How To Seduce A Duke

Chapter 1

Berkeley Square, London

May 1814

In the blue veil of night, three human statues stood clustered behind a prickly screen of holly bushes, their voices carefully held to mere whispers.

“He’s just there.” Mary, the eldest of the Royle sisters, poked her white, heavily powdered index finger through a gap in the branches. “Do you see him? He’s the blond gentleman before the fountain. Is he not exquisite?”

“I cannot see anything other than the back of your head.” Her younger sister Anne did not find tonight’s adventure nearly as diverting as Mary did. Since the moment they’d left their great-aunt Prudence’s house, she’d done nothing but complain about the nonsensical nature of their invasion of the garden rout next door.

But standing hidden along the hedge was perfectly logical to Mary’s way of thinking. They weren’t invited to the rout this eve…but he was.

What else was she supposed to do? Sit in her bedchamber while he was walking through the gardens only yards away? No, she was not about to miss an opportunity like this.

Until this night, Mary had only seen the viscount five times in passing. And though she was an excellent judge of character-everyone said so-she had had to concede that she needed more time to gather a better sense of him…to be sure. For she was nothing if not decisive. And once she made a decision, she never changed her mind. Ever.

Being able to watch him from the holly bushes, undetected as she was, would allow her to confirm her initial opinion of him, even though in her heart she already knew her perception was correct. He was exactly as he appeared-positively perfect.

Anne huffed and tugged hard on Mary’s shoulder to move her out of the way.

Snapping her head around, Mary grimaced at her sister. It had taken her a full two hours to achieve the correct marbled effect. “You needn’t be so impatient. I shall step aside if you’ll lift your hand carefully.”

Obliging her, Anne raised each finger in turn, then lifted her damp palm from Mary’s powdered skin.

Mary twisted to peer at the damage to her white finish. “I knew it! You’ve smudged the powder. Your fingers have left prints all over me.”

“Will both of you please lower your shrieks?” Elizabeth, the youngest of the triplets by almost ten minutes, according to their father, blinked her powdered white lashes angrily. “What if we’re caught? Our family will be ruined. Am I alone in considering this?”

“It’s dark, Lizzie. No one can see us here.” As she stood, Anne tripped on the hem of her Grecian gown, sending a puff of white powder into the air.

“Anne is right.” Mary edged around the thick bush. “But we can’t see or hear what’s going on either. I daresay we have to move closer.” She turned and signaled for her sisters.

It was then that she saw Anne and Elizabeth exchange loaded glances. Oh no. They weren’t backing out now. They were going through with this. They were. After all, they’d promised her. “Do not even consider leaving. This was the plan, or have you forgotten? We dress in white and powder ourselves, then invade the rout, posing as garden statuary.”

Elizabeth huffed at that. “And as I said at the house, your scheme is madness. Though I have to admit, in the moonlight, our marbling looks flawless. The effect is really quite amazing.”

Anne flinched as she gazed down at her gleaming white arm. “What else is in this powder anyway? I feel as though ants are crawling all over me. Lud, Mary, I don’t know how you convinced us to do this. And why-because you’re smitten with some dashing soldier? I agree with Lizzie, this is madness.”

“There is an ocean of difference between a simple soldier and a war hero. Did I mention that a viscountcy was newly bestowed on him, by the Regent himself? It was a grand reward for his valor in battle.” Movement caught Mary’s notice. “Blast, he’s leaving. Come along, we have to catch him up. He’s probably headed for the lawn.”

Elizabeth shook her head vehemently. “The only place I am headed is back over the wall, and into a bath to wash this coating of white powder from my person.” She came to her feet, then lent Anne a hand to help her stand.

“Please. Not until you’ve at least seen him. I am going to marry him, you know.” Mary finished her sentence with a firm single nod.

“So you’ve said.” Anne brushed the crumpled, dried holly leaves from the knees of her snowy gown. “But you don’t need to marry the man just to secure your future. We’ve got the entire season…and more to find the proof we need.”

Mary huffed at that. “I am not about to bank my life on such a slim possibility. I am being realistic about our prospects-and so should you.” She watched the viscount lift a glass to his mouth, saw the crystal sparkle in the moonlight, and a sigh fell from her lips. “Beginning with that gentleman…that beautiful gentleman.”

