Page 21 of The Duke’s Wager
“I am willing to wager a hundred pounds that you would not be able to do it. Should you win, I will also agree to avoid any gatherings you might want to attend for the next two seasons. You will have your pick of engagements – and women.”
Edward knew that Alfred was shaking his head, and he knew that his grandmother would have his head for agreeing to this. Still, he offered Julian his hand.
“Point me to the lucky lady.”
Julian’s laugh was malicious, and for a minute, Edward hesitated.
“You have one month to seduce – and bed – the Ice Queen herself, Lucy Beaumont.”
His heart was throbbing in his ears, and Edward shook his head slowly.
“Leave her out of this. She’s had a difficult life. I don’t think…”
Julian laughed again, and the men around him joined in on the jeering laughter.
“Oh, I understand, Edward. The Ice Queen is quite intimidating and if you’re not man enough for her, I am certain that I could be…”
As much as he did not want to involve Lucy in any of this madness, the thought of Julian attempting to seduce her was one that sent a wave of heat to his face.
“No. There’s no need.”
Julian was wrong, so very wrong. He was not afraid of Lucy, not in the slightest – and any man who feared her, was a blind fool.
“I’ll do it.”
The men all looked at him with unmasked surprise, and Edward grinned.
“After all… if anyone is able to melt the Ice Queen, it is most certainly going to be me.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Lucy was bored out of her mind. She despised ton engagements, with all their false smiles and deceitful pleasantries. People asking how you were, all the while hoping that you were suffering from some horrid disease or that your family was on the verge of losing every shilling they had.
She hated every minute of it.
“Do you hate this as much as I do?”
For perhaps only the second time that day, Lucy gave a genuine smile. Odette Toussaint had recently moved here from Paris with her family. The girl was young, and rather homely, but kind. The pair of them were certainly outcasts in a world where everyone already belonged to a group of friends since adolescence.
With Odette, she could be honest. She liked her candor and her unaffected way of speaking.
“I despise every moment. Is it just me, or are people even more pretentious than last season?”
Odette laughed loudly – drawing quite a few pointed looks. Ladies were not meant to laugh too loudly here, but Odette either did not realize or – more likely – did not care.
“People are most certainly pretentious here. All the protocols and pleasantries, to gain favor with people they do not even like? I don’t understand it.”
Lucy looked at the woman. “Is it as bad in France?”
Odette nodded quickly, her dark eyes widening. “Oh, oui! Yes, it is most certainly this bad in France – if not worse. Pretentious food, pretentious dances, pretentious people… I had hoped that England would not be such but… alas.”
She gestured to a group of ladies passing them, speaking in high-pitched voices, and sighed.
“It is more of the same here, I am afraid.”
The women glanced their way and immediately erupted in giggles. Lucy glared at them as they whispered what could only be cruel comments about the Parisian girl.
They were truly two sheep in a tent filled with lions. If Odette realized that the women were talking about her, she did not show it. Instead, she smiled brilliantly.
