The Duke Wins a Wallflower: A Clean and Sweet Regency Historical Romance (The Duke's Heritage Book 4) by Olivia Marwood

Author:Olivia Marwood [Marwood, Olivia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mystic Codex Press
Published: 2023-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

ELKINGTON HOUSE, LONDON

Lady Catherine Stewart lay face-down on her bed the following morning, crying in earnest. Last night had been, without a doubt, one of the worst nights of her life. Not only had she had to take a vicious tongue-lashing from her mother in the carriage on the way home from the Ball they’d attended the night before, for defying the Duchess and speaking to Miss Wingfield against her wishes, but then there was the business with Lord Edward Melthorn and Miss Wingfield. She genuinely liked Miss Wingfield. The girl was friendly, kind, funny, and the only girl Catherine had ever heard express any interest in Raphe’s wants and needs. If only their fool mother had not declared war on Miss Wingfield’s sister, then perhaps Catherine could have ensured that Raphe pursued Miss Wingfield, and she would not have had to worry about Edward — her Edward — potentially courting Miss Wingfield.

Catherine and Edward had met by happenstance at a Ball last Season. They had both snuck out to the orangery at Lady Chattingham’s townhouse, each in a desperate attempt to escape their respective overbearing, meddlesome mother. They’d bumped into each other, and Edward had given Catherine quite a fright. She hadn’t been expecting to find anyone else in the orangery.

He had scolded her, too, for being foolish enough to sneak into the orangery unchaperoned. He’d told her that such a beautiful young lady should never be found unaccompanied in a dark orangery at a society party.

“What if I’d been drunk or morally bankrupt? And who are you, anyway? I feel as if I cannot even scold you properly because I do not even know your name. Good heavens, we haven’t even been introduced. This is a scandal waiting to happen, to be sure.”

Catherine had rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms.

“I am Lady Catherine Stewart. And you are?”

Edward had sucked in a gasp and taken a step back, as if she might be dangerous, like a venomous snake.

“I am Lord Edward Melthorn, third son of Lord and Lady Bitterwood, and the reason we have not been introduced is that our mothers are sworn enemies. They would both surely die of shock and horror if they found the two of us, of all people, alone in the orangery together. Not only would it cause a scandal at large, it might very well cause our mothers to finally duel to the death on the spot.”

Catherine had barked out a laugh, full and throaty, and Edward had pressed his hand over her mouth to silence her. It had been a heady, dizzying moment of closeness, charged with electricity.

“As pleasant as the sound of your laughter is, I do not think it best that we be found alone together in the orangery, Lady Catherine. I do not approve of the long-standing feud between our mothers, but neither do I wish to cause either of them the sort of distress that the scandal of us being found together like this, without us ever having been introduced, would surely cause.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.