A Regency Duchess's Awakening: The Shy Duchess / To Kiss a Count. Amanda McCabe

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СКАЧАТЬ elle est, nous sommes, vous êtes. Oh! Is that quite right, Miss Carroll? I’m just not sure.”

      Emily pulled herself back to the present moment, listening to her pupil Sally recite her French verbs in the school room at Mrs Goddard’s, only to find she was biting her thumbnail again and heard scarcely two words out of ten. She still seemed to be back on the dark pathway at Vauxhall.

      She quickly curled her thumb into her fist and gave Sally a reassuring smile. “Yes, that is exactly right. You’ve made amazing progress, Sally.”

      But Sally wasn’t fooled. She peered closely at Emily with those brown eyes so much older and harder than her twenty years. When she first came to Mrs Goddard’s, her hair was tinted a bright red-orange and her accent was harsh and thick. Now, with the curls back to a light brown and her voice carefully modulated to a soft pitch, clad in plain, pale muslin gowns, she seemed much like any respectable young lady. She worked tremendously hard to better herself, had a kind way with the younger girls, and was Emily’s best and brightest student.

      But still Emily often had the sense that Sally knew so much more than she herself ever would.

      “You aren’t ill today, are you, Miss Carroll?”

      “No, no. A bit tired, that is all.”

      “And no wonder, miss! I’m sure there are parties every night,” Sally said with a laugh. “Dancing and card playing and such.”

      “I wish there were not,” Emily muttered. “They are quite dull.”

      “Dull, miss? Surely not.” Sally twirled her pencil thoughtfully between her fingers. “Aren’t those toff parties meant to help you find a suitor?”

      Emily had to laugh, too. “So my mother says. Yet I have not found them especially helpful.”

      “Miss Carroll! Surely you have a suitor. Lots of them, I would wager, with your looks. Why, if you were at my old place at Mother Logan’s you would have made a fortune!” Sally suddenly clapped her hand over her mouth, her cheeks turning pink. Emily would have thought Sally could never blush. “Oh, I never meant to say that! Forgive me, miss.”

      Emily laughed harder. “Nothing to forgive, Sally. I just fear a ‘toff’ ballroom requires more than a pretty face. A dowry and some conversation help, too.”

      “Well, isn’t there at least someone you might like? Just a little bit?”

      Emily studied Sally’s face for a moment, those knowing eyes. She did so long to confide in someone about the duke, to ask advice from a woman who might be able to help. She could not ask her mother or Amy, of course. Nor could she ask Jane. Much as she liked her friend, Jane was a bit prone to over-excitement when it came to romantic affairs, and she was something of a gossip. Besides which, she probably did not know much more than Emily herself.

      But Sally would know. And she would never tell.

      “May I ask you something in confidence, Sally?” Emily whispered.

      “Of course, Miss Carroll.” Sally leaned closer, her own voice soft. “I’ll help you in any way I can. It’s the least I can do after all you’ve done for me.”

      “I am not entirely ignorant, you understand. I read and I hear things. I’ve even been kissed, a few times anyway. But …”

      Emily feared Sally must be laughing at her, her own experience was so much greater than anything Emily would ever possess. But Sally merely gazed back at her solemnly. “Yes, miss?”

      “Does it mean something when a man kisses a woman’s—foot?” Emily whispered. “I have never heard of such a thing before. Is it an—odd thing to do?” It had certainly felt most odd, and wonderfully pleasant, when Nicholas kissed her foot and caressed her ankle. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.

      Sally’s eyes widened. “Did a man do that to you, miss? At a ball?”

      “No, not exactly.” Emily took a deep breath and told her the whole story. Well, not the whole story, of course—she did not tell her Nicholas’s identity or quite how much punch she had drunk. But it was all enough that by the end Emily’s cheeks were very hot indeed.

      “Cor!” Sally breathed, her fine new accent lost. “You mean he did all that not knowing who you were?” Emily nodded miserably.

      “But he didn’t—finish?” Sally said. “He didn’t force you into anything?”

      “No! He stopped the instant I told him to, and made sure I returned to my friends. He thought I didn’t see him watching me go, but I did.”

      “Amazing. I never met a man who could do that.” Sally’s gaze sharpened again. “You wouldn’t want to tell me who he is, would you, Miss Carroll? I know a lot about more men of the ton than you would think.”

      “I really should not.” Though Emily was horribly tempted to know what rumours there might be about the duke that she would not know, rumours among the darker denizens of London. But what if there was something there, something really dreadful? Did she truly want to know?

      “Well, he sounds like a real gentleman to me, miss,” said Sally. “Unique, I would even say. You shouldn’t let him go.”

      How could she let something go when it was not hers? When it was not meant to be hers at all?

      Emily left Mrs Goddard’s even more confused than when she arrived, if such a thing was possible. She made her way back to the more respectable part of town with Mary trailing behind her, hardly seeing where she was going.

      Until a fine carriage rolled to a stop beside her, an open barouche painted in glossy black with a gold-and-green crest on the door. The coachman drew in the matched black horses, and a man leaned out to sweep off his hat to her. The sunlight caught on his bright hair, and she saw to her shock it was the Duke of Manning himself, conjured up by her daydreams.

      “Good day, Lady Emily,” he said. “Out for a bit of shopping?”

      “Er … yes, your Grace,” she answered, then realised neither she nor Mary carried any packages. “Though I did not find what I was looking for, I fear. We were just on our way home.”

      “Is that so? Then may I offer you a ride back to your house? It seems quite a long walk from here,” he said.

      A ride in his carriage? Sitting close together? Emily was not at all sure that was a good idea. It was obvious from Vauxhall that sometimes she had trouble controlling her hidden wanton tendencies. Not that she would jump on him in an open carriage for everyone to see, but.

      Well, one just never knew what might happen. The more time he spent with her the more likely he was to discover she was the woman in the black wig. And she would never want him to know that. She was determined to keep her secret, and how could she do that if she was always with him?

      She glanced back down the street, but there was no help forthcoming there. And Mary looked at her pleadingly, as if she longed to cease walking.

      Emily sighed. There was simply no escape. She would just have to be as careful and circumspect as possible. The ride would not last for ever.

      “Thank you, your Grace,” СКАЧАТЬ