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Chapter 6.5
The heavy Twyford coach lumbered along in the wake of the sleek Delmere carriage. Lady Hillsborough put up a hand to right her wig, swaying perilously as they rounded a particularly sharp corner. For the first time since embarking on her nephew's crusade to find he Fleming girls suitable husbands, she felt a twinge of nervousness. She was playing with fire and she knew it. Still, she could not regret it. The sight of Felix and Margaret together in the hall at Twyford House had sent a definite thrill through her old bones. As for Sophia, she doubted not that Daniel Hammington was too far gone to desist, resist and retire. True, he might not know it yet, but time would certainly bring home to him the penalty he would have to pay to walk away from the snare. Her shrewd blue eyes studied the pale face opposite her. Even in the dim light, the strain of the past few days was evident. Thankfully, no one outside their party had been aware of that contretemps. So, regardless of
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The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 7.1 (Part 1)
Francis puzzled over Felix’s last words on the Flemings but it was not until he met the sisters that evening, at Lady Maitland’s drum, that he divined what had prompted his brother to utter them. He had spent the afternoon dropping in on certain old friends, only to be, almost immediately, bombarded with requests for introductions to the Flemings. He had come away with the definite impression that the best place to be that evening would be wherever the Misses Fleming were destined. His batman and valet, Higgins, had turned up the staggering information that Felix himself usually escorted his wards to their evening engagements. Francis has found this hard to credit, but when, keeping an unobtrusive eye in the stream of arrivals from a vantage-point beside a potted palm in Lady Maitland’s ballroom, he had seen Felix arrive surrounded by Fleming sisters, he had bee
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 7.1 (Part 2)
As supper time was not far distant, there were only two other couples on the shallow terrace, and within minutes both had returned to the ballroom. Francis, food very far from his mind, strolled down the terrace, apparently content to go where Emma led. But his sharp soldier’s eyes had very quickly adjusted to the moonlight. After a cursory inspection of the surroundings, he allowed himself to pause dramatically as they neared the end of the terrace. “I really think...” He waited a moment, as if gathering strength, then continued, “I really think I should sit down.” Emma looked around in consternation. There were no benches on the terrace, bit even a balustrade. “There’s a seat under that willow, I think,” said Francis, gesturing
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 7.2
Margaret smiled her practiced her smile and wished, for at least the hundredth time, that Felix Cambridge were not their guardian. At least, she amended, not her guardian. He was proving a tower of strength in all other respects and she could only be grateful, both for his continuing support and protection, as well as his experienced counsel over the affair of Sophia and Lord Daniel. But there was no doubt in her mind that her own confusion would immeasurably eased by dissolution of the guardianship clause which tied her so irrevocably to His Grace of Twyford. While she circled the floor in the respectful arms of Mr. Chistlebury who, she knew, was daily moving closer to a declaration despite her attempts to dampen his confidence, she was conscious of a wish that it was her guardian’s far less gentle clasp she was in. Mr. Chistlebury, she had disc
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 7.3 (Part 1)
“Sir Marco, I do declare you’re flirting with me!” Desperation lent Maribella’s bell-like voice a definite edge. Using her delicate feather fan to great purpose, she flashed her large eyes at the horrendously rich but essentially dim-witted Scottish baronet, managing meanwhile to keep Henry, Lord Byron, in view. Her true prey was standing only feet way, conversing amiably with a plain matron with an even plainer daughter. What was the matter with him? She had tried every trick she knew to bring the great oaf to her tiny feet, yet he persistently drifted away. He would be politely attentive but seemed incapable of settling long enough even to be considered one of her court. She had kept the supper waltz free, declaring it to be taken to all her suitors, convinced he would ask her for that most favoured dance. But now, with supper time fast approaching, she suddenly found herself facing the prospect of hav
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 7.3 (Part 2)
Maribella closed her eyes tightly, the opened them again but he was still there. As she watched, Lord Byron unfurled his long length and stood, magnificent and, suddenly; to Maribella at east, oddly intimidating, before her. In the light o the full moon spilling through the large windows, his tawny eyes rover appreciatively over her. He caught her small hand in his and raised it to his lips. “I didn’t think you’d be long.” His lazy tones, pitched very low, washed languidly over Maribella. With a conscious effort, she tried to break free of heir hypnotic hold. “How could you know I was coming here? I didn’t.” “Well,” he answered reasonably, “I couldn’t think where else you would go, if you didn’t have a par
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 7.4 (Part 1)
Despite her strategies, Maribella was seen as she slipped from the ballroom. Felix, returning from the card-room where he had been idly passing his time until he could, with reasonable excuse, gravitate to the side of his eldest ward, saw the bright chestnut curls dip through the doorway and for an instant had thought that Margaret was deserting him. But his sharp ears had almost immediately caught the husky tone of her laughter from a knot of gentlemen nearby and he realized it must have been Maribella, most like Margaret in colouring, whom he had seen. But he had more serious problems in his mind than whether Maribella had torn her flounce. His pursuit of the luscious Miss Fleming, or, rather, the difficulties which now lay in his path to her, were a matter for concern. The odd fact that he actually bothered to dance with his eldest ward had already
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 7.4 (Part 2)
The congestion of male forms about his eldest was brought a slight frown to Felix’s face. But the musicians obligingly laced bow to string, allowing him to extricate her from heir midst and sweep her on to the floor. He glanced down into her grey-green eyes and saw his own pleasure in dancing with her reflected there. His arm tightened slightly and her attention focused. “I do joe your sisters are behaving themselves?” Margaret returned his weary question with a smile. “Assuming your friends are doing likewise, I doubt there’ll be a problem.” Felix raised his brows. So she knew at least a little of what happened. After negotiating a difficult turn to avoid old Major
The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 7.4 (Part 3)
Eventually, routed, Mr. Chistlebury rose, ostensibly to return Miss Senet to her parent. Watching his retreat with laughing eyes, Margaret returned her gaze to her guardian, only to see him look pointedly at the door from the ballroom. She glanced across and saw Maribella enter, slightly flushed with a too-bright smile on her lips. She made straight for the table where Sophia was sitting with a number of other and, with her usual facility, merged with the group, laughing up at the young man who leapt to his feet to offer her his chair. Margaret turned to Felix, a slight frown in her eyes, to find his attention had returned to the door. She followed his gaze and saw Lord Byron enter. To any casual observer, Henry was merely coming late to the supper-room, his languid gaze and s
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- The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 13.5 (Part 2)
- The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 13.5 (Part 1)
- The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 13.4
- The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 13.3 (Part 2)
- The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 13.3 (Part 1)
- The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 13.2
- The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 13.1
- The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 12.3 (Part 3)
- The Duke And His Four Wards Chapter 12.3 (Part 2)
