Page 28 of The One With the Rogue Duke

And yet…wasn’t she getting ahead of herself. She had no idea what Ash felt. What they had just experienced together could very well have been commonplace for him. Though…she was hard pressed to believe that considering how he had moved. Sounded. Smelled. Felt all around her.

Drat. There wasn’t time to sort this out.

Only a few stingy moments remained before she reentered the parlor, forced to act as though nothing had just happened.

As she rounded the corner of the doorway, she caught Tempy’s eye and motioned for her to come join her.

From her vantage point, she could see her sister voicing some excuse to leave the room, and then in a few long strides she had quit the room to join Verity in the hallway.

“Oh dear, sister. Let me fix your hair.”

“It’s not that bad, is it?” Smoothing a hand up past her ear, she could feel her spine stiffen. “Ash helped me put it back to rights.”

Tempy giggled. “I’m ever so glad I caught you before you entered the parlor. Everyone would have known what you just did. There is nothing discreet about the way you look. Come,” she said, dragging Verity back down the hallway to the retiring room.

The two sisters collapsed into laughter once they arrived and together took a look at Verity in the mirror.

“Oh my…how had I not thought to come here first?” Verity muttered to herself.

“I assume you weren’t thinking straight,” Tempy winked. “Let me help.” She busied herself removing a few pins and adjusting a few strands.

A shuffling sound at the door made Verity jump.

“Hold still. I’m almost done.”

“Be quick!” She hissed just as the door opened and Pru popped her head in. Verity exhaled in relief.

“Oh my!” Pru covered her mouth with one hand. “Thank God Tempy is here to fix this.”

“What? It’s not that bad.” Verity couldn’t hide her defensiveness.

“Not that bad?” Pru echoed. “Not that bad?” The second time she voiced it, her fingers trailed along the air in front of the bodice section of Verity’s dress where the ribbons were mistied.

Looking down, Verity could only wonder how she had thought letting Ash refashion her would work. “Good lord.”

“We’ll get this done together. No one will know that you’ve been tupping Ash in the library—”

“Tempy!”

“I’m just saying what’s true. The tryst—”

The door swung open in slow motion and in walked Corisande. Much to her surprise, she caught the three sisters staring at her.

“Oh, I thought—” But she stopped herself after taking one long look at Verity. Then, with a slightly smug curl to her lip, she left.

“So much for being discreet,” Verity mumbled. “It’s not as though I need to hide it.”

“You certainly don’t,” Tempy agreed while Pru nodded silently in front of her, retying some ribbons.

But she was having a hard time believing the words. She was a widow, and as such, she was permitted certain indiscretions. But something felt altogether too hollow at having been caught like this, especially knowing she was supposed to end it very soon.

She didn’t need a reputation of that sort getting around.

She wanted to be competent and graceful. Worthy of a wealthy, upstanding second husband. That’s all she needed for her next step in life.

“Hurry up. Let’s make me presentable, please.”

“All done,” Tempy announced and took a step back to admire her work.