“Oh, very well, show me.” Anne stood on the toes of her slippers and peered over the top of the hedge. “Which one is he?”

Mary looked closer and saw that there were two men now. But while her viscount-because indeed she already thought of him that way: her viscount-had golden hair, the other man’s hair was as dark as jet, and he stood at least a head taller.

“Well, certainly not that hulking giant. My tastes are much more refined.” Mary trotted a few steps along the hedgerow and beckoned for her sisters to follow, which they reluctantly did.

She paused only twenty paces from the two gentlemen. “There. The one with the cane,” she whispered when her sisters drew alongside of her as she peered over the holly. “What did I tell you? Such fine, aristocratic features. Shows good breeding.”

“Oh, good heavens! Mary-” Elizabeth sputtered, and her eyes rounded.

But Mary was too preoccupied with admiring the viscount to pay her nervous sister much mind. “Such grace in his gestures-oh, and, not that it matters, but he’s got plump pockets too-ten thousand per annum.”

“Mary!” This time it was Anne. “He’s heard us. He’s…he’s coming this way-the large gentleman.”

“Never mind her, Anne,” Elizabeth whispered, “just run.”

From the corner of her eye, Mary saw Elizabeth dart off into the darkness, with Anne right behind her, clumsily stumbling over vines and fallen branches as she ran.

Mary whirled around and looked back toward the two men.

Oh, no. Now there was only one. And indeed, a huge, dark, shadowy figure was pushing through a break in the hedge and heading toward her.

There was no time to run.

Lord above, no time to hide.

So, being a piece of slightly smudged garden statuary, she turned her back to the hedge, then simply folded her hands before her and tried her best to appear a slab of elegantly carved marble.

No sooner had she closed her eyes than she heard his footfalls nearby, and in the next moment, Mary knew he was standing right before her.

Do not move. Do not breathe.

She heard him exhale a quick, deep chuckle.

“Damned odd place for a statue,” he muttered to himself. “Quinn, there’s a statue behind the hedge,” he called out. “Have you seen it? Quite lovely, actually. You should examine its profile. Extraordinary detail. Very realistic.”

She heard the viscount’s smooth voice coming from a distance. “Haven’t. Must be one of Lord Underwood’s recent acquisitions.”

“No, this statue does not have…um…the patina of antiquity. Come here and have a look for yourself.”

The gentleman before her didn’t move again, and Mary had the distinct impression that he was studying her…very closely. In fact, he was so near that she could feel the warmth of his breath upon her skin, and it made her tremble inwardly.

Oh perdition. She couldn’t endure this any longer. Why wouldn’t he just go away?

She knew that although it was fairly dark behind the hedge aside from a few fingers of moonlight breaking through from above, it was more than possible that her disguise had failed.

She had to see what was happening. Had to risk it.

Slowly she raised her eyelids ever so slightly, peered through her powdered lashes and saw-a large hand stretching outward as if to cup her breast.

Good heavens. He’s not going to…oh Lord, he actually intends to touch my-

“How dare you, sirrah!” Mary’s eyes snapped fully open, and she drew back her hand and landed a stinging slap on the man’s cheek.

She’d never seen such a look of shock and utter surprise on anyone’s face before. His mouth fell wide open as he yanked back his own hand and hurried it to the powdered print she’d left on his left cheek.

“I beg your pardon, miss… I thought you were a-”

“No, you didn’t. You knew. You were toying with me. You, you…scoundrel!”

Then from behind her came a hail of laughter. The viscount had obviously caned his way through the hedge as well. Mary froze in place.

“Even the garden statuary knows you’re a rake, Rogan. I vow it should be very clear to you by now that there’s no escaping your reputation, brother, no matter how hard you try.”

Oh God. The viscount was directly behind her.

There was no way this eve could have turned out any more disastrous. None at all.

Mary angled her face away. She could not let the viscount see her features, for indeed, he might recognize her.

Her heart thudded impossibly hard in her chest, and with no other choice, no possible explanation to give for her outlandish appearance, Mary gave a shove to the ebony-haired man and, with her path of escape clear, raced past him and into the night.

“Damn me.” The viscount’s gaze trailed after the ghostly female figure until she disappeared in the darkness. “Who was that?”

