Free A Secret Proposal by Valerie Bowman Page A

Amelia stopped her. “Lily?”
    Lily turned, a bright smile on her face. “Yes?”
    Amelia took a deep breath, screwing up her courage. “May I ask you something?”
    “Anything, dear.”
    “What makes a man declare his interest in you? I mean, I assume you have experience in that area given your recent marriage to Lord Colton.” She glanced away, a bit embarrassed to have brought that up.
    Lily tiptoed back over and leaned down with a positively impish look on her face. She glanced back over both shoulders as if to ensure she wouldn’t be overheard, then she whispered. “I’ll give you two bits of advice.”
    Amelia nodded, listening intently.
    “First of all, if you fancy someone, let him know.”
    Amelia furrowed her brow. Oh, she couldn’t tell Thad she fancied him. She just couldn’t. Could she?
    “And second,” Lily continued. “It’s very simple. The easiest way to entice a man to declare his interest is to make him madly, passionately jealous.”

CHAPTER 13
    Amelia wore the most scandalous ball gown she owned that night. The one Mama approved of only because she was under the mistaken impression that Amelia was wearing it to garner the attention of the Marquis of Bartholomew or the Duke of Stanford. In fact, Amelia only wondered what Thad would think of it.
    It was a light blue concoction made of soft satin with a white bow around the high empire waist, but the décolletage was the most shocking part. Low and scooped, it left little to the imagination and Amelia just so happened to be well-endowed. Most advantageous this evening.
    Despite her mother’s hovering presence at her elbow, Amelia sailed into the ballroom, a bright smile on her face. She immediately plucked a glass of champagne from the tray of a passing footman. Oh, she intended to have fun this evening. A great deal of it.
    She had been in the room barely five minutes when Lord Bartholomew approached and asked Amelia to dance. She was in his stringy arms dancing when Thad strode through the ballroom doors. She nearly tripped, stepping on Lord B’s foot, and she had to struggle to concentrate on the dance. Thad looked like a dream come true in his dark formal evening attirethat fit so well across his deliciously broad shoulders. His cravat was perfectly white and his teeth matched when they flashed his knee-melting smile. Mary Lexington, that hussy, hurried up to him and he laughed at something she said. Amelia desperately wished she had been the object of his attention. His gaze seemed to scan the room and as soon as he saw Amelia, his smile fell.
    Oh, good.
    She wanted him, wanted him desperately. She knew very well she couldn’t have him as a husband. Mama would never accept him for himself, not to mention the fact that he didn’t have a title. But she could have him…in her bed. For one night…or more. And she intended to get him there. Using Lily Morgan’s expert advice. She smiled to herself. She’d be a bigger hussy than Mary Lexington ever hoped to be.
    Amelia turned her attention back to Lord Bartholomew and laughed as if the man had just made the most hilarious jest she’d ever heard. In fact, she had no idea if he’d made a jest at all and rather doubted it when he gave her a look that indicated he was a bit concerned about how much she’d imbibed.
    She danced the next dance with Lord Bartholomew too and then spent a good portion of the evening at his side, plucking more glasses of champagne from the trays of unsuspecting footmen. She quickly learned it was much more tolerable to endear the marquis’s constant yammering the more she had to drink. Quite an interesting discovery really. Champagne had a way of making the dullest conversation nearly enjoyable. Who knew?
    She glanced surreptitiously at Thad who watched her through narrow eyes but set aboutdancing with a bevy of beautiful ladies, all of whom accepted his advances. And Mary Lexington was rarely far from his side. Hrmph. Apparently even rogues had a certain