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Chapter 4.1 (Part 2)
“Not riding today?” asked Felix.
“No. Lady Hillsborough felt we should not entirely desert the matrons.”
Felix smiled. “True enough. It don’t do to put people’s backs up unnecessarily.”
Margaret turned to stare at him. “Your philosophy?” Amelia had told her enough of her guardian’s past to realize this was unlikely.
Felix frowned. Miss Margaret Fleming was a great deal too knowing. Unprepared to answer her query, he changed the subject. “Where’s Sophia?”
“Lord D
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The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 4.2 (Part 1)
Climbing the steps to Twyford House the next evening, Felix was still in two minds over whether he was doing the right thing. He was far too wise to be overly attentive to Margaret, yet if he did not make a push to engage her interest, she would shortly be the object of the attentions of a far larger circle of gentlemen, few of whom would hesitate to attend Almack’s purely because they disliked the mooned over by very young women. He hoped, in his capacity as their guardian, to confine his attentions to the Fleming sisters and so escape the usual jostle of matchmaking mamas. They should have learned by now that he was not likely to succumb to their daughters’ vapid charms. Still, he was not looking forward to the evening. If truth were told, he had been hearing about his wards on all sides for the past week. They had caught the fancy of the
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 4.2 (Part 2)
Felix stayed by his wards until they were claimed for the first dance. His sharp eyes had seen a number of less than desirable gentlemen approach the sisters, only to veer away as they saw him. If nothing else, his presence had achieved that much. Searching through the crowd, he finally spotted Daniel Hammington disappearing into one of the salons where refreshments were laid out. "Going to give them the go-by for at least a week, huh?" he growled as he came up behind Lord Daniel. Daniel choked in the lemonade he had just drunk. Felix gazed in horror at the glass in his friend's hand. "No! Bless me, Daniel! You turned temperate?" Daniel grimaced. "Have to drink something and seemed like the best of a bad lot." His wave indicated the unexciting range of beverage available. "Thirsty work, getting a dance
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 4.3 (Part 1)
Margaret was surprised that Felix had remained at the Assembly Rooms for so long. She lost sight of him for a while, and worked hard at forcing herself to pay attention to her suitors, for he was only to be expected heir guardian would seek less tame entertainment elsewhere. But then his tall figure reappeared at the side of the room. He seemed to be scanning the multitude, then, over a sea of heads, his eyes met hers. Margaret fervently hopes the peculiar shock which went through her was not reflected in her countenance. After a moment, unobtrusively, he made his way to her side. Under cover of the light flirtation she was engaged in with an ageing baronet, Margaret was conscious of the sudden acceleration of her heartbeat and the constriction that seemed to be affecting her breathing. Horrendously award if her guardian’s blue gaze, she felt her
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 4.3 (Part 2)
Mesmerized, she has sufficient presence of mind to keep a gentle smile fixed firmly on her face but her thoughts were whirling even faster that her feet. With a superhuman effort, she forced her kids to drop, screening her eyes from his. "Oh, we Flemings have many accomplishments, dear guardian." To her relief, her voice was clear and untroubled. "But I'm desolated to have to admit that they're all hopelessly mundane." A rich chuckle greeted this. "Permit me to tell you, my ward, that for the skills I have in mind, your qualifications are more than adequate." Margaret's eyes flew to his. She could hardly believe her ears. But Felix continued before she could speak, his blue eyes holding hers, his voice a seductive murmur. "And while you naturally lack experience, I assure you that can easily, and most enjoyably, be remedied." It was too much. Margaret gave up the struggle to divine his motives and made
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 4.4
Maribella stifled a wistful sigh and smiled brightly at the earnest young man who was guiding her around the floor in yet another interminable waltz. It had taken only a few days of the Season proper for her to sort through her prospective suitors. And come to the unhappy conclusion that none matched her requirements. The lads were too young, the men too old. There seemed to be no one in between. Presumably many were away with Wellington’s forces, but surely there were those who could not leave the important business of keeping England running? And surely not all of them were old? She could not describe her ideal Amman, yet was sure she would instantly know when she met him. She was convinced she would feel it, like a thunderbolt from the blue. Yet no make of her acquaintance increase her heartbeat one iota. Keeping a steady and inconsequential c
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 5.1 (Part 1)
Felix was worried. Seriously worried. Since far first night at Almack’s, the situation between Sophia Fleming and Daniel Hammington has rapidly deteriorated to a state which, from experience, he knew was fraught with danger. As he watched Sophia across Lady Langdon’s ballroom, chatting with determined avidity to an eminently respectable and thoroughly boring young gentleman, his brows drew together in a considering frown. If, at the beginning of his guardianship, anyone had asked him where his sympathies would lie, with the Misses Fleming or the gentlemen of London, he would unhesitatingly have allied himself with his wards, on the grounds that four exquisite but relatively inexperienced country misses would need all the help they could get to defend their virtue successfully against the highly knowledgeable rakes extant within the ton. Now, a month later, having gained first-hand experience of the tenacious pervers
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 5.1 (Part 2)
Felix slowly passed through the throng, stopping here and there to chat with acquaintances, his intended goal his aunt, sitting in a blaze of glorious purple on a chaise by the side of the room. But before he had reached her, a hand on his arm drew him around to face the sharp features of Clara Portland. “Your Grace! It’s been such an age since we’ve ...talked.” Her ladyship’s brown eyes quizzed him playfully. Her arch tone irritated Felix. It was on the tip of his tongue to recommend she took lessons in flirting from Maribella before she tried her tricks on him. Instead, he took her hand from his sleeve, bowed over it and pointedly returned to her, “As you’re doubtless aware, Clara, I have other claims on my time.”
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 5.2 (Part 1)
“Count me out.” Daniel Hammington threw his cards on the table and pushed back his chair. None of the other players was surprised to see him leave. Normally an excellent player, tonight his lordship has clearly had his mind elsewhere. And the brandy he had drunk was hardly calculated to improve matters, although his gait, as he headed for the ballroom, was perfectly steady. In the ballroom, Daniel paused to glance about. He saw the musicians tuning up and then sighted his prey. Almost as if she sensed his approach, Sophia turned as he came up to her. The look of sudden wariness that came into her large eyes pricked his conscience and, consequently, his temper. “My dance, I think.”
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