Free Simply Voracious by Kate Pearce Page B

now it seemed he had no choice but to see this most important matter through.
    He walked back with Lucky to her mother and spent a pleasant few minutes conversing with the duke and duchess before heading off to the card room. There was no sign of Constantine, and Paul wasn’t sure if that made things better or worse. Earlier he’d heard someone mention that Con had been seen in the company of Major Thomas Wesley, another patron of the pleasure house and a particular friend of Lord and Lady Blaize Minshom. He tried to be glad that Con would have a sympathetic ear, but the thought of Wesley offering anything of a more tender nature to his lover made him furious.
    He stopped at the entrance of the card room so abruptly that several men ran into him. Con wasn’t his anymore. After apologizing, Paul turned back toward the ballroom and the doors that led back to the hallway below. He’d only come for Lucky’s sake, and, as it seemed that her despoiler was not present, perhaps he might go and drown his sorrows at his lodging house in the company of Captain David Grey and his lover, Robert. They at least might be able to stop him from falling into a pit of self-made despair.
     
    When Milly drew the curtains the next morning to the sound of rain hammering on the panes, Lucky’s first reaction was to huddle back under the sheets and stay there for the remainder of the day. But she was a duke’s daughter, and she had to accompany her mother to several establishments that morning that dealt with clothes for her trousseau. If society hadn’t guessed that she and Paul were now engaged, the gossip from the various shops would probably convince them.
    Lucky yawned and sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the high bed. A wave of black giddiness swept over her, and she had to clutch on to the bedpost for support.
    “Are you all right, miss?”
    Lucky breathed through her nose until the nausea subsided and the world stopped spinning cartwheels, and then carefully let go of the bedpost. She knew enough about what happened to women who were breeding to be afraid. She could not swoon now; her maid would almost certainly run for the duchess, and Lucky had no desire to speak to her mother at this moment at all.
    Milly was already moving around the room, assembling Lucky’s shift, stays, and petticoats. She turned to point out the stockings that hung over the back of a chair.
    “Sit down and put those on, miss.”
    Lucky was quite glad to take the chair and bend to her task. By the time she straightened, she felt far more the thing and was able to finish dressing in a warm gown and make her way down to breakfast.
    Her mother greeted her with a bright smile and a list of errands that seemed to stretch for longer than a week. Lucky ate some toast and drank her tea while her mother talked and planned and asked questions she didn’t really require the answers for.
    By the time they were ready to leave the house, it was still raining, and Parsons protected their bonneted heads with a large umbrella. Lucky stared out of the small window as the ducal coach made its slow way through the always crowded streets of central London.
    The duchess consulted her list. “I think we’ll start at the lending library first, as it is closest, and it will be less busy at this time in the morning.”
    “Of course, Mama,” Lucky replied.
    “You are being remarkably biddable this morning, my dear, and you look remarkably cheerful. Can it be that you are looking forward to marrying Paul after all?”
    “Of course I am looking forward to it.” Lucky smiled at her mother. “I could scarcely sleep last night thinking about all the arrangements that need to be made.”
    Her mother chuckled. “Well, don’t worry about that. Your father and I will take care of the details. All you have to do is choose your new dresses and all the other things a young bride needs.” She hesitated. “I must confess that the thought of you being comfortably settled with