The Duke's Deceit by Sherrill Bodine

Author:Sherrill Bodine [Bodine, Sherrill]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Romance, Historical, Regency, Historical Romance, Holidays, FICTION/Romance/Regency
Amazon: B00H1UWVTA
Barnesnoble: B00H1UWVTA
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2013-12-02T05:00:00+00:00

London. Tall row houses of whitewash and duncolored stone. Great mansions with highly polished brass door-knockers. Flagstone streets ringing under the wheels of carriers’ wagons, fine coaches, and phaetons. Street peddlers hawking their wares. Everywhere people.

Her mother had described the picturesque bustle time and time again, along with stories of routs and balls and musicales that had made up her world. A world of ladies dressed in fine gowns and jewels, and gentlemen in satin evening coats. It was a foreign world.

A world, her grandfather had correctly stated, that she did not belong to. Not now or ever.

The very thought of what was ahead made her knees turn to pudding. Dropping down in the wing chair, still warm from Richard’s body, Mary buried her face in her hands.

She must go to London with him. And he was a duke! The shock of his true identity trembled along her skin, chilling it, chilling her, until she was certain that a block of ice encased her heart.

And his real fiancée. Mary would have to meet her, face her. After sharing his kiss and his touch. Lady Arabella Hampton. Had Richard held her, kissed her, too? Suddenly the ice block shattered, splintering into thousands of shards, each piercing her. She had to plan—she had to get away.

Richard rested upstairs on the narrow bed in the sewing room, sent there by his anxious doctor. The duchess, accompanied by Dr. McAlister, was safely ensconced at the White Feathers for the night, while Mary prepared for the journey. Ian and Lottie made plans in the kitchen.

She had no choice. She would have to go to London. She was trapped in her web of lies, and there was no escape until Richard either regained his memory and cast her out in revulsion, or was well enough to listen to her abject apology and explanation.

Resigning herself to her fate, she dropped her hands in her lap and shut her eyes, trying to shut out the future.

She only looked up when the door pushed open. Lottie and Ian entered together. Lottie placed a tea tray on the low table in front of the settee and straightened. There was a firm twist to her soft lips.

“Mary, your uncle and I were talking in the kitchen, and we have decided it’s time to set a few things straight.”

Responding to Lottie’s fierce look, Ian nodded. “Aye, lassie. After what that bast—I mean, your grandfather be sayin’, it’s time for you to hear the truth.” Taking a deep breath, her uncle thrust his short beard toward the ceiling. “Mary my girl, Lottie never owned a millinery shop. She was workin’ at the Thistle and Sword as a…” He glanced at Lottie. Obviously encouraged by her bobbing head, he continued. “As a cook.”

“Hardly more than a bar wench, Ian, and you know it!” Lottie corrected sharply, her cheeks bright as flames. But her eyes rested on Mary’s face with a steady determination.

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