His brother lifted an amused eyebrow as he rubbed his sore, powdery cheek. “On my honor, I swear I have not the faintest notion. But rest assured, I intend to find out.”

The direction Mary dashed, unfortunately, was the exact opposite way from that in which she needed to go, which was only next door. Instead, she was forced through the back gardens, stables, and over the ivy-draped walls of no less than six town houses before she could slip down a narrow alleyway leading back to Berkeley Square and her great-aunt’s town house, where she and her sisters were lodging for the season.

As Mary pressed the front door closed behind her, she emptied her lungs of breath in a grand sigh of relief. She was home at last and, thankfully, fairly certain the viscount had not glimpsed her face.

Even if he had for the briefest of moments, with her body and sable hair coated with a thick layer of flour paste and powder, he could not have recognized her as the woman he tipped his hat to in Hyde Park each Tuesday while riding during the fashionable hour.

At least she hoped not.

The glow of a flickering fire illuminated the open doorway to the parlor, and she started for it, knowing she would find at least one of her sisters inside.

“There you are.” Elizabeth sat hearthside on a stool, combing the dampness from her newly washed, bright copper locks.

Mary’s gaze searched the shadowy room. “Aunt Prudence is still asleep, is she not?” she whispered.

“You know the answer to that. What else would our ancient aunt be doing at such a late hour…or in the morn…or in the afternoon?” Elizabeth flipped her long wet hair over her shoulder, sending droplets sizzling into the fire. “Anne and I were ever so worried that you’d been nabbed.”

“Evidently not that worried. You abandoned me.”

Elizabeth lowered her gaze to the floor. “Yes…well, we are dreadfully sorry about that.” She raised her eyes then, and smiled. “But all is well. You have come home. No harm was done.”

Mary crossed her arms over her chest and did not reply.

“Y-you were not…apprehended?”

“No, but nearly. The large one almost had me.” Mary remembered the stunned look on the oaf’s face as she slapped him, and she chuckled to herself. He deserved it, though. Had she not stopped him, he would have…

“Oh, Mary, thank heavens you are safe!” Anne, wearing a dressing gown and appearing fresh from her bath, rushed into the parlor and made to hug her marbleized sister. But at the last moment, noting the powder all over Mary, she changed her mind. “Why are you so late returning? What happened?”

“Nothing at all. I simply ran in the wrong direction and had a devil of a time making my way home.” It was then that Mary noticed that Anne’s face, throat and hands-indeed, every exposed bit of skin-were as red as a heated brand. “The question should be, what happened to you?”

Anne snatched the comb from Elizabeth and passed it through her damp golden hair. “The powder.” She flicked her eyebrow upward in annoyance. “I told you that it itched. Why I let you persuade me to disguise myself as a statue, I will never know.”

“I only wanted you both to see the man I have decided to marry by the end of the season-and he was right next door this eve.” Mary smiled broadly. “You agree with me, don’t you? He is perfect in every way that matters.” Mary bent to sit upon the settee, but Elizabeth waved her off before her powdered gown could mar the silk cushion. “I haven’t much time, so naturally I shall need my sisters’ help to bring about the match.”

Anne shook her head. “I dare not even ask what your idea of help might entail.” She thrust the comb back in Elizabeth’s hand, then crossed the room and opened their late father’s leather document box. From it, she withdrew several large folds of foolscap. “Besides, once we prove the information held in these letters-”

Mary raised a palm. “Stop. We do not even know where to begin. Proving anything will be impossible, given the time and financial restraints we have.”

Elizabeth joined Anne before the document box. “There is plenty of information here and a number of sound clues to follow. Papa saved these letters for us for this very reason-to prove who we are.”

Huffing her frustration, Mary stalked across the parlor and slammed the lid of the box closed. “Papa wasn’t saving these documents for us, he was hiding them from us. From everyone. Had he had any notion that his death was so imminent, I feel certain he would have destroyed this box and its contents.”

“I completely disagree. He could have burned every scrap if that was his intent, but he didn’t, did he? This was his assurance that someday the babes he rescued would meet their destiny.” Anne lifted the hem of her dressing gown and, appearing more than a little annoyed, dusted Mary’s white powder prints from the leather box with her swollen, red fingers.

