An Indecent Proposition by Emma Wildes Read Free Book Online

of my own making and I hope the risk proves . . . well, to be worth it.”
    Now, there was a challenge if he’d ever heard one.
    Nicholas smiled lazily. “It will be, my lady.”
    She didn’t smile back but simply looked at him with those remarkable eyes, the only betrayal of any emotion in the slight tremble of her lips. “You sound very confident, Your Grace.”
    Was he? Perhaps, but it was tempered by how little he knew of her. Maybe that was why he suggested a full week. She was an enigma in a world he often found all too predictable. “We both are, I’m sure, or we wouldn’t have made the wager in the first place, now, would we?”
    “I believe this is settled, then,” she said, getting to her feet. “Feel free to contact me with the specifics of the arrangements. We can communicate in the same way as before. Send it to the same address and they will bring it to me.”
    He and Derek both rose politely.
    “My driver is in the taproom, waiting. He’ll see me out.”
    Nicholas felt a protective protest rise, the rough crowd in the other room a concern. “I’ll walk you to the carriage.”
    “No, thank you, Your Grace. Even here, I prefer to not be seen with you.”
    That calm, collected declaration rendered him silent. For most of his adult life he’d been besieged by women who were more than eager to be seen on his arm. This was new. The sting of it surprised him a little. Why would he care one way or the other?
    She picked up her hat and put it on, adjusted the veil over her face, and left in a swirl of emerald green and a delicate hint of floral perfume.

Chapter Five
    “ S uch a lovely party. Don’t you agree, my lord?” Absently Derek Drake glanced down at the woman in his arms. Good God, for a moment he couldn’t remember her name. How unsettling.
    Amelia. Yes, sister to a friend, which was why he was dancing with her in the first place. Horace had foisted her on him and he’d agreed to take her out on the floor, mostly because if one attends a ball, one should at least make the pretense of enjoying oneself.
    Derek wasn’t, but then again, he hadn’t expected to.
    What he’d come for had nothing to do with entertainment. His motives were more akin to self-flagellation.
    Very productive, that, he thought in self-mockery as he waltzed across the floor. His partner was very short, and Derek was a tall man, and he expected they looked a bit absurd together. Out loud, he said, “Yes, lovely.”
    That type of banal conversation would certainly win him dazzling titles as a superlative lover, wouldn’t it? Lucky for him, Amelia seemed to find his reply gratifying, for she beamed up at him as if he’d said something clever.
    “Quite.”
    What would he say to that? Nothing seemed best. His reputed silver tongue was lead coated this evening. He felt immense gratitude when the music dwindled to the end and he led her off the floor, bowed over her plump hand, and fled.
    The ball was a predictable crush and Derek edged through the crowd. The room was crammed with people, the open windows providing not much relief from the heat, and the murmur of voices vied with the orchestra for prominence. Luckily his height made it possible to keep his objective in sight. Finally, he reached Nicholas. His friend was propped against a Grecian-style pillar and sipping champagne.
    Without preamble, Derek said, “A week? Are you insane, Nick?”
    They were surrounded by people, but between the music and the resonance of hundreds of voices, their conversation was relatively private, as if they were sequestered somewhere. The Duke of Rothay gave him one of his undecipherable looks for which he was so well-known. “It seems reasonable.”
    Derek snorted with inelegant derision. “You have never consistently spent that amount of time with one female in your life, aside from, perhaps, your mother.”
    The dowager duchess was a formidable figure despite the fact she barely came up to her son’s shoulder. A renowned beauty in