Beauty and the Duke by Melody Thomas Read Free Book Online Page A

what the museum is willing to pay. If I am not mistaken, my find will prove to be far more lucrative to his career than anything in Perth. Everyone has a price, Christine.”
    “You have not changed. You still think people can be bought and sold like commodities. Do you always win, your grace?”
    He looked around the cluttered office that held the remnants of so much of her life, then at her. “Do you, leannanan? ”
     
    How dare Erik Boughton presume she was not qualified to lead an expedition, that she was too delicate to find her way among “arduous” Scottish crags, as if she had not climbed a real mountain before. His insult about her lack of humor came back to jab her as well and she sniffed in defiance of his insult. She had humor and laughed easily enough when she understood the joke.
    Hurrying across the grounds, Christine paid little attention to the wind that had picked up since that morning and now whipped at her skirts as though thehumidity and her emotions had conspired to create a storm. Head down, she persevered through the long grass as she swept past the pond.
    How dare Erik give away quite possibly the greatest find of the century. Why would Papa even suggest Joseph Darlington’s name? Men! Six of one, half a dozen of the other. They were all the same.
    “Miss Christine! Miss Christine!”
    She came to an abrupt halt and looked up suddenly at the heavy, black clouds forming on the horizon behind the wind-whipped oaks. Looking around, she caught her hair with one hand and vaguely wondered if she had imagined someone calling her name, or if God—or the devil—had whispered her name.
    “Miss Christine!”
    Christine turned in the direction of the school. Babs, Dolly, and the impish blond Sal, three of the girls who had been in class were running toward her with six other girls in tow. Only one thing in life struck fear into Christine more than standing in front of a classroom filled with intrepid students who asked a question she could not answer. And that was being caught outside in the open with those very same daunting students.
    Putting on her optimum teacher smile, she greeted the girls. Dolly was the first to speak, her red curls bouncing around her flushed face. Each of them was carrying books. “You did not return to class. We have been waiting to speak with ye, mum.”
    All the girls flocked around her. “Everyone is talking about Lord Sedgwick’s visit,” Dolly said before Christine could find her voice.
    “Will he steal you away from us, just like Mr. Darlington stole Miss Amelia?” Sal asked.
    “It isn’t stealing if she wants to go away with him,” Babs said.
    “But you believe in the ring now?” Dolly’s hopeful voice persisted. “Why else would a rich, handsome duke visit Sommershorn Abbey?”
    Christine had completely forgotten the ring. Heavens.
    She stared down at the braided band of silver that seemed to be glowing blue in the dreary gray light. The thing had got stuck on her finger and she’d forgotten about it in her vexed emotional state.
    “You must have been thinking about his grace before you put on the ring,” Babs insisted, her voice fraught with awe. “Or he would not have appeared at our classroom door. What did you wish for, Miss Christine?”
    Silence gathered around Christine at last, as anxious eyes awaited her reply.
    It was true that morning she had been thinking about Erik, but that was only because of their meeting last night at the gala. She had merely been woolgathering this morning—something she rarely did—when he’d popped into her thoughts again. But thinking about a man did not mean she wanted him to show up on her doorstep.
    And, yes, she admitted that she had told Aunt Sophie she wanted to make an earth-shattering discovery. A discovery so magnificent…the entire world would stand up and take notice .
    Clutching the packet to her chest, Christine knew that what Erik had brought was indeed something magnificent.
    She suddenly felt