Beauty and the Duke Read Free

silence, Lord Sedgwick cleared his throat and took his sister’s arm. “I think this conversation no longer concerns us, Elf.”
    “But this is all so terribly romantic,” Lady Rebecca said, her melodic voice fraught with youthful romanticism. Her brother dragged her away before she could say more.
    Christine suffered momentary panic that she might actually tear up. This made no sense. Amelia took Christine’s hands into her own. “I so wanted to tell you everything, but Joseph wanted us to be together when we shared the news. I thought for sure my excitement tonight must have given something away.” She peered up at Joseph with utter adoration in her eyes. “But we couldn’t be happier.”
    A cool gust of wind pushed against Christine’s mantelet and stirred the refuse on the streets, bringing with it the unpleasant scent of the Thames. She tucked a wisp of her hair behind her ears and remained silent.
    She had planned everything so perfectly. And even if she had not, the stipend Joseph would receive from the museum was hardly enough to support a wife. Swallowing the constriction in her throat at last, Christine focused again and realized Joseph and Amelia were waiting for her to respond. And she still did not know what to say.
    “This project is important to me, Christine,” Joseph finally said when she remained speechless. “I have a chance to make a name for myself. That won’t happen at Sommershorn Abbey. You must know that. I’m sorry, but there it is.”
    Joseph then peered down at Amelia, the action so tender, Christine was left even more confused. “We will be traveling to Gretna Green later tonight,” he said. “You will understand why we cannot remain for the entire ceremony this evening. I will have to leave after they make the announcement about my appointment.”
    Amelia touched Christine’s arm. “It is not our want to hurt you.”
    And yet they had hurt her. She felt as if Joseph had plunged a knife into her heart. Behind him the sun wasabout to leave the sky. The same sunset that tinted the clouds amber also colored the tips of his blond hair. For the first time in all the years since she had known him, she realized she had never taken the opportunity to slide her fingers through that golden hair or to tell him how she felt about him. Seeing his affection for Amelia made her feel the loss even more for she was losing them both.
    She swallowed again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Because you would have said something unhelpful and neither of us wanted to be made to feel guilty,” Joseph said quietly. “You have Sommershorn Abbey. You don’t need Amelia and me,” he added, as if that adequately explained everything, as if Christine had not worked hard and sacrificed her own dreams to make the school a success.
    “Unhelpful, as in…” she fumbled through her thoughts. “How can you support a wife on a professor’s stipend? I know how this museum finances its expeditions. Most of the expense will come out of your pocket.”
    “Sometimes one has to have the courage to act, Chrissie,” Joseph said. “Or the moment will pass, and it will never come again. I will not be that man who wakes up tomorrow regretting what I did not try today. Your father once told me that it is far better to have failed trying than never to have made the effort at all.”
    Someone bumped Joseph, interrupting his conversation. Torchlight whisking in the breeze caught the sheen of long satin gowns, polished silver cufflinks, and tiaras. The last of the crowd was moving through the doors. Christine could hear the orchestra warming up.
    Christine wanted to speak, to say anything to mend the rift that had opened between them. Her emotionswere illogical and incongruous, completely reckless and without regard to the fact that she was happy for Joseph and Amelia. But the words would not come. She could not accept that all her plans of five minutes ago had been dashed to the rocks and devoured by sharks.
    She