Accidentally Compromising the Duke by Stacy Reid Read Free Book Online

and she retreated, her hips hitting against the oak table positioned in the center of the room. “I was in the card rooms with your mother when I was summoned. Your mother is appalled at your reckless disregard—”
    “Stepmother,” Adel snapped, the agitation of being reminded of how easily he replaced her mother loosening her tongue.
    He continued as if she had not spoken. “I have spent the last few minutes reassuring your fiancé this must all be a dreadful mistake, and you would never act with such wanton impropriety. Lord Vale has agreed to announce the engagement immediately. Now to stave off any further scandal the wedding will be proceeded with urgency. No time for banns to be posted and Vale is in the process of using his considerable influence to procure a special license.”
    Somehow she never imagined her father’s reaction would be to foist her off even faster onto the earl. She glanced at Lady Margaret, and was met with a similar resolve in her gaze. Adel swallowed the laugh bubbling forth. She was found in the bed of a powerful duke who would certainly crush her for her temerity. The humiliation to come was enough to encourage her to flee to Derbyshire to her godmother. Why would Lord Vale still insist on marriage?
    She hugged her middle, caught up in a vice of fear. As she thought on her life so far this season, Lord Vale’s constant veiled insinuations and repulsive pinches, a hot tide of rebellion stirred inside. “I have been compromised. Surely Lord Vale would not wish for a wife that is—”
    Her father shook his head. “He understands that the blackguard James Atwood must have forced you to come to his room, and that young man will be dealt with. You are fortunate, Lord Vale is still willing to marry you and—”
    “Young Mr. Atwood?” Lord Gladstone asked, from the mantel where he been watching the entire exchange.
    Adel’s cheeks burned at the humiliation. The countess had not revealed with whom she had been caught. But why would Lord Vale pretend it had not been the duke? Of course , he was correctly thinking her parents would eagerly seek a forced match with Wolverton. Why would they settle for an earl when they could snag a duke? Lord Vale must have been hoping, they would have shepherded Adel from Pembington House and straight into his arms immediately.
    Her father’s expression bloomed with ire at the interruption. He enjoyed listening to his admonishing sermons, which he had been delivering quite often ever since Adel could remember. No …since her mother died and he remarried.
    “Yes,” he snapped. “Mr. Atwood has been hounding me for my daughter’s hand, and I have refused him several times, and this ploy of theirs is nothing more than their attempt to circumvent—”
    “Forgive me, Sir Archibald, but your daughter was not found with young Mr. Atwood.”
    She had never thought her father could be rendered speechless. He spluttered, then swung a wild-eyed gaze to her, while her stepmother affected a swoon and wilted on the chaise, sobbing.
    “Your daughter was found in the bed of the Duke of Wolverton,” Lord Gladstone said with some measure of satisfaction. Why was he pleased? It was his daughter that had been set to marry the man. Why was he not as angry as his lady?
    “I was not found in his bed,” she said hoarsely.
    “The Duke of Wolverton?” Lady Margaret whispered, disbelief rife in her voice.
    At the pronounced silence in the library, Lord Gladstone excused himself, leaving Adel alone with her father and stepmother.
    Lady Margaret glanced at Adel, eyes wide with apprehension and was that a glimmer of excitement? She was no doubt envisioning the lofty circles their family could be mingling with. “My dear,” she turned to her husband, her fingers laced tightly together. “You cannot insist Lord Vale marry our daughter if she was found in the bed of a Duke. She may even be with child as we speak. We must insist the duke to do the honorable thing.”
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