How to Dance With a Duke by Manda Collins

Author:Manda Collins [Collins, Manda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Regency, General, Romance, Historical, Erotica, Fiction
ISBN: 9780312549244
Google: nw9GPb4cdbIC
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2012-01-31T05:00:00+00:00

Twelve

The next morning, Lucas was disappointed to find his mother and Clarissa tucked into the small sitting room the ladies had chosen to use in lieu of the enormous drawing room where the previous duke and duchess had entertained their afternoon guests.

He’d arrived home sometime after two in the morning, having seen Cecily safely into Hurston House through the terrace door she’d left unlocked. They had both been quiet on the journey there, and they had parted with an awkward exchange of curtsy and bow.

Now, however, in the cold light of dawn, he knew what he had to do. And before he could make the trip across Mayfair to do the thing, he would first need to inform his mother and sister-in-law.

“Ah, Lucas,” his mother greeted him, looking up from her needlepoint frame. “This is an unexpected surprise. I thought you went riding in the park most mornings.”

He stepped forward and kissed his mother on the cheek, and exchanged an awkward nod with Clarissa, who had kept away from him since their last discussion about Will’s disappearance.

“You are looking haggard,” she noted somewhat waspishly, looking up briefly from her own needlework. “I suppose the pleasures of London have been keeping you up late.”

Lucas ignored her, and sat awkwardly in a wing chair opposite.

“I have come for a particular reason,” he told them both, hoping against hope that they would not ask any impertinent questions.

When both women looked up in surprise, he stood up again, preferring to pace as he spoke rather than sit in the direct line of their inquisitive eyes.

“I wanted to let you both know that I will be asking Miss Cecily Hurston to marry me today.”

The silence that followed was so profound that Lucas heard only his own heart beating in his ears. Then, the quiet was shattered by Clarissa’s angry hiss.

“How could you?” she demanded, leaping up from the sofa and stalking toward him. “The daughter of your own brother’s murderer? All this time you have professed to care about learning the truth of what happened to William, but it has been nothing more than a lie. Your father would be ashamed.”

“I will thank you not to assume, Clarissa, what my late husband would have thought of these circumstances,” Winifred snapped. “You have let your worry about Will turn you sour, I fear. Lucas has every right to marry whomever he chooses and if this Miss Hurston is the woman he chooses, then there is nothing you or I can say about the matter.”

On a broken sob, Clarissa stormed from the room.

Her words were supportive, but Lucas suspected his mother was less than pleased with his news as well. Still, he was thankful for her defense.

“What do you really think?” he asked her, sitting next to her on the sofa.

“I meant what I said,” his mother told him, grasping his hand in hers, as if he were a small boy again needing her comfort. “Besides, you do not need my permission.”

“No,” he agreed. “But I’m afraid there’s more to it than simply marriage.

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