A Dance With The Devil by Catherine Gayle

Author:Catherine Gayle
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Night Shift Publishing
Published: 2014-04-09T23:00:00+00:00

“YOU DON’T HAVE to marry him, you know,” Phillip said as he crossed over from the window. He took a seat next to Julianna and reached across to take her hand. “I’ll challenge him here and now. We can have this all settled and move forward as though none of this ever happened.”

Jack, Edward, and William—her other three brothers—all made masculine sounds of agreement, and even Mama gave a decisive nod. Papa had told her the same last night in the carriage as they came home. Which, of course, was exactly what she should expect from her family. They’d always stuck together, through thick and thin.

Julianna couldn’t do that, though. A duel might satisfy the grand idea of honor in the eyes of her family, or even in the eyes of Society, but it couldn’t erase history. The entire ton was sure to know every detail of what happened at last night’s ball by now. It wouldn’t surprise her in the least if some description of the events, with certain moments dramatized for greater effect, had made their way into the morning gossip rags. Even if that hadn’t happened, the ordeal was surely being discussed in every drawing room in Mayfair right at this very moment.

If she didn’t follow through with the rest of what she and Lord Blackmore had agreed upon, she would never make a decent match. Not now. She had to play her part and then cast him aside or else it would look as though he had tossed her over—a horrid thing for a gentleman to do, to be sure, but precisely the sort of thing her reputation would never survive. She’d end up a spinster. Either that or she might be forced into marrying someone like Medeley, which was exactly what she was trying to avoid.

This may not have been how she and Lord Blackmore had expected their little plan to play out, but this was what she had to work with. And whether it was happening in the way she would have preferred or not, the fact remained that Lord Medeley would have to back off from his pursuit if she betrothed herself, however temporarily, to Blackmore.

In that way, the earl had done her an enormous favor, and she doubted she could ever repay it.

And if she were to allow Phillip or any of the other men in her family to attempt to satisfy honor as they clearly hoped, then she might as well open herself up for an even more fervent attempt by Lord Medeley to woo her. He might take what had happened last night as an indication that she needed to marry as soon as possible and try to force Papa’s hand in the matter.

Yes, Julianna had gained her majority, but a lady could never truly make decisions such as these on her own. That simply was not how things in Society worked.

“It did happen, though,” she finally said.

The youngest of her older brothers, Jack, punched his fist into the hearth, something it looked as though he’d been aching to do for quite some time.

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