Mary pinned her sister with a hard gaze. “For the sake of argument, let us say that we are the girls mentioned in these letters…and let us further assume that every letter inside that box is true-do you think those who worked so hard to erase our existence would simply allow us to suddenly appear in London society with diamond tiaras on our heads?”

“Do not be daft, Mary.” Elizabeth shook her head at the ridiculousness of her sister’s words. “We would not wear tiaras. What a silly thought. One must be married to wear a tiara. Isn’t that so, Anne?”

Mary growled her frustration. “You missed my point entirely. This endeavor of yours could be very dangerous if the letters are genuine. Very dangerous. If not, uncovering the truth of our births will be naught but a colossal waste of time and coin.”

Anne raised her delicate chin, and, with an all-knowing smirk curving her lips, she addressed Elizabeth. “Now here it is, Lizzie. The truth of Mary’s resistance.”

Elizabeth peered blankly back at her sister.

“Do you not see it?” Anne expelled a deep breath. “Our penny-pinching, ever-frugal Mary doesn’t wish to spend a single farthing on investigating the circumstances of our birth.”

Elizabeth lowered her gaze to her laced fingers, which were twisted as surely as the twigs of a nest. “’Tis a Herculean task to be sure, Mary.” She turned her wide green eyes upward again. “But we owe it to Papa…and to ourselves to try.”

“Very well, so be it.” Mary tossed her hands into the air, then let them fall firmly to her sides, coaxing twin clouds of powder from her gown. “The two of you can do as you wish, but I plan to use my resources logically.”

Anne scoffed. “We are rich, Mary.”

“No we are not rich, not even close to it. It only seems that way to you because we lived so simply in Cornwall.” Mary shook her head. “I do not know how Papa managed it, likely by doing without and saving his pennies for years, but he bequeathed us each with great gifts-adequate portions to live on-and dowries large enough to allow us to attract gentlemen of standing and consequence. If we are careful with our spending, and practical in the matches we make, we have the means to assure comfortable lives for ourselves, instead of scraping together every halfpenny to buy flour for bread. But only if we are not wasteful and set aside this fanciful notion of our supposed lineage.”

Mary started for the doorway but, realizing that her sisters had not replied and were likely ignoring her pragmatic advice, turned back. “We must be realistic. We are just three sisters from Cornwall who happen to have been left large dowries. That is all.”

“No, Mary.” Elizabeth lifted the box and held it with reverence before her. “We are the hidden daughters of the Prince Regent and his Catholic wife, Mrs. Fitzherbert.”

“We’ll never prove it.” Mary gestured to the old leather box. “Don’t you understand? This notion is but a faery tale, and we’d be mad to believe otherwise.”

“Deny it all you like, Mary,” Anne countered, “but you know as well as I that it’s true-by blood at least we are…princesses.”

The next afternoon, as Mary sat curled in the window seat, immersed in the pages of a thick book, there came a solid rap at the front door. Her gaze shot to Aunt Prudence, who had fallen asleep in the wing-backed chair beside the hearth with an empty cordial goblet in her withered hand. Prudence snorted once but did not awaken.

Instead of rising to answer, Mary pinched the curtain between her thumb and index finger, parting the two panels no more than a nose’s width, then peeked through.

Aunt Prudence’s advanced age had curtailed social calls many years before. Mary and her sisters had not yet made any formal acquaintances in London, so she knew that a friend coming to call was not a reasonable possibility.

Her only thought that moment was one of dread.

What if she had not escaped the garden last evening as cleanly as she believed? And now someone had come to discuss the serious matter of her trespassing.

Oh God. She didn’t have the faintest idea what to do.

Mary centered her eye on the gap in the curtains, but the angle was too sharp, and no matter how she positioned herself, she simply could not see who stood before the door.

There was a second knock.

Mary jerked her head back from the window. Good heavens. What if he was the caller? Her viscount…or worse, the giant ogre of a man he called his brother?

Mary’s heart drummed against her ribs.

Suddenly, there were footsteps in the passage, and Mary turned in time to see MacTavish, the lean, elderly butler recently engaged to manage the household pass the parlor doorway.

“No, please, do not open it!” Mary leapt from the window seat and hurried across the parlor toward the passage.

