How To Seduce A Duke

“Oh, very well. Give it to me.” Quinn brought the letter to his eyes and silently read for several seconds.

What was that he just saw? Rogan watched his brother intently for a reaction. Could it be a hint of a smile? A glimmer of interest?

“How does Lady Tidwell?” Rogan asked. “I scarcely had two words with her. And it was her first venture into society after her mourning period ended, too. You spoke with her, didn’t you, Quinn?”

“I did.” He seemed quite distracted at the moment, which Rogan took to be a good omen. “Her brother, Lieutenant Spinner, has accepted a commission with another regiment. Only in Town for a short while. Seems he’s heading off to India in the morning. Good man, Spinner.”

Quinn looked up at Rogan, his face no longer cinched with worry but instead suffused with brightness and cheer. “We, uh, served together in Toulouse, you know.”

“Oh, did you? I hadn’t been aware.” But of course Rogan had been. In fact, it was Quinn’s close association with Lady Tidwell’s brother that made her the perfect choice as a distraction for Quinn.

“She has extended an invitation to me to dine with the two of them this afternoon…before he leaves.” Quinn lowered the letter to his lap, his eyes suddenly astray in thought. “I do so wish to accept, but-”

“But nothing!” Rogan took a step closer and slapped his brother’s back hard but good-naturedly, to snap him from his thoughts of calling upon Miss Royle instead. “I know where your mind is lingering. Look here. Accept Lady Tidwell’s invitation. You, yourself, commented on how short life can be, especially for a soldier.”

Quinn turned his gaze upward. Rogan’s point had been taken. “But after last night…I should-”

“Bloody hell, Quinn. If you must, if you absolutely must call on Miss Royle and Lady Upperton, you can do so after dinner-or better yet, tomorrow, when Miss Royle has had a chance to calm herself properly after my… indiscretion.”

“Yes, I suppose you could be right.” Quinn happily popped an apple wedge into his mouth and began to chew.

“That’s my man.” Rogan patted Quinn’s shoulder again, then quit the room and headed above stairs for his chamber.

He snapped his fingers at a nearby footman and asked him to summon his valet at once. He needed to look his best, for he had two very important calls to make right away.

First to Lady Upperton.

And then to the gel with the gleam of gold guineas in her eyes.

Miss Royle.

Mary lowered the spout of the chocolate pot over Elizabeth’s chipped, but perfectly serviceable, cup and began to pour.

Last night had certainly been the worst of her life. Never before had she been so humiliated. The Duke of Blackstone was a blackguard and should be locked away for the good of all women.

“Mary!” Elizabeth grabbed Mary’s hand and tilted the pot upright. “Where were your thoughts? For your mind was not on pouring. Look at the linen.”

“W-what did you say?”

Elizabeth pointed her finger at her overflowing cup.

Criminy. There were the fat droplets of chocolate spotting the tablecloth too. “Oh dear. Let me fetch something to-”

“Never you mind, missy. I’ll take care of the spillage,” said Mrs. Polkshank, the cook and housekeeper whom Mary had engaged only two weeks before.

Mrs. Polkshank set down a plate of hot muffins on the table, and Elizabeth snatched one up. “Used to it, you know,” she told them. “The later the hour at the tavern, you see, the more spills there were, so I learned to be always prepared.”

Just as Anne entered the dining room, Mrs. Polkshank, who did not seem to concern herself with modesty, hoisted her pendulous right breast and snatched a homespun cloth from the waistband of her apron.

Anne stared in disgust as the cook dropped her breast back into place, wet the rag with the tip of her tongue, then began to dab away the chocolate stains.

“Oh, this ain’t goin’ to do it.” The heavyset woman spun around and started for the door to the passage. “I’ll be needin’ some vinegar.” She paused when she reached the threshold and looked back over her shoulder. “Shall I fetch some more chocolate? Maybe some tea for you, Miss Anne?”

Anne did not turn around to reply. Anger blazed in the golden bursts of her moss green eyes. She shook her head furiously.

“Well, then, I’ll be back in a tick or two.” Mary watched Mrs. Polkshank disappear into the passage.

Anne immediately addressed Elizabeth. “Sister, will you please tell Mary that Cook must go.”

Mary frowned. “She is not going anywhere, Anne, and if you wish to discuss our staff, you may speak directly to me.”

Two bright red dots appeared on Anne’s cheeks. “Very well, I shall. Where did you find her, Mary, on a street corner in Drury Lane?”

Elizabeth took a large bite of her muffin and carefully lifted her cup to wash it down with a gulp of chocolate. “I do not agree with you, Anne. We never had meals in the country like Cook’s. I think Mrs. Polkshank is quite talented. And she certainly keeps a cleaner house than Aunt Prudence’s thief of a housekeeper did.”

“She is quite gifted in the kitchen-and very economical,” Mary added. “She always has at least a shilling or two spare after marketing. You must agree that with her creativity in piecing together meals and her skill in preparation, it almost slips my mind how limited our budget is.”

“Our only shortages of funds are due to your frugality, Mary. We are not in want of coin. Why, with the portions we’ve been given, we could live like kings for several years at least.”

“Or princesses, at the very least.” Elizabeth hid her grin behind the lip of her cup.

Mary shook her head. “Anne, you are not angry because I engaged Mrs. Polkshank. You are not truly angry, at least not this morn, about my handling of our household accounts.”

“Really, Mary, am I not?” Anne folded her arms over her chest.

“No, you are still fuming over last night.”

Anne lowered her head, as if she’d been studying the cut-work edge on the serviette upon her lap. “Lady Upperton had just introduced me to a most diverting young man-an earl.” The green rim of her eyes grew clear and sharp as she looked up again. “And then, you come rushing into the drawing room, hair all mussed, and within an instant we are all standing outside the Brower residence waiting for the carriage to scoop us up and transport us home.”

“Blackstone kissed me.” Mary felt her voice tremble. “That wicked rake did everything he could to make a mockery of me before his brother. He did it because somehow he knows I have set my cap at Lord Wetherly. That is the only explanation.”

Elizabeth settled her hand on Mary’s forearm, but her attention drifted to Anne. “We had to leave. Our sister was upset, and who is to say what Blackstone might have done had he found Mary inside.”

Anne pushed back her chair and studied Mary. “What I do not understand is why a simple kiss, unwanted or not, rattled you so. Our Mary would have slapped him. Or worse.”

“I did.”

“But what he did brought you to tears. Now, were you some simpering miss just out, I might expect sobs. Might expect howls. But not from you.”

Elizabeth turned and stared at Mary as well, as though she were suddenly seeing her in daylight for the first time. “I agree, Mary. Until Father died, you were so strong, confident, and, lud, so fiercely competitive. You would not have allowed anyone to get the better of you.”

“Why now, Mary?” Anne said.

Mary settled her elbows atop her lap and rested her head in her hands. “I do not know. I really do not.”

She looked up and was surprised to feel hot tears rolling down her cheeks. “Until Papa died, I knew who I was. I knew my place in this world. But now I feel so lost.”

“Anne and I feel just as you do. This is a new world for us, Mary,” Elizabeth told her. “We will find our way… with time.”

“All I know is this money we have in our coffers is all that stands between us and the workhouse.” Mary