A Hellion for the Duke (Regency Ways to Steal a Kiss #1)

Chapter 1

L ady Emily Bolt wasn’t sure how long she had been smiling, but it had been long enough that her cheeks had begun to ache.

The ballroom at Salbury House glowed with candlelight, polished silver, and the sort of cheerful noise meant to convince everyone present that they were enjoying themselves to the fullest degree.

Her mother’s musicians were excellent, the supper tables were beautiful, and every inch of the room shone with the careful abundance expected of a house as vibrant as hers.

None of it, however, improved her temper.

She turned her head at the sound of laughter to her left and found her mother guiding yet another gentleman into the path of one of her children with such elegance that a less experienced observer might have mistaken it for chance.

Frances, the Dowager Duchess of Salbury, never shoved.She arranged .

She turned a conversation half an inch in one direction, shifted a group by two steps, and somehow a suitable unmarried man found himself smiling at one daughter or the other before he had time to wonder how he got there.

Emily knew every move. She had been watching them since she was wise enough to understand the world around her.

She also knew her part in the performance.

Smile when spoken to and tilt her head just enough to seem attentive.

Once in a while, she could offer a line of dialogue bright enough to encourage further conversation, though not so bright as to alarm a gentleman of low courage.

Remain agreeable.

Remain pleasant.

Remain available.

It was enough to make the holiest of saints set a cathedral on fire, but she was used to it. She knew how to deal with it, and she would always… always deal with it.

A young man with a fair face and a forgettable name had been speaking to her for the last three minutes about horses, or hounds, or perhaps hats.

Emily had lost the matter of it almost at once.

He was nodding now, as if he had made some point worth admiring, though from the emptiness in his eyes, she suspected he had forgotten it too.

“How very interesting,” she said.

He seemed relieved by the answer. Then, he looked over her shoulder, and his expression sharpened with sudden energy.

She did not need to turn to know what had happened. Some slimmer girl with a softer laugh had entered his line of sight. Some more conventionally lovely creature had appeared to rescue him from the burden of speaking to her.

Still, Emily looked.

Lady Alicia Something had joined the circle beside the card room entrance, pale and delicate as sweet cream. The gentleman’s attention shifted so plainly that even he appeared dimly ashamed of it.

Emily saved him the trouble of pretending otherwise.

“You must go and pay your respects,” she urged lightly. “Lady Alicia looks on the brink of collapse from neglect.”

He blinked, laughed too quickly, bowed, and left.

Emily kept her smile in place until he was gone. Then, she grabbed a glass of lemonade from a passing tray and took one sip. People were forever polite while doing exactly as they pleased.

“Lady Emily.”

Great.

She exhaled and turned.

Another gentleman stood before her, this one older and better trained.

He bowed with proper form and asked after her enjoyment of the evening.

He said something kind about the roses in the arrangements, though Emily was certain he could not have distinguished a rose from a cabbage in daylight.

She answered as she must. He remained just long enough to satisfy the demands of courtesy.

Then, Dominic, her older brother and the Duke of Salbury, crossed the room in conversation with one of his friends, and the gentleman’s gaze followed the movement. In a moment, he had excused himself to speak with her brother.

Emily looked down into her glass. There it was again. Always in the smallest ways. Passed over by degrees. Chosen second by men who would have sworn they had chosen nothing at all.

“Emily, darling.” Her mother’s voice sounded nearby, wrapped in warmth she knew better than to trust.

Emily turned to find Frances beside her, elegant in deep blue silk, her expression serene enough to quell a riot. “Yes, Mama?”

“Mr. Lenton has just arrived from Bath, and I believe you have not yet met his eldest nephew. A very sensible young man.”

“Really?”

Frances moved forward, her voice low. “Be polite now, his mother was a Cartwright.”

Emily nodded.

How fortunate for him.

She followed her mother’s gaze and saw a gentleman being gently steered in her direction by the force of Frances’s will. He looked harmless, tidy, and exactly like the sort of man who would speak earnestly about drainage while believing himself romantic.

Oh, not one of these.

She could feel her boredom start to sharpen.

“I am overcome already,” she murmured.

Frances’s lips twitched. “Behave.”

“I am behaving.”

“That is precisely the problem. I would like you to behave with a little more optimism .”

