How to Dance With a Duke Read Online Free PDF

wait it out. There have been some cases where an almost full recovery has been achieved. But there are others…”
    She did not say it, but her cousins knew what outcome she spoke of. It was what they all feared.
    “In the meantime,” Cecily said in what she hoped was a bracing tone, “I will try to get my hands on Papa’s diaries for his latest trip and clear his name of these ridiculous allegations that he killed William Dalton.”
    “I am appalled that anyone who knows Uncle Hurston even entertains such ludicrous notions.” Maddie shook her head in disgust, sending her already messy blond chignon into further disarray. “It’s almost as vile as the curse rumors.”
    Juliet echoed the sentiment. “But how can you use the journals to prove his innocence if the club refuses to let you see them? You can hardly break in and steal them.”
    “Oh, I shall have them,” Cecily said with conviction. “And I will do so by using the club’s own rules against it.”
    Quickly she told them about the rule her father had put in place that would only allow the wives of current members to enter the club.
    “When he created the rule, of course,” Cecily went on, “Papa assumed that I would be marrying David soon. It could never have occurred to him that we would dissolve our engagement and I’d be barred from the club.”
    “Yet another thing to blame David for,” Juliet said, her auburn brows bunching together in a frown. Neither Juliet nor Madeline were overly fond of Cecily’s faithless fiancé, who had been found in a compromising position with another young lady and had been forced to wed her instead of Cecily.
    He wasn’t Cecily’s favorite person, either.
    Still, she didn’t want to get sidetracked by rehashing their old grievances against her erstwhile betrothed.
    “At any rate, the rule is in place now and there is nothing we can do to have it changed. I have no doubt that Papa’s illness has been seen as a blessing by some club members, who have been waiting for the right moment to unseat him from his leadership position. They will hardly countenance having his daughter run tame there. Besides, I have asked Lord Fortenbury to return the journals and he insists that he doesn’t have them. Which is, of course, a lie.”
    “So, how will you get in?” Madeline leaned forward, as if she wished to break down the door herself.
    “I’ll marry a club member, of course.”
    “Good Lord, Cecily.” Juliet laughed. “I believed you for a moment, you goose.”
    “Oh, I am deadly serious,” Cecily said, taking a sip of tea.
    “What?” Madeline gaped. “You would marry just to get into the club? Surely there is an easier way.”
    “One that would not involve matrimony,” Juliet added.
    “I think I would enjoy the freedoms that come with being a married woman.”
    “But what of the restrictions?” Juliet asked with a frown. “You can hardly expect to marry someone who will let you do as you please. I doubt there is a man alive who is that easygoing.”
    “So long as he allows me to continue my work with the Ladies’ Egyptological Society, I don’t care what sort of temperament he has.”
    “But how can you set about it in such a cold-blooded fashion?” Madeline demanded. “Even after what happened with David, don’t you wish to find someone you can love? Or for whom you hold some kind of affection?”
    “Love is the last thing I am interested in,” Cecily said baldly. “I had quite enough of that from David Lawrence and all it got me was a broken heart. No, I will be quite content with a marriage of convenience. And if I choose wisely, I might even be able to find someone with whom I share a love of scholarship.”
    “It all sounds so…” Juliet paused, as if she were trying her best to spare Cecily’s feelings.
    Cecily felt a rush of affection for her cousins. She took them both by the hand.
    “Don’t fret,” she told them with a grin. “I won’t enter into any match lightly. But if I