Say Yes to the Duke by Eloisa James

Author:Eloisa James
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2020-05-18T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

“Well, I never!” Miss Pettigrew squealed.

Devin raised his head reluctantly, looking down into Viola’s flushed face and feeling a deep certainty that echoed in his bones. Her eyes were round with shock, and she looked utterly mortified.

His fault. He had shut the door. No matter that she’d bid him to do so, he was a gentleman, supposedly. Yet he had kissed her the way a man kisses a mistress, not a proper young lady. Theirs had been no docile peck on the lips: It was the forerunner to what he felt certain would be the best lovemaking of his life.

Raucous, sweaty, noisy lovemaking.

Viola looked as if she might explode with embarrassment. Her lips were swollen with his kisses, and he didn’t want anyone in the world to see that, other than him. Anger at the invasion began to march up his backbone.

He straightened and turned his head. “Excuse me,” he growled.

The vicar’s fiancée stood in the doorway, hand on her heart, eyes hard. For a moment, he had a flash of sympathy for Marlowe, not that he had the faintest intention of allowing Viola to sacrifice herself at the marital altar.

Behind Miss Pettigrew’s shoulder stood her mother and Lady Knowe, whose face was utterly composed. But she had a stern fury in her eyes all the same.

“Oh, no,” Viola breathed.

“I believe our courtship has just been curtailed.” Devin turned his shoulder to their audience and held her gaze, saying quietly, “You may jilt me later, if you wish.”

He dropped a kiss on her lips, picked her up, and put her gently on her feet. “I’d like you all to be the first to know that Miss Viola Astley has agreed to become the next Duchess of Wynter. My duchess.”

Miss Pettigrew still blocked the doorway, looking at him with seemingly genuine horror in her eyes, but Lady Knowe deftly nudged the lady to the side and strolled in.

“I told the duke after you asked for my niece’s hand yesterday that Viola would never be able to resist you.”

At his shoulder, Viola made a small sound, akin to a gasp. She knew Devin hadn’t yet spoken to her stepfather. It stood to reason that she wasn’t very good at deception; her eyes were too expressive. Luckily, it appeared that Lady Knowe was a master.

Devin wrapped his hand around Viola’s. “Within five minutes of meeting Viola at the Lindow ball, I knew that she would be my duchess. It took me longer to convince her than I imagined.”

“Your efforts to convince her were not worthy of a lady,” Miss Pettigrew hissed, her lip curling. “The door was closed, you were unchaperoned, and we all saw where your hands were!”

Devin could feel rage rising in his chest, and he took a deep breath. He had promised himself as a boy that he would never behave like his father. But now fury boiled up inside him, as poisonous as stewed foxglove.

Words were lining up behind his teeth, but he forced himself to remain silent. He never spoke when he was angry.

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