The Ugly Duchess Read Online Free PDF Page B

doubt he will agree to stay very long. We have to ease him into polite society.”
    In fact, James had already begun tugging at his neck cloth. “It’s infernally hot in here. I shall remain a half hour at the most.”
    Theo’s mother took one final look at the thronged room and departed for an upstairs sitting room, where she could play piquet with her friends all evening.
    “Back up!” Theo hissed at James, as soon as her mother was well out of sight.
    “What?”
    Theo pulled him into the entrance hall. “Now that Mama’s gone, I need a moment.” She hauled him down the corridor and turned in at the first open door she saw, which turned out to be a nicely appointed sitting room with—thankfully—a glass over the mantelpiece. She removed her pearls and dropped them in James’s pocket.
    “They will ruin the line of my coat,” he protested.
    “As if you care! Mama says they are worth more than a dowry, so please endeavor not to lose them.”
    He grimaced, but gave in. Then she gave the pink ruffle around her neckline a sharp tug and—as she had strategically loosened its stitches earlier that afternoon—it came obediently away from her gown.
    “I say, what are you doing?” James asked, rather alarmed. “You can’t wear a bodice as low as that. You haven’t anything covering your—yourself.”
    “Why can’t I? It’s not nearly as low as some women out there are wearing. And they have bosoms like ostrich eggs compared to mine. I don’t have much to show, so I might as well display what I have.”
    “You are certainly doing that,” he said, his voice betraying a certain fascination.
    Theo glanced up. “It’s just a bosom, James.”
    He frowned, stepped back, and coughed.
    “A very nice one, mind,” she said, giving him a naughty smile. “Definitely one of my better features.” With one tug, the pink ruffle was stripped off her left wrist, quickly followed by that on the right. Then she pulled the pins out of her carefully arranged curls and let her hair fall about her shoulders. Taking a band of copper-colored lace from her reticule, she wound it through her hair, pulled it back from her forehead, and secured it on top of her head with the pins so that it wouldn’t fall down. It formed a rather disheveled chignon, but the contrast between her hair and the copper lace was definitely interesting.
    “You look different,” James said, narrowing his eyes at her reflection in the glass.
    “I look better,” Theo told him, with the confidence of someone who had practiced hair-plus-lace twisting five times that afternoon. “Do you think he’ll like it?”
    James was looking at her neckline again. “Who?”
    “Geoffrey, of course!” Theo said. “Really, James, do try to keep up.” She glanced at herself in the glass. Without the horrid pink ruffles, her gown had a certain sophistication. Plus, her breasts did look delectable, if she said so herself.
    “Oh! I forgot.” She dug in her reticule and pulled out a brooch that had also belonged to her grandmother but was far more evocative than the pearls. It was heavy gold, in the shape of a rose, with a garnet pendant dangling below.
    “What are you doing with that?” James asked. “I don’t think that sort of jewelry is meant for gowns like yours.”
    “Like what?”
    “Your dress is made out of that light stuff,” he said. “Practically transparent.”
    “The silk net is covering a plain muslin,” Theo told him. “This net is embroidered with curlicues and by far the best aspect of this wretched gown.”
    He peered a little closer. “Does your mother know you aren’t wearing a chemise?”
    “Of course I’m wearing a chemise!” Theo stated untruthfully. She fastened the piece just under her bosom, attached to the ribbon circling the gown’s high waist. “Besides, my undergarments are none of your business, James.”
    “They are when I can see the whole line of your leg,” he said, scowling. “Your mother won’t like