The Ugly Duchess Read Online Free PDF

to the duke’s demand that he marry. He’s far too young, don’t you think, Mama? He’s not even twenty.”
    “I don’t know about that,” her mother said. “In terms of maturity, he’s already at least a decade older than his father. And from what I hear, he’d better marry a girl with a fortune so that he can repair the estate once Ashbrook falls over in an apoplectic fit. I expect that’s why the duke is pushing him onto the market.”
    “You’re always telling me not to make cutting remarks,” Theo said. “Just listen to yourself, Mama. Do I really have to wear these pearls? I detest pearls.”
    “Young ladies wear pearls. What are you doing, darling?”
    Theo looked up from her writing desk. “I’m amending my list. Just in case I ever get to dress as I wish.”
    “Something about pearls?”
    “Yes. I’ve added two rules in the last day or so. Pearls are for swine. ”
    “And debutantes,” her mother added. “What’s the other one?”
    “You won’t like this one,” Theo observed. “ Etonians merit consideration. ”
    “I don’t dislike it. But I think rank is a better judge of a man than education. Besides that, there are schools other than Eton, my dear.”
    “Mama! This list has nothing to do with possible husbands; it only reflects how I shall dress when I have the chance to be myself. In short, once I am married. The Etonian morning coat is altogether delicious. I don’t care a bit about the bodies inside it, unless one of them is mine.”
    “I hope I don’t live to see you dress like a schoolboy,” her mother said, shuddering visibly. “I don’t like to even imagine it.”
    “Don’t you remember the hopeless adoration James had for the captain of the cricket team after his first term? There’s a great deal of glamour to be had by looking like a schoolboy, if I can figure out how to harness it. At least it would stop girls from being so blasted sympathetic about my profile.”
    “Here is my advice,” her mother said, turning from the mirror. “Every time you detect even the faintest hint of sympathy from one of those empty-headed little chits, reach up and touch your grandmother’s pearls. You may detest them, Theodora, but they are worth as much as most girls’ dowries. There’s much to be said for unentailed personal property when it comes to attractiveness.”
    “If I get near Geoffrey, I’ll be sure to direct his attention to them. Maybe I will draw the string through my teeth, just to make sure he sees it.” She came up behind her mother and gave her a hug. “I don’t know why I couldn’t have turned out to be as pretty as you are, Mama.”
    “You are —”
    Theo interrupted her. “Hush. I have a long nose and chin and I look remarkably mannish. But I can live with it, or at least, I could if I didn’t have to wear so many white ruffles that I look like a pail of foaming milk.”
    Her mother smiled at her in the glass. “There isn’t a seventeen-year-old young lady in all London who doesn’t long to wear colors in the evening. It will happen soon enough.”
    “Once I’m Lady Geoffrey Trevelyan,” Theo said with a giggle.

Four
    Devonshire House
    The Countess of Devonshire’s ball
    W hen the ducal carriage drew up before Devonshire House, Theo hopped out after her mother, followed by an obedient, if morose, James. They all paused at the doorway to the ballroom for a good moment after they’d been announced, but to Theo’s disappointment, no one seemed to notice that she was accompanied by the most elusive matrimonial catch of the year.
    Not that anyone would have thought there was a possibility of catching James until this very moment.
    “A sad crush,” Mrs. Saxby said disapprovingly, surveying the floor. “The countess obviously did not prune the invitation list. I shall retire upstairs to play a round or two of piquet.”
    This was a development that Theo had both hoped and planned for. “James will escort me home,” she said instantly. “I