To Marry the Duke's Daughter (After the Masquerade) Read Online Free PDF Page A

take the risk.
    She needed to know if Jonathon was the
one.
     
     

 
     
    Chapter
Three
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    “Our
situation is finally improving,” Jonathon informed his reflection with a grin.
“Pranks proved that gambling is not a lecherous disease in the family.
Although I will not be surprised if Gregory lost even more of my money,” he
added, his expression turning grim. “It is a good thing I deposited most of my
winnings with my investor.”
    Weeks
of being deprived of every odd penny he earned had instilled a thorough distrust
in the safety of his pocketbook. Gregory was certain to find any money
Jonathon carried on his person or stored in his rooms, so he was taking every
precaution to protect his dwindling funds. He carried only what he needed for
the day, and left the rest in the hands of Toby, an old cavalry friend turned
investor and banking expert. It made it dreadfully difficult to carry on a
decent living, but Jonathon would do whatever it took to keep his brother’s
hands off his money.
    “If
only I could explain that to Lady Felicity,” he muttered, straightening his
cravat.
    The
past few days he had acted against his reason and casually pretended to have
chance encounters with her in Hyde Park. It saved him the trivial money for
flowers—and the social homicide of his brother discovering he was fond of
a duke’s daughter—while preserving his pride and providing him the
opportunity to continue their acquaintance without pressure of courtship. He
hoped she understood that he could not court her, but he had seen the glimmer
of a smile in her eyes when she first sighted him in the park. She was
thrilled to see him every day, thrilled to speak with someone who did not force
her to act out a social charade, and thrilled to laugh at his witty remarks
about their fellow park-goers. Perhaps it was wrong of him to pretend that
their moments together were anything less than an attempt to secretly impress
her, but he would be lost forever if he admitted to himself that her laugh
warmed his heart.
    At
first he believed her eyes were a chameleon shade of grey, but now he was
convinced they were the colour of the stars that twinkled as soon as the sun
slipped beneath the horizon. While he was pleased by his ability to describe
her eyes, he was having a difficult time falling asleep; he thought of her
every time he glanced out his window to watch the stars.
    He
recognized that he was turning into a melancholy romantic, but he was unsure
how else to proceed. Having never been exposed to honest emotions in male
figures during his childhood, he had no basis for how he should react to the
emotions Lady Felicity Ryans incurred. He admired her patience, he envied her
sharp wit, and he appreciated her blunt honesty. Though he enjoyed the few
conversations they had shared in Hyde Park, his greatest pleasure came from
watching her interact with society. Now that he knew her true personality, it
was entertaining to watch the way she politely shied from those she found
repulsive. She struggled to interact with those outside her usual acquaintance—an
effort he suspected was for his gratification—but society feared the
duke’s daughter, even when she smiled so becomingly with her full, soft lips.
    The
only similarity between Felicity and Lady Felicity Ryans was her raven black
hair and starry eyes. Lady Felicity Ryans’s overwhelming beauty faded away
when she simply became Felicity. She was still beautiful, of course, but
Felicity’s beauty radiated from her smile and eyes, from her laugh and the shy
tilt of her chin when she caught him watching her from across the room. They
were careful not to stray too close to one another in the ballroom, but that
did not stop Jonathon from experiencing the curious sensation of falling every
time their eyes met.
    He
let out a sigh and turned away from his reflection, reminding himself that he
needed to remain in control of his emotions. It was simple enough to believe