloodsucking windbags you want to impress? You had Amelia and Mr. Darlington to accompany you. I’m just sorry Bingham, the old blatherskite, chose him over you to lead the Perth expedition. Joseph was always a better geologist than a paleontologist.”
    Christine pulled out the chair next to Sophie’s and sat. “Oh, Sophie.” Passion infused her voice. “What I wouldn’t give to make an earth-shattering discovery. A discovery so magnificent…” Setting her coffee cup on the table, she focused on Aunt Sophie’s kind face. “The entire world would be forced to admit that what I have to offer is important.”
    “Is that what is truly bothering you, dear?”
    Of course it was. Didn’t Sophie understand her better than anyone? “I want to be like you, Sophie. Free of the ton’ s prying eyes and suffocating rules. I want to seize the moment. I want to be taken seriously.”
    Sophie patted Christine’s hand. “One day, you will show every stodgy scholar in Britain a thing or two about the female intellect, dear. But you must carefully plan and be patient about these things. Something always comes up, and when it does, then you seize the moment.”
    “Patience.” Christine sat back in her chair. “How can I be patient when the entire world is passing me by? I should be the one going to Perth.”
    “But you are not, dear. The museum trustees did not choose you. Mr. Darlington did not choose you.”
    Christine picked up a folded serviette from the table, snapped it open and dabbed the corner of each eye. “This house will not be the same without Amelia. I shall miss her laughter most, I think.”
    “If it is any consolation, I am still here,” Sophie pointed out.
    “Thank you, Aunt Sophie. You have always been dependable in that way.” She smiled. “Perhaps we could spend more time together now that