Disciplining the Duchess Read Online Free

girl.
    “I thought he would look older,” said Juliette. “He is old, is he not?”
    “He does not dance with anyone,” sniffed Sybil. “How rude. He probably doesn’t know how.”
    They fell silent, peeking at him from behind their fans. Harmony allowed herself a long look too, now that he was occupied talking to his friends. The duke was in evening black with a neatly tied cravat and elegant jewelry glittering at his neck and hands. Nothing too ostentatious. No, the ostentatious thing was the air of power and hauteur he wore as easily as his fine clothes. His expression was carefully neutral, yes, almost severe. His handsome features were framed by dark hair worn slightly longer than was the fashion. He did not smile, not even once, in the course of his conversations.
    “I believe he can dance very well.” Mirabel’s voice sounded slow, almost predatory. She looked over her shoulder at Harmony. “You are the one who was willing to dance with him. Go stand near him and see if he’ll ask you.”
    The girls tittered. Harmony set her chin. “I never said I was willing. I dislike dancing.”
    Sybil’s lips curled. “I can’t imagine why. Come, ladies, let us rejoin the company of our young gentlemen. As for the Duke of Courtland, he may stand and glower all he likes but he shall not impress me.”
    Harmony stayed behind, as they doubtless intended her to. The girls massed in the center of the drawing room, arranging themselves with their favored beaux for the next set as an old matron plinked doggedly at the piano. Harmony shouldn’t be jealous that her friends had such fun, that they enjoyed flirtation and the attentions of their suitors. She wished she wasn’t jealous, but in quiet, weak moments, she desperately wanted to be like them. She wanted gentlemen to shoulder each other out of the way for her attention, to hang on her every word, however vapid those words would have to be. She wished a gentleman, just one gentleman, would notice her.
    But then she remembered that she didn’t like to be vapid, and she didn’t wish her entire life to revolve around the attention of men.
    There was only one man among the guests who interested her anyway, and that was the mysterious, worse-than-a-rake duke. What were his uncomfortable habits? How many mistresses did he have and what awful things did he do to them, that Lady Sybil’s papa must strike the duke from his list of acceptable candidates for her hand? The duke did not seem at all perverse in his manners. In fact, he had been quite civil to her when she’d surprised him under Lord Darlington’s desk.
    Harmony watched as the wealthy peer drifted into the card room and out again, then went to the punch bowl for a drink. His hair was slightly unconventional, perhaps due to a mild case of curls. One dubious aspect of an otherwise very sedate person. Harmony dropped her gaze from his hair and stared at his gloved hands. Even across the room she could tell the duke’s gloves were impeccably fitted, of utmost quality. Everything about him screamed quality and propriety, and nothing uncomfortable at all. She rubbed her eyebrows and forced herself to stop staring. She was no better than her friends, speculating endlessly about him.
    “Miss Barrett. Must you hide your beauty back here in this corner? It is not fair.” The booming voice of elderly Lord Monmouth startled her, along with the noisy creaking of his stays. Behind him, her brother gave her an urgent look. “Might I have the next dance, madam?” the old earl asked.
    Harmony schooled her face to careful blankness even though she was quailing inside. Lord Monmouth was a kind man but his teeth were decaying and his figure was very…round. She forgot all about the sleek dark duke as she stared in horror at the earl’s extended arm.
    “Lord Monmouth, forgive me, but I’m not feeling my best at the moment. I’m really too…”
    Her brother caught her eye and glared a threat at her.
    “I’m really