The Duke's Dilemma Read Online Free PDF Page B

quickened her already erratic heartbeat. “So then, Miss Emily Haliburton, late of the Cotswolds, how come you to be one of the duke’s guests?”
    “I am not a guest—merely a companion to my cousin, Lady Lucinda Hargrave, which explains why I am, as you pointed out, unescorted. A companion scarcely needs a companion, does she? Besides,” she added lamely, “I am no green girl straight from the schoolroom.”
    “I can see that,” he agreed so readily Emily felt certain she must have suddenly developed a full measure of crow’s feet and wrinkles.
    He cocked his head thoughtfully. “I take it Lady Lucinda is one of the five beauties vying for the duke’s hand.”
    “That is correct,” Emily said, cautiously circling the restless black stallion to make her way down the bank of the ha-ha. “I am here to offer the poor child what support I can.”
    “Poor child? One would think your cousin had been sentenced to Tyburn,” he said, sounding a bit taken aback. “From what I’ve heard, Montford has the title and wealth to make him the catch of the season.”
    “If one is looking for a parti so high in the instep he comes close to tripping over his own nose each time he puts one foot in front of the other,” Emily acceded sourly. “It was inevitable that Lucinda should come to the attention of the duke; she is the most beautiful girl to make her come-out this season, but she is entirely too gentle and sensitive to endure life with such a such a man.”
    “Which translates into ‘the chit is a bit of a slow-top’ unless I miss my guess.” The stranger’s lips curled in a nasty smile. “So naturally, as companion to Lady Lucinda, the sharp-tongued Miss Emily Haliburton is expected to supply the brains which the lovely dimwit needs to trap the hapless duke into marriage. How could such a combination fail? I’ve been told the high flyers of the ton are a perverted lot. A ménage à trois may be just the thing to whet the appetite of a roué like Montford.”
    “Why, you insufferable…” Emily sputtered, struggling to keep her temper under control and her skirts in place while she climbed over the low fence at the bottom of the ha-ha. She scrambled up the far bank, made a few quick repairs to her collapsing hairdo and looked back to find her tormenter watching her every move.
    “How dare you address me as if I were one of the tavern doxies with whom your kind associates,” she panted.
    “My kind!” The handsome devil let out a howl of laughter. “And what would a prim little country puss like you know about my kind ?”
    To that insolent question, Emily could think of nothing sufficient to express her outrage.
    Under the circumstances, the only prudent move appeared to be immediate retreat. She had already stalked past the Grecian statuary and well into the parterre garden when it occurred to her that for a baseborn ruffian, this annoying fellow she had just traded wits with had had a rather amazing command of English.

CHAPTER THREE
    T he duke had still not made an appearance when Lady Hargrave, Lady Lucinda, and Emily joined the others for breakfast in the cheerful green and white morning room at five minutes before the hour of twelve noon. Lady Sudsley, however, made a point of informing them that their interim host, Mr. Rankin, had advised her personally that his grace had arrived at Brynhaven, but would not join his guests until dinner that evening.
    Lucinda was pale as a ghost. She had complained of a headache and begged to be allowed to remain in bed, but Lady Hargrave would have none of that.
    Emily sympathized with her cousin. She had a headache of her own—one that had started with the worrisome thought that very few low born fellows had the vocabularies of Oxford professors and had accelerated with her discovery that the tapes securing the back of her kerseymere gown had split open during her climb over the fence. No wonder that leering oaf, whoever he might be, had had such a smug expression