Page 56 of Trapped with her Cruel Duke

Sybella’s eyes lit up. “How far have you progressed?” she asked, a familiar intensity in her expression.

She was Louise’s greatest supporter in all of her endeavors, and Louise felt a thrill at their shared excitement.

“I think I have a good number of plants from our country estate that I have labeled and cataloged. I worked on those for much of last summer and did a great deal of research in the winter when we stayed with my aunt. All of my samples are dried and pressed, and I hope that some of my sