How to Dazzle a Duke Read Online Free Page B

various sorts. Even dukes.
    In point of fact, dukes more than any other sort of man. They are
    so very accustomed to achieving their every desire at every con
    ceivable opportunity and not a few inconceivable ones. Do you
    How to Daz zle a Duke
    19
    not think it would intrigue them to be made to pause, even to
    stumble, if only for a moment?”
    “I confess to have given it no thought,” Penelope said. “But I
    suppose it makes sense, in a rather peculiar fashion. The lure of
    the unique, Lady Dalby? Is that what you’re suggesting?”
    “I am, darling, and you are the ideal woman to carry it off to
    perfection. Wouldn’t you agree?”
    “I would,” she said, lifting her delightful little chin. “Then I
    shall make for Hyde House, engage Lord Iveston’s attention if at
    all possible, whilst you meet with the Duke of Edenham and . . .
    what are you to do with the Duke of Edenham, Lady Dalby?”
    “Why, entertain him, darling, as innocently as I possibly can.
    You truly have no preference? No hidden longing for Edenham
    over, say, Calbourne, or the intriguing Lord Iveston?”
    Miss Prestwick fixed Sophia with a very direct look and
    answered, “Lady Dalby, I shall fix my longing upon the man you
    can best arrange, have no doubt about it. Good day.”
    “Good day, Miss Prestwick,” Sophia said with a bemused
    smile.
    Three
    PENELOPE exited Dalby House as slowly as she could without
    looking ridiculous. Even so, she still managed to miss the arrival
    of the Duke of Edenham. No matter what she had told Sophia
    Dalby, she knew what she wanted, and what she wanted was
    Edenham.
    He was nearly fatally handsome.
    If she were going to marry a duke, why not marry the
    most handsome one available to her? And he was available.
    He had had his three wives and he had his two heirs, but could
    not a duke in the prime of life do with another fetching wife?
    And she was fetching; she knew she was. She had a mirror,
    didn’t she?
    She was a fine-looking woman and she had a fine, fat settle
    ment upon her, her father being no dullard and understanding
    very well that a rich purse was a nearly irresistible inducement
    to marry, even for a duke with a fat purse of his own. Was not
    having more wealth to be preferred in every circumstance?
    Of course it was. Surely a duke knew that better than anyone.
    How to Daz zle a Duke
    21
    Penelope gripped her shawl firmly and waved crisply at
    George, who was loitering across Park Lane, ambling with
    evident cheer along the northernmost rim of Hyde Park. George
    was often wasting time in Hyde Park; he did love a good
    stretch of the leg, as he put it, and walked when any other
    man would have ridden. Any other man who was deeply and
    fully accustomed to being in the upper branches of the ton, that
    is. She was quite certain that the Duke of Edenham or even the
    rather odd Duke of Calbourne did not waste time walking to no
    purpose.
    She did want Edenham.
    She did not want Calbourne at all. He was rather too tall,
    a point which Lady Amelia had made all too publicly very
    recently. Calbourne had not taken Amelia’s point very well at
    all, which was a puzzle. Didn’t he know he was too tall to be
    considered elegantly proportioned? Not only was he taller than
    was entirely appropriate, he had the most peculiar sense of
    humor. And, truth be told, she had not made the most stellar
    impression upon him at her ball, a point she was still somewhat
    befuddled over. Calbourne was of that particular type who did
    not appreciate a logical, well-informed, reasonable woman.
    There were, sad to say, quite a few men of similar disposition in
    the ton, which did make it terribly inconvenient for a woman of
    her particular traits, being well-informed first and foremost
    among them.
    What opinion the Marquis of Iveston had about women she
    had no idea, nor little interest. Lord Iveston was, in a word,
    peculiar . Or that was the rumor of him, and she paid particular
    attention to every rumor regarding every