Thankfully, he heard her. MacTavish reappeared in the doorway riding a backward step.

“Might I ask why not, Miss Royle?”

Mary gave her head a frustrated shake. Was it not obvious? “Because…we do not know who it is.”

“Beggin’ yer pardon, but I can remedy that problem by simply openin’ the door.”

Mary steepled her fingers and turned her gaze downward as she tapped her thumbs together.

There was a third succession of knocks.

“Miss Royle? I should open the door.”

Mary looked up and replied in the softest whisper she could manage. “All right. But if anyone should inquire, my sisters and I are not at home.”

“Verra weel, Miss Royle. I understand…a bit.”

As MacTavish headed for the entry, Mary raced on her toes down the passage and slipped into the library, where she found her sisters taking tea.

Flattening herself against the wall of books nearest the door, she strained her ear to discern exactly who had come to call.

“Drat! Can’t hear a word they are saying,” Mary mumbled to herself. Still, the voices were both low, indicating at least that the caller was male. This, however, did not bode well for her.

Elizabeth, whose red hair gleamed in the ribbons of dust-mote-speckled sunlight streaming through the back window, narrowed her eyes at Mary. She slammed closed the red leather-spined book balanced on her lap. “I know that look. What have you done now?”

Mary shoved an errant lock of dark hair from her eye and scowled back. “Hush! Do you wish for someone to hear you? We are not supposed to be at home, you know. Read…whatever it is that you have there, Lizzie.”

“It is a book on maladies and remedies. I found it in Papa’s document box.”

Anne twisted around in her chair. The redness and swelling on her hands and face had subsided, leaving her skin as light and luminous as her flaxen hair. “Why must we be quiet? You’re not making any sense.” Her eyes widened then. “Good God, Mary. Is something amiss? Why, you’re as white as a-”

“Marble statue,” Elizabeth interjected, then both she and Anne exchanged a shoulder-bobbing chuckle at Mary’s expense.

Mary opened her mouth to reply when she heard the metallic click of the front door being pressed closed.

A moment later, MacTavish was standing in the doorway of the library with a square of wax-sealed vellum centered on his sterling salver.

“’Tis for you, Miss Royle.” He raised the tray before Mary.

“For me?” She blinked at it but did not reach for it. “Why, I can’t imagine-”

Both of her sisters were on their feet in an instant.

“Who is it from, Mary?” Elizabeth’s emerald eyes sparkled with excitement.

“I am sure I don’t know.” Mary glanced up at the butler.

“’Twas left by a liveried footman.” MacTavish cleared his throat. “If I may, Miss Royle. Much as openin’ the door will reveal the identity of a caller…the sender may be divulged by simply…openin’ the bloody letter.”

Anne gasped loudly. “MacTavish, your language!”

Her sister’s reaction was a bit overdone, to Mary’s way of thinking, but MacTavish’s language had served its purpose. Mary had gotten the intended message quite clearly.

“Beggin’ yer pardon, miss.” The Scottish butler tipped his bald pate. “If ye’ll excuse me please, I’ll just be poppin’ down to see if Cook needs any help setting the roast to the spit.”

As MacTavish quit the room, Anne leveled a superior gaze on Mary.

Oh no. Here it comes again.

“Why you could not bring yourself to pay a little more per annum to engage a proper butler I will never understand.” Anne crossed her arms over her chest and plopped back down in her chair. “MacTavish is little more than a street thug, and you well know it.”

“I know nothing of the sort.” Mary shook the letter at her sister. “What I do know is that by being thrifty with wages, I was able to engage a butler and a cook, and I have just placed a notice in Bell’s Weekly Messenger for a maid. So unless you would rather handle the cooking, shopping, and emptying of the chamber pots for the duration of our stay in London, you would do well not to mention MacTavish’s minor shortcomings again!”

“Minor shortcomings? The butler and our cook are completely unsuitable. This house would have been far better served if you had kept Aunt Prudence’s existing staff.”

“Please stop, Anne. We’ve had this discussion too many times. The old staff took complete advantage of Aunt Prudence’s age and poor memory. They were robbing her blind, and you well know it.”

Elizabeth turned then, caught Mary’s arm, and guided the letter before her eyes. “Come now, tell us who it is from.”

