Free A Summons From the Duke by Jerrica Knight-Catania, Lilia Birney, Samantha Grace Page A

ill, aren’t you?” she said as she ushered Isabel from the room.
    Mother waved a servant over and instructed him to call for Nancy. Isabel felt a little bad at calling Nancy from her sleep, but it couldn’t be helped. They continued towards the staircase—Mother was absolutely terrified that Isabel might toss up her accounts in the middle of the corridor. Nancy met them on the stairs and took over the duties of escorting Isabel to her room while Mother returned to the party.
    Once they were safely inside her room, the door shut firmly behind them, Isabel collapsed on the bed in a fit of giggles.
    “ Have you lost your mind, miss?” Nancy asked, coming to the edge of the bed.
    Isabel wiped tears from her eyes. “I think that is a definite possibility, Nancy.”
    ~*~
    Damien watched Isabel leave the room, hunched over with her mother’s arms around her shoulders. Dear God, was she ill? Why did his stomach plummet at that thought? Why did he want to chase after her and mop her brow until she was better?
    And why, why, why hadn’t he run screaming from the castle when the duke asked if he wanted to marry Isabel? How utterly disturbing to realize that in the course of one day, a man such as himself could be brought to his knees by a woman.
    “ You play beautifully, Mr. Lockwell,” one of the cousins said. What was her name again? It started with an E…or perhaps it was a C?
    “ Thank you,” he said evasively. “Though I fear my hands are getting rather tired. Perhaps someone else would like a go of it?”
    “ I’m not nearly as well trained as you, Mr. Lockwell, but I will do my best.” The girl with the E name—or C name—slid into the chair, then looked up at him expectantly. Clearly, she wished for him to linger and tell her what an accomplished player she was, but he had no desire to loll about.
    “ Well, enjoy!” he said, and then quickly made his escape.
    Lady Norland had returned, which meant that Isabel was alone in her bedchamber. She could not have been that ill, since her mother felt it was all right to return to the party.
    Damien practically ran the corridors and then he took the stairs two at a time, until he found himself on the floor that housed the twins’ bedchambers. It was easy to figure out which door belonged to Isabel, for there was a great deal of laughter coming from inside of it.
    “ Oh, Nancy, you should have seen Mother’s face! I nearly sent her into an apoplexy!”
    “ Be careful, miss. You don’t really want to send your mother to an early grave, do you?”
    The laughter died down a bit. “No, of course not,” Isabel said, though he wasn’t certain she told the whole truth. “But it was great fun, and now I don’t have to spend the evening with those…people.”
    Damien took a bit of offense to that since he was, in fact, one of those people.
    “ They’re your family, miss!” Nancy sounded appalled.
    “ Most of whom have never bothered to darken our doorstep in years. Only because they think Grandpapa is dying and might leave something for them in his will have they returned.”
    “ Come now, where’s your Christmas spirit? Why don’t you try seeing the good rather than the bad?”
    Damien had to agree with Nancy. Besides, if he hadn’t assumed the best of Isabel, he never would have followed her to the library yesterday.
    “ Oh, fine,” Isabel said. “I will try…tomorrow. For tonight, I just want to go to sleep.”
    “ Very well, miss. Do you require anything before I go back to bed?”
    “ No, I’m fine, Nancy. Thank you.”
    Damien quickly slid into the shadows as Nancy emerged from Isabel’s bedchamber. Once she was good and gone, he went to the door and scratched.
    “ Enter! Did you forget something?”
    Damien slipped into the room and closed the door behind him. Isabel sat at her vanity in nothing but her underclothes. Her long, chestnut hair tumbled over her shoulders and down her back, shining in the candlelight.
    “ I forgot to kiss you