The Duchess Diaries: The Bridal Pleasures Series Read Free Page A

what you’re going to say.”
    “Do you?”
    “Yes. You want me to stay away from Miss Boscastle. She must have told you that I paraded a pair of strumpets in front of her. It wasn’t as if I did it to provoke her.”
    Devon arched a dark brow. “Where on earth did this happen?”
    “It was at the emporium.”
    Devon pondered this for a moment. “She never mentioned a word of it to me. You couldn’t have made much of an impression on her.”
    “I think I did, but it wasn’t a good one,” Gideon said. “If you’re going to forbid me to flirt with your cousin, you needn’t worry. I’m not even remotely tempted.”
    “That’s a little insulting,” Devon retorted.
    Gideon laughed. “Would you rather I told you that I’m lusting after her?”
    “No. I’d probably feel compelled to stay at your side. Grayson asked me to keep an eye on anyone who seemed suspicious.”
    “In that case he should have given you a mirror.”
    “The woman you have
not
been lusting after isn’t married, but she does have three older brothers who are plotting to end her unhappy spinsterhood any day now.”
    “Are they here tonight?” Gideon inquired.
    “The two older ones are traveling to London from Sussex. Jane expects them in a week. I think the plan is to find a husband for Charlotte as quickly as possible. I’ll be honest with you; she won’t make it easy on them. I doubt she’ll ever incite anyone’s lust.”
    Both men glanced at Charlotte, then looked away.
    “And this worries you?” Gideon said, wondering what Devon’s point was, or whether he even had one.
    Devon nodded. “Yes.”
    “Well, don’t look at me. I was married once and I have a daughter, too.”
    “Eventually you’ll have to remarry if you want an heir.” Devon cleared his throat. “Do me a favor, Wynfield?”
    Gideon didn’t respond. Here it came. Again Gideon’s instincts warned him to proceed with caution, while his reason argued that Devon was mischievous but not malicious. “I’m meeting my soon-to-be mistress at Mrs. Watson’s tonight.”
    “Then this will be your last night of freedom.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “A mistress can be more demanding than a wife, especially if she’s good at her job. The precious hours of your freedom are slipping like sand through your fingers as we speak.”
    “That’s a good point. It makes me wonder why I’m wasting those golden moments talking to you.”
    “Will you do it?”
    “Will I do what?” Gideon demanded.
    “Ask my cousin Charlotte to dance.”
    A dance? Was that all? “Why would a lady with a pristine reputation want to dance with me?” he asked slowly.
    “I don’t know that she would,” Devon replied. “But, you see, everyone else in the family would like to see her dance.”
    The family?
    Gideon could have sworn an invisible hand tightened his neck cloth and that a candle in one of the corner girandoles writhed and died. “There are several eligible gentlemen here tonight. Why me?”
    “Because you’re a duke, for one thing, and my friend for another. If you could give the other guests the impression that she intrigues a man like you, a few decent gentlemen might begin to see her in a different light.”
    “I am
not
offering to court her. And I think you just insulted me.”
    Devon shook his head. “I’m not asking you to court her.”
    “I don’t trust you, Devon. I think you’re the devil looking for an instrument, and I can find my own evil without your interference.”
    “All I really want you to do is to pay a little attention to our lonely wallflower.”
    “I think the wallflower just made a face at me.”
    “No,” Devon said. “That was at me. She knows we’re standing here talking about her.”
    Gideon balked. “Then she might have meant it for both of us. Perhaps you should find another strategy—and by that I am suggesting another gentleman. Someone else to melt her—”
    “To what?” Devon asked, one brow lifting.
    “She reminds me of a frost