Mary swallowed deeply, then, her composure regained, broke the crimson wax wafer and opened the letter. She scanned the heavily inked words quickly, then stared for a clutch of seconds as the name of the sender met her eyes.

“Oh my heavens.” The letter slipped through Mary’s fingers to the bare wooden floor.

“Please do not make us wait any longer, Mary-may I read it?” When Mary didn’t answer but simply stared down at it on the floor, Elizabeth snatched the letter up and began to read. When she finished, she backed stiffly to her chair and collapsed into it.

Anne’s mouth fell open. “Will one of you please reveal the contents of the letter? My patience with your drama is growing ever thin. Who is the letter from?”

“Lord Lotharian of Cavendish Square, Marylebone Park. Our guardian.” Elizabeth turned her gaze to Mary. “We must go to him, Mary, we must!”

Mary huffed at that. “Are you mad? Pay a call to a gentleman we do not know? A man we haven’t heard from ever.”

“He claims to be an old acquaintance of Papa’s. I see no reason he would make such a claim if he were not.”

When Mary shook her head, Elizabeth then reached across the small tea table and took Anne’s hand into her own. She peered into Anne’s gold-flecked eyes until she nodded.

“Yes, I’ll go, Lizzie.”

Elizabeth turned her gaze to Mary. “We all must go.”

“Aunt Prudence must be informed of your plan,” Mary noted. Of course, even if she told their dear great-aunt that her sisters were off to call upon a gentleman, their supposed guardian, she wouldn’t remember within an hour’s time. But that wasn’t why she’d mentioned it. She was hoping to appeal to Anne’s great sense of propriety.

Only her ploy did not work.

“Aunt Prudence is napping,” Anne replied matter-of-factly. “I shouldn’t wish to wake her.”

Suddenly Elizabeth rose and raced from the room. She returned with the shiny brass key extracted from the document box’s keyhole. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement.

“According to this letter,” she told them, “this key has a dual purpose-one that may assist us in our quest.”

Mary raised her eyebrows. “How does this gentleman know of our ‘quest,’ I ask you?”

“He was a friend of Papa’s.” Anne’s eyes glittered with excitement. “He may know all about our true parents.”

“I think you both suppose too much.” Mary sighed as she walked over to Elizabeth and pulled the key from her fingers. “You both actually believe that this simple brass twist of metal may in actuality be…the key to the mystery of our births.”

Anne and Elizabeth’s eyes locked, then in an instant, they shot out of the library. The thunder of boots echoed down the passageway floor.

“Mary, do come. We must away-this instant!”

“This is naught but a lark, I tell you-though I will come along, only so I can be there to remind you that I told you so.” Resignedly, Mary turned and started for the passageway.

When she neared the door, her excited sisters flung a woolen shawl around her shoulders and shoved a straw bonnet down upon her head.

“But I will not waste good coin on a hackney for this useless sojourn.” Mary gave her head a hard nod to emphasize her point. “Cavendish Square is not so far away, and the air is mild enough this day. We shall walk.”

Anne opened the front door and stared up at the heavy gray clouds above. “But Mary, it is about to rain.”

Mary turned a concerned gaze to the skies. “Oh dear. That does make a difference. Wait just a few moments for me, please.” Turning, she hurried back inside the house.

Anne and Elizabeth stood in stunned silence for several seconds.

Finally, Anne turned to her sister. “Good heavens. Our frugal Mary is actually going to spend a coin to hire a hackney. Why, I can’t believe it.”

“Nor can I, so let us find a hackney cab before she changes her mind.” At once, Elizabeth rushed into the street and waved her hand madly, finally catching the notice of a hackney driver who stood puffing on his pipe at the corner of the square and Davies Street.

“Elizabeth, we are in London!” Anne rushed into the square and dragged her sister back to the steps. “Your hoydenish ways must end. We are ladies, no longer coarse country misses. Remember that.”

When Mary came back out the door, she was dismayed to find her sisters about to board a hackney.

“No, no! I do apologize, my dear sir,” Mary called out to the driver. “But my sisters shan’t require your services after all.”

Anne and Elizabeth jerked their heads around and stared at Mary, their mouths fully agape.

Mary smiled pleasantly and handed each of her sisters an umbrella. “Since we’re walking, we’ll most certainly need these.”