A Duchess of Mystery: A Regency Historical Romance (The Mismatched Lovers Book 3) by Fil Reid

Author:Fil Reid [Reid, Fil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2025-08-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Isabella stood in front of her cheval mirror admiring her reflection with some satisfaction. The gold gown, in satin with an embroidered bodice and an overlay of richly embroidered gold net, suited her alabaster skin to perfection. She patted her hair, which had been piled on her head in curls by Hawkins in a style of artful disarray. Pearls, on the heads of the pins which held her curls in place, sparkled amongst the rich auburn. Yes, she looked as near perfect as it was possible to be.

Wait until Richard saw her. All the other girls would fade into the background compared to her and hopefully he would have eyes for no one else. Of course, she only wanted him to notice her because she couldn’t bear to be anything but the most admired woman in the room. Didn’t she? No other possible reason. Nothing to do with how handsome he was and how much she… No. Not at all. She stamped her foot as though to put an end to such thoughts.

It didn’t quite work.

To distract herself, she did a little twirl. How wonderful it was not to be wearing black. There was a limit to what could be done with such a dull color, if you could even call it a color. It was more a non-color, an emptiness, a shadow, that even lace and fine jewelry couldn’t truly garnish enough to make it beautiful, although she’d tried hard to do so for the last two months. But this… now this dress was divine. And as a duchess, what did she care what people thought or said behind their hands? Having to pretend to mourn a husband she’d both hated and at times feared had been an almost unbearable burden. Now she’d made the decision to end that mourning, nothing was going to change her mind. At least, this was what she was telling herself, although her pounding heart told another story. No. Determination to stand her ground was everything. She could brazen this out.

Hawkins passed over her long silk gloves, pale gold of course, and she put them on, smoothing out the wrinkles in the delicate fabric and taking the time to admire her slender arms and long-fingered hands. The gloves reached above her elbows and left only a short section of pale skin visible below the off-the-shoulder elegance of her gown. Gazing at her decolletage a little ruefully, she gave her small breasts a helping hand, pushing them upwards to gain a little more visibility. Not that she had any doubt about her attractions for men. No, she was used to being the honeypot her coterie of bees liked to buzz around, and tonight would be no different. Let Richard see how very popular she was. And how beautiful. That would be sure to make him… What? What was it she wanted him to do? No. There she was again imagining quite the wrong thing. No man, still less another Carstairs, was ever coming near her again.

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