Duchess in Love by Eloisa James Read Free Book Online Page B

mustn’t call Esme a name like that!”
    â€œPlain speaking is sometimes a virtue, Gina. Your friends are the next best things to très-coquettes that are to be found among the gently born.”
    Gina bit her lip. “Don’t you think that you’re being a little overly stern?”
    â€œOr do you mean stuffy? You have obviously complained to them about my stuffiness ! Let me tell you, among those people who value good manners, I am not seen as at all stuffy! Merely intelligent as opposed to debauched.”
    â€œI didn’t complain about you,” she said, ignoring a twinge from her conscience. “It’s just that my friends have a lively sense of humor, that’s all.”
    â€œLively or loose? Do you know that there are many people who won’t even acknowledge Esme Rawlings?”
    â€œWell, that isn’t very fair, is it?” she said angrily. “Thosesame people are no doubt slavering over her horrible husband, whereas Esme is painted far blacker than she is!”
    Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. “Look me in the face and tell me that she is not intimate with Bernie Burdett.”
    â€œShe is not intimate with Burdett!” Gina cried.
    â€œNot yet perhaps,” Sebastian said with a twist of his lips.
    â€œBut the man doesn’t have a chance of escaping.”
    â€œDon’t, Sebastian, don’t—don’t talk about Esme this way! You’ll say things—”
    â€œThat what? That you don’t want to hear?”
    â€œYes,” she said defiantly. “That I don’t want to hear!”
    â€œEveryone says them,” he said flatly. “She’s a trollop, and you know it, and the world knows it.”
    Gina stared at him, her face white.
    â€œThen I’m a trollop as well!” she cried. “Because my husband ran off and left me, just as Esme’s did to her. And I’ve been dallying with you, just as Esme has with Burdett.”
    Sebastian’s lip twisted. “Utterly different. She joins her friends in bed, and you, my dear, are an innocent.”
    â€œShe does not!” Gina flashed back.
    He shrugged. “Perhaps she beds them in the garden then.”
    â€œEsme doesn’t allow any man to…to…”
    Sebastian’s eyes met hers with a touch of contempt. “A likely story,” he commented.
    â€œHave you ever heard a man say that he visited her bed?” Gina demanded.
    â€œGentlemen do not boast of the muslin they sleep with!”
    Her jaw set. “Stop it! Stop it right now. You have no right to say those things.”
    He took a deep breath and glanced around. Luckily no one had followed them onto the terrace. “Shall we go back inside, Your Grace?” He held out his arm.
    She hesitated and looked up at him. “I hate to feel this angry with you.”
    What on earth was he supposed to say to that?
    Gina drifted closer. “I should like to go for a short stroll.”
    â€œI swore I wouldn’t take walks with you, after what happened last night,” he said slowly.
    She held out her hand without speaking, green eyes shining in the moonlight.
    â€œYou’re a witch,” he said, sighing, and took her hand. They strolled just into the line of shadows that marked the beginning of a small copse and stopped.
    She put her hands flat against his waistcoat and then let them slide up his chest to his neck.
    â€œDon’t do that!” he said sharply. “We should not be so intimate at this stage in our relationship.”
    â€œKiss me,” she whispered. “Kiss me, please.”
    He bent his head and warm lips met hers. But no arms came around her, and when he drew back she saw that his eyes were cool and untouched by desire.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?”
    â€œWhere is your sense of propriety?” he asked flatly. “I don’t want to kiss you out in the copse. You are my future wife, not my light-o’-love.