How to Beguile a Duke (Entangled Scandalous) Read Online Free PDF Page A

back a smile. As if the great duke would be the one to have to do the rearranging if it were necessary. “Yes, Your Grace.”
    “If you’ll accompany me, I’ll take you to the library. You can enter by the door this time.”
    She glanced at Diana, who snored softly. Turning back to him, she said, “I’m afraid my companion still hasn’t recovered from our voyage. Life on board ship did not agree with her. If you don’t object, I would prefer to let her rest. Surely there are enough servants around this place to make a chaperone unnecessary.”
    Shaking his head, he cast his eyes upward. “There are no more or less than there were when you arrived unchaperoned last evening.” He held his hand toward the door, indicating she should precede him. “After you. The sooner this undertaking begins, the sooner it will end.”
    The thick carpet lining the long corridor muffled their footsteps as they marched to the library. Catherine stopped on the threshold and glanced around before slipping off her half boots. Due to its smaller size and length, the journal ought to have been easily discernable from the other books on the shelves, but even in broad daylight there was no sign of it. She decided to resume her explorations by returning to the area where she had searched the previous evening. This time, she focused on the books on the bottom shelf. She lifted her skirts slightly and knelt, removing them one by one and painstakingly stacking them in order on the floor. She hoped her careful handling of the books would put the duke at ease and he would leave her to her task. Instead, he settled himself behind his desk and shamelessly watched her work. With three younger brothers, she was adept at ignoring those around her, so she simply applied herself to her mission and soon forgot he was there.
    The journal was not to be found on, below, behind, or anywhere else in this section of shelving. After carefully replacing all of the books, she stood and stretched, pressing her palms against her lower back and arching over them. At this rate, one day would not afford her enough time to complete a thorough search. Hooves clattered against cobblestones, and she moved to the window. A cart carried some sort of delivery for the kitchens.
    “You seem perplexed,” the duke said from his desk.
    She startled, having forgotten he was still in the room.
    “That is because I am,” she said absently. “I hadn’t expected it to be so difficult to locate the journal.”
    “Why are you so certain it is here?”
    “Because my grandmother hid it in the library.”
    He lifted his chin. “Why is the journal so important to you?”
    Catherine clasped her hands in front of her and kept her eyes trained on the floor. “It is a family heirloom. My mother was devastated by the death of her father, and her mother died during their voyage to America. It would mean so much to her to have some token of her family.”
    “Balderdash,” the duke said.
    She snapped her head up. “I beg your pardon?”
    He stood and moved to the front of his desk, then leaned against it and met her gaze in a clear challenge. “Balderdash. The dutiful daughter act doesn’t become you. Why do you really want that journal?”
    Catherine’s mouth dropped open. How could he know there was more to the journal? Her lips moved as if of their own accord, preventing her from forming words.
    The duke tapped his foot against the floor. “I’m waiting.”
    She crossed her arms. “Your Grace. I have never been so insulted. I am not accustomed to having my word questioned.”
    “Well you must become accustomed to it if you are going to continue to break into other people’s homes at your whim.”
    “You should as well if you are going to lie to your guests about your whereabouts.”
    He took a step forward and looked down his nose at her. Every part of her body awakened to his proximity. A whiff of cedar tickled her nose.
    “Miss Malboeuf, you would do well to learn the