Only a Duke Will Do by Sabrina Jeffries

Author:Sabrina Jeffries [Jeffries, Sabrina]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9781416543138
Google: ZRdDv_yUflcC
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2006-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Dear Cousin,

Will you be surprised to learn that the duke and my friend Louisa are shortly to be married? I was present when they announced their betrothal. But do not believe everything you hear about it—Foxmoor was not found naked in her bedchamber. Though he might as well have been, for she very nearly was.

Your shameless gossip of a friend,

Charlotte

C hoose your seconds, Foxmoor,” Marcus said in a deadly voice that sent a chill through Louisa.

“No!” she cried at the same time as Regina. Dragging the cover around her, Louisa leapt from her bed. “No duels, Marcus. This is my fault, not his.”

Marcus glowered at her. “He took advantage of you while you were wounded, for God’s sake!”

She caught her breath. “How did you know about—And why aren’t you at Tattersall’s? You never return this early.”

“A footman fetched me,” Marcus retorted.

“At whose command? I did not send for—”

“I did,” Simon said tersely. “While you were unconscious.”

She was still trying to assimilate that when Marcus let out a roar.

“Unconscious!” Marcus stalked toward Simon. “Why, you wretched scoundrel, I’ll tear you limb from limb!”

“Stop it!” Louisa put herself between her brother and Simon. “He didn’t touch me then. And as soon as I awakened, he sent for a doctor.”

After he’d already sent for Marcus. The full ramifications of that hit her. Heaven help her, he’d engineered this awful—

“You knew Marcus was coming.” She could hardly breathe past the pain, and cast Simon a glance of pure betrayal. “When you agreed to my bargain, you knew he would find us together long before the doctor arrived.”

“What bargain?” Marcus snapped.

“Be quiet, Marcus!” She fixed her gaze on Simon. “You knew, didn’t you?”

He hesitated, then nodded.

“But why?” A shudder wracked her. “No, don’t answer. I know why.”

To accomplish what Sidmouth had wanted. She shifted her gaze to the women peeking into the room, then groaned. Oh, he’d done it so effectively, too. She could count on Regina and Mrs. Harris to keep quiet, but the other two…

Despair gripped her. One was a notorious gossip and the other a new member. It wouldn’t be long before the tale swept through the group and women began to leave the London Ladies.

“I suppose you knew they were coming, as well,” she choked out.

“Certainly not,” he snapped. “Regina told me she was staying at the docks to pass out packets.”

“We were going to, all of us,” Regina put in quickly, “but Mrs. Fry said the Quaker ladies could take care of it and sent me home. Mrs. Harris and the others came along out of concern for your injury.”

“Clearly that’s not what they should have been concerned about,” Marcus growled. “And I’ll have his head on a platter—”

“Hush, Marcus!” Louisa and Regina said in unison. Louisa turned to Simon. “So it was just a happy coincidence for you that they came, too.”

“If you want to look at it that way,” he said warily.

And now she was ruined. If Simon didn’t marry her, that is. And why should he? He’d achieved his goal—to discredit her before her fellow reformers.

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