The Duke Always Wins (Dueling for Dukes Book 2) by Jessie Clever

Author:Jessie Clever [Clever, Jessie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798988191629
Publisher: Someday Lady Publishing LLC
Published: 2023-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

Out of all the social events her mother was forcing her to attend, Annie enjoyed musicales the least.

It wasn’t that the performances were awful, even though they often were. It was reminder of what she herself had endured when she’d first debuted. Every time she saw a poor debutante, fresh out of the schoolroom, likely no more than ten and seven, she remembered what it had felt like to be on a stage, vying for the attention of a man, pinning all of one’s hope on securing an advantageous match.

She’d caught Roger’s eye almost at once.

She swallowed and pushed the memory away and hoped these poor girls—for they were only girls—had a better outcome than she’d had.

It was too hot for the gown she was wearing, a heavy damask with long sleeves and a collar that ran tightly up the length of her throat, and at the first intermission, she excused herself for the beckoning call of the gardens and the relief she might find there.

The Tyntsfield townhouse—the Marchioness of Tyntsfield had four daughters all out that season, poor woman, and all were tone deaf it seemed—was one of the newer homes in Mayfair with a shared courtyard like the Stoke Bruerne house. The hour was late, the moon already high in the sky, and she used its light to find her way to a more secluded spot between two yew hedges. Carefully she slipped the two topmost buttons of her gown free. The sudden night breeze against her neck might as well have been an Arctic blast for how comforting it was. She even gave in to an indulgent sigh.

Momentarily she thought of the red gown with its off the shoulder neckline and billowing sleeves and yearned for just a moment to be in it instead of her half mourning gown of modest tailoring, which only meant the wearer might suffocate in it. The Summer Solstice Ball drew nearer, and for the first time, she could picture herself wearing that gown. She could also picture Gabriel taking it off of her.

She nearly choked at just the thought. She couldn’t wear that gown. She knew that, and yet the thought was not as persistent as it had been the first time she’d seen it, and for a moment, she let herself indulge in the idea of it. Of Lady Anna Bounds wearing a sinfully red gown.

Of watching Gabriel’s eyes grow dark at the sight of her.

She touched her body, her hands pressing flat against her stomach as memory assaulted her. Gabriel had given her pleasure, yes, but he’d done more than that. He’d shown her a passion that was already inside of her, lighting the path to her own sensuality. Her body vibrated with possibility now, the numbness of her mourning seemingly forgotten.

And she wanted more. More of Gabriel, more pleasure, more life.

The breeze shifted and on it came a whiff of gardenia and lilac. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was enough. She made to

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