AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Amy turned to her stepmother with a look of complaint written across her pretty features but was silenced by the quelling look that Horatia Montgomery shot at her.
As the flowers were finally placed in her arms, Emily felt a warm glow settle in her chest.
Her very first flowers from a gentleman! The fluttery feeling was not quite exactly as she had imagined it to be from what she read in her romance novels. She did not exactly have tender feelings for the Viscount, having only interacted with him last night during their brief dance.
The same could be said of Lord Marchman.
She did, however, feel a great amount of relief that her luck seemed to have finally turned around somehow.
However, as she reached out to touch a soft petal, she felt a dread settle into the pit of her stomach as she wondered just how she would manage to captivate a manoutsideof a ballroom.Thatwas an entirely different territory that His Grace had not covered in their lessons last night.
After the morning meal, she returned to her rooms in a pensive daze. Jenny, however, was elated beyond belief.
“I knew it!” the maid crowed. “That dress is what did it, that’s what. Well, even if Her Ladyship would cut off me entire year’s wages, I’ll fix all them gowns for you, Milady!”
Emily shook her head. “I don’t think it was just the gown, Jenny.”
“Ye think I should lower the necklines a bit more, Milady?”
“No, it’s not that,” the redhead murmured, turning her gaze out to the window. Then, she turned back to Jenny. “How do you talk to a man, really?”
The maid blinked at her before bursting out in gales of laughter. “Why, ye merely open yer mouth and bat yer eyelashes and—”
“Well, aside from all that,” Emily persisted. “What else?”
“Well, what else is there to talk about?” Jenny looked at her mistress in confusion. “I’m not fairly certain what gentlemen like to talk about either, but I s’pose a man likes to hear about himself.”
Emily frowned. “Hear what about himself?”
“How he’s the best there is an’ all that,” the maid answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “They’re rather vain critters, men.”
Yes, His Grace did seem to mention something about making a man feel that he was magnificent enough.Emily sighed inwardly as she rubbed her temples.Did men truly have such fragile egos? Somehow, that did not seem to be the case in my romance novels.
In her romance novels, the heroes were tall, dark, handsome, andof course, ridiculously romantic. In her romance novels, the heroine did not have to resort to underhanded tactics to gain the love of this rare breed of man—he seemed to just naturally love her entirely for who she is.
Emily wanted that kind of love for herself, but as she told the Duke of Gilleton, she was not foolish enough to believe that there was such a man out there. Her priority was to find an advantageous match—one who would suit her, suit her father, and withstand the scrutiny of society.
“I need to talk to him,” she murmured, standing up.
Her maid looked a little confused. “Of course, ye need to talk to His Lordship when he calls, Milady. If ye don’t, then what’ll he think?”
“No, no,” Emily shook her head. “Not Lord Caney. Or Lord Marchman. I need to talk to His Grace, the Duke of Gilleton.”
If she were to hold the affections of a man sufficiently enough for him to ask her father for her hand in marriage, she was certain His Grace would know how to go about it.
CHAPTER4
Unaware of the furor his lessons had caused in the Montgomery townhouse, Daniel quietly disentangled himself from the arms of his mistress and sat at the edge of the bed. The beautiful woman stirred languorously, twisting her naked body on the sheets as she opened her vivid green eyes with a seductive smile.
Dark-haired and blessed with curves that could drive a man to insanity, Miranda Felton was the mistress of any nobleman’s fantasy.
“Daniel…” she murmured sleepily, her hands reaching out for his muscled arms. “Come back to bed with me…”
Daniel smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “I’m afraid I can’t, my sweet. Duty calls.”
“Oh, but this bed is dreadfully empty and cold without you,” the dark-haired beauty pouted petulantly. She sat up and let the sheets casually slide off her luscious breasts.
Daniel did not even bother casting her a cursory glance as he settled a long, rectangular box on the bedside table. “In that case, you can warm yourself up with these.”
