Page 29 of To Dare a Duke

No. The whole situation was best avoided. She would miss out on a family and she would never know what it was to have anything resembling a romantic attachment, but she had always viewed such things as brief moments of infatuation. Such feelings would likely not endure, but burn out, leaving two people with some pleasant memories and a lifetime stretching before them. Besides, she could always take a lover, she supposed. Remaining a single female living alone with nothing but a maid for propriety would make her a figure of scandal, even ridicule. She may as well make the most of it.

Her musings were at an end as Ruth’s grand address came into view, and she hurried forward to join her friends.

***

Prue stared into her teacup, silent and distracted, as the girls discussed The Damned Duke.

“I saw him at the Hartington’s ball last night,” Bonnie said, sighing a little. It was a wistful sound that made Prue smile, her attention drawn back to the conversation.

“He isn’t The Damned Duke, you know,” Prue said, not knowing why she said it. Only that the more she spoke with the man, the more she suspected, or perhaps hoped, he wasn’t the terrible character she’d made him out to be.

“Well, of course he is,” Kitty exclaimed, looking astonished. “The Duke of Bedwin and the Duke of Bedsin? That’s a feeble disguise if ever there was one.”

Prue flushed a little and turned her attention back to her teacup. A stab of guilt pierced her, and she forced it away. It was only a silly story; entertainment, not the truth.

“Well, Bedwin is very handsome,” Bonnie continued. “Compelling, even. All that dark hair and dark eyes. Sinful, he is.” Another heartfelt sigh escaped her, and Prue frowned, unsettled by the resentful sensation that filled her at her friend’s words.

“He spoke to Prue again, didn’t he, Prue?”

Prue blushed and looked up, turning to Ruth, who had spoken. Her friend was smiling a little, her expression curious.

“That’s the third time he’s sought you out, isn’t it?” Matilda asked, her voice nonchalant as she lifted her tea cup to her mouth. She looked at Prue over the rim, her beautiful blue eyes alight with mischief.

“His uncle is a dear friend of mine,” Prue retorted, sounding far too defensive. “We were speaking of him. There is nothing at all intriguing about it.”

Wide eyes focused on her from every quarter and she fought not to let her blush deepen further.

“Now, about this dare,” she said in a rush. Anything to get their minds from Bedwin. “Are we all ready?”

“Oh, yes!” Kitty exclaimed, almost squealing with excitement. She bustled to the corner of the room and lifted a rather battered hat box. She shoved the tea tray to one side and set the box down, lifting the lid and removing a man’s top hat. With a grin of triumph, she moved to Ruth. “Your dares, if you would please, ladies.”

Ruth swallowed, looking like she might be sick, but reached into the folds of her gown, searching for the pocket beneath and drew out two tightly folded scraps of paper. She took a deep breath and dropped them both into the hat.

Kitty moved around the room and Prue watched as Lucia, Bonnie, Matilda, Jemima, and Harriet all followed suit. She was a little surprised to see them all taking part, despite their agreement last night. Kitty moved towards Alice, who had gone a deathly shade of white. For a moment, Prue thought she might back out but, at the last moment, she opened her reticule and snatched up her dares, throwing them into the hat with some force.

“Bravo!” Kitty said approvingly, and Alice flushed and beamed.

Prue sighed.

Kitty added her dares to the hat and Prue reached for her bag, retrieving her own folded pieces of paper. She looked up at Kitty, whose dark eyes were alight with excitement, and dropped them into the hat.

With all the drama of a magician about to produce a rabbit, Kitty stirred the dares in the hat.

“I feel like we ought to have a drum roll,” Ruth quipped, though she looked anxious and rather unsure of whether this had been such a good idea now. Prue could only agree with her.

Before she could open her mouth to suggest that this might not be such a wise course of action, Kitty had made a theatrical bow and extended the hand that held the hat so that it was squarely before Prue.

Well, dash it all.

There was no way of backing out now, not with all her friends watching with such expectations. Drat her big mouth and drat the blasted duke for putting her in such a temper that she’d spoken without thinking.

Prue took a deep breath and sunk her hand into the hat, the little folded slips of paper rustling around her fingers. Please, please, be nothing ridiculous, she prayed. With a sense of inevitability, and a deeper one of foreboding, she plucked a folded slip from the mix.

“I think two should pick at a time,” Kitty said, as the assembled ladies held their breath. “Who else will try?”

The silence was absolute, and for a moment Prue thought she might get a reprieve. After all, if no one else was brave enough, there was no way she’d go through with it.

“I will!”