The Wild Duchess/The Willful Duchess (The Duchess Club Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

circled the entire room, growing more confident in their steps as they went until they were grinning like errant children.
    “What do you say now, Miss Blackwell?”
    “I am ashamed that I did not think of dancing with a duke before now, Your Grace. It is just the thing, isn’t it?”
    Elgin laughed, the years melting away from his countenance. “Yes, Miss Blackwell. It is just the very thing!”

Chapter 2
    T alon Rush , the Duke of Stafford stretched out his legs before returning to a more gentlemanly posture as he spotted his old friend coming into the room at White’s. In anticipation of Elgin’s company, he signaled one of the footmen for brandy and prepared to settle in for a good game of cards. “Chesterton! You’re late this evening. What have you been up to?”
    Chesterton sat down with a slight wince. “I went to a ball and wore myself out.”
    “You never did!” Talon laughed. “You hate such social gatherings and once told me that you’d forsworn them completely.”
    “Did I? Oh, dear. Well, tonight I danced with a debutante at Aldridge’s and lost all track of time.”
    Talon dropped his cards and sat up straighter as if at the sound of a gunshot. “What? You…you never did!”
    “I did. Is it so incredibly impossible that I should, my young friend?” Chesterton smiled, picking up the cards that Talon had scattered on the table. “I danced with the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. I think I heard somewhere that her father was one of the Jaded.”
    Talon’s eyebrows lifted to betray his open skepticism. “The Jaded are a myth, Elgin. My father said it was a fairy tale created after the Sepoy Rebellion in India to divert good society from the horrors in the newspapers.”
    “They are not a myth. You’re prone to dismiss them because you’ve never been invited to join but I understand that they are an extremely exclusive society related to the Templar Knights or was it a ring of spies for the Crown? Hmm. Wasn’t there a rumor that they were the Queen’s secret guardians of peace?”
    “Dear God. It’s probably a grubbier version of another reprise of the Hellfire Club and why are we talking about this? Oh, yes, I remember. You forgot yourself and made the dangerous mistake of dancing with a child in public and are now trying to distract me.”
    Chesterton smiled. “It nearly worked.”
    “Do you think so?” Talon sighed. “We’ve known each other too long. What were you doing at Aldridge’s?”
    “A moment of nostalgia the other day made me accept the invitation and what harm could there be in proving to my peers that I am yet living?” He began to shuffle the deck as brandy was poured for them both. “You do not approve of dancing?”
    “No one doubts your continuing existence and health. I wasn’t aware there was a debate on the topic but there may now be some speculation about your sanity. You’ve been too loud an advocate of your bachelorhood for far too long, Chesterton.”
    Elgin waved his hand dismissively and took up his brandy. “I am rethinking my position and considering the possibilities.”
    Talon nearly fell from his chair in shock. Elgin had been alone, a cheerful solitary and an example of how sweet life could be for a man unencumbered in this world. At twenty-nine years of age himself, Talon had been seated quite securely in his own choice to put off marriage for a little while longer with Chesterton’s example before him.
    It was not possible that Elgin would dally with some girl at a public social function, in front of his peers and risk ridicule at his age! Would he?
    Talon raked his fingers through his hair. “I am dumbstruck.”
    “Oh, shush! Why are you looking at me like that? Aren’t you engaged to marry the Earl of Gastonbury’s eldest? That bat-faced girl with ears like kites? Of course, she’s got blood so blue I am sure she sneezes diamonds and leaves polished marble in her—”
    “Don’t be crass. It isn’t becoming to a man your