The Wild Duchess/The Willful Duchess (The Duchess Club Book 1) by Renee Bernard Read Free Book Online Page A

distract and seduce her at will.
    “Ashe. The invitations. The cards. We must…strategize…and I have no head for this…social nonsense.”
    “I love your American head for social nonsense. Forget the cards.”
    It was easy to forget them.
    He lifted her from her chair to carry her toward their bedroom, the cards left scattered on the table, some falling to the floor.
    “Come and rest, my darling girl,” he whispered in her ear.
    “What a waste of a morning, Mr. Blackwell. Did I not mention that I am feeling so much better?” Caroline nuzzled his neck, unwilling to resist the familiar magic between them, grateful for its hold on them both.
    “Thank God,” Ashe sighed and kicked the bedroom door closed behind them.

    “ P arson ! I need you!” Scarlett hailed her adopted brother as he passed the twins’ open doorway.
    He smiled at the use of their nickname for him. As toddlers, his full name, Paul Martin, had somehow gotten mixed up and from there it was only the lisp of the very young that would make the leap to “parson”. But the name had stuck and he had never complained of it. He was their contemporary in age with only a few months advantage and had long been included in their innermost circle since infancy.
    He turned to head inside their room and immediately regretted it when he saw what Scarlett had in her hands.
    “Just stand here, please. I am distraught over this blasted bow and I need to see it on someone to make a better try at it.”
    Paul sighed. “I don’t think… Scarlett, no matter what you do, that bonnet is bound to look ridiculous on my head so how in the world does that help?”
    Scarlett smiled and placed the feminine accessory on his head without hesitation. “I have a grand imagination, Parson.”
    “You realize that as an identical twin, you have a living model just there that you can try bonnets on all day long and do so without making any leap of the imagination to picture it on your own head?”
    “Shh! Stop moving so much, Parson. I don’t want to accidentally pierce you with a hatpin.” Scarlett’s concentration on the ribbon was such that Paul knew better than to argue. “Besides, Starr hates bonnets.”
    “Yes, well…if it makes any difference, I am not a fan of them either,” Paul stated as he did his best not to shift his head.
    Starr laughed over the top edge of her book from her window seat, giving him a mischievous look. “I’m afraid it makes no difference at all, dearest.”
    He sighed and submitted, before trying to distract Scarlett with conversation. “How was it last night? The front bell has been ringing endlessly this morning and Mrs. Clark and the staff are having fits downstairs by all reports.”
    Scarlett shrugged her shoulders, a blush touching her cheeks to foil the attempt at nonchalance. “It was very nice.”
    “She danced with a duke.”
    “What?” Paul forgot hatpins and turned toward Starr. “Did you say a duke?”
    “Three times.” Starr confirmed cheerfully and then closed her book. “Three. Times.”
    “Three is not entirely excessive and when you say it like that it sounds positively brazen,” Scarlett protested. “He was merely being kind.”
    “Kind?” Paul’s eyes darkened with somber concern. “Kind is when someone returns a handkerchief you’ve dropped. I think three dances is something else.”
    “Oh, Paul! Please don’t stare at me as if I’d announced I was eloping with a gypsy.” Scarlett reached over to take the bonnet off his head. “Dancing is the goal of a ball, is it not?”
    “True. But what did Mrs. Blackwell say when she heard of it? Or Mr. Blackwell?”
    “Parson,” Scarlett sighed. “One does not tell one’s parents of such things if there is truly nothing else to say.”
    Paul had known her far too long to be put off. “Nothing else to say? About a duke? I thought they required a great deal of conversation. I mean that’s like saying you spoke to the queen and then dropping off all