Emily smiled at a passing countess before answering, “You must forgive me, Mama. It is just a tad bit difficult to be optimistic while being arranged like flowers in a vase.”

“You are not being arranged. You are being introduced.”

Emily scoffed. “Men in the military get a more subtle placement.”

“ Emily .”

Emily knew very well that there was no real rebuke in her mother’s tone. Frances loved too deeply to wound on purpose, and Emily knew it. That knowledge did not make the situation less tiring, however.

Eventually, Mr. Lenton’s nephew arrived. He bowed and spoke just like the other men Emily had been with that night. Somewhere in the middle of his observations on the crush in town this Season, she felt her mind begin to claw at the walls of her skull like a trapped animal.

She could bear poor conversation. She could even bear awkward flirtation if it came with sincerity. What she could not bear, however, was the dead exchanges.

Then, like mercy from the Lord above, her best friend, Marina Belmont, appeared at her side.

“Emily!” Marina exclaimed, all brightness and mischief. “I have been looking for you everywhere.”

Emily hid her smile. That was a lie. Marina had likely been avoiding half the room on principle. Emily could have kissed her for it.

“Have you?” Emily said. “How devoted.”

Leonora Belmont appeared just behind her twin, softer in movement and expression, her green eyes already apologizing to the gentleman for what Marina was about to do.

“You must pardon us, sir, but we must borrow her,” Marina announced. “It is only for a moment, though.”

The gentleman looked startled, and Frances, who was still standing in a corner, rolled her eyes.

Emily took full advantage before any of them could object.

“How tragic,” she said, setting down her glass. “Duty calls.”

Marina linked arms with her at once and swept her away. Leonora followed with a small smile that grew warmer once they were out of earshot.

The moment they cleared the edge of the ballroom, Emily let out a breath she had been holding for the better part of an hour.

“I hate everyone,” she huffed.

Marina laughed. “Excellent. I was afraid you might still be in a forgiving mood.”

Leonora glanced over her shoulder toward the noise and candlelight. “Your mother is in rare form tonight.”

“She is one introduction away from fastening marriage settlements to our sleeves,” Emily said. “If one more man asks whether I enjoy assemblies, I may just lose it and tell him that I prefer shipwrecks.”

Marina squeezed her arm. “That is the spirit.”

Leonora’s mouth curved. “You lasted longer than I expected.”

“I lasted exactly as long as my breeding required.”

They all laughed and moved down the hallway together, the music softening behind them with every step. The house grew quieter here, and the polished public brightness gave way to familiar corners, portraits hanging on walls, and the small thrill of not having a chaperone breathing down their necks.

Emily felt lighter almost at once.

That was the true misery of such evenings. She was expected to enjoy them because they shone. In truth, she only ever enjoyed the moments stolen from them.

“Where are we going?” Leonora asked.

“Dominic’s study,” Emily replied.

Marina looked delighted. “Forbidden territory. At last, something worth attending.”

“It is hardly forbidden.”

“It belongs to a duke. That is almost the same thing.”

Emily pushed open the study door and stepped inside.

The room smelled faintly of leather, paper, and her brother’s preferred tobacco.

It was masculine in the usual clean and controlled way her brother liked everything to be.

There were books in proper rows, a wide desk in the middle of the room, and a fire burning low enough to make the room comfortable.

Emily smiled before she meant to. Here, at least, no one was trying to place her anywhere.

Marina drifted at once toward the shelves, curiosity evident in every line of her body. Leonora lingered by the desk, already looking as if she feared she might breathe on something expensive.

Emily crossed to the fireplace and turned back to watch them, content for the first time all evening.

Marina picked up a paperweight and judged it unworthy, while Leonora reached carefully toward a snuff box resting near a stack of ledgers.

“Oh,” Leonora murmured. “This is pretty.”

Emily pushed off the mantel and took a step toward her. “Be careful,” she said, laughing a little. “If you break anything in this room, Dominic will never let me forget it.”

Leonora drew her hand back at once, pink rising in her cheeks. “I was only looking.”

“That is how ruin begins,” Marina drawled from the bookcase.

Emily smiled and turned away from the desk, glad of the freedom in the room.

Marina ran one finger along the spines on a shelf and pulled out a slim green volume. Emily watched as she opened it and her face changed immediately.

“Oh.”

Emily crossed to her at once. “What sort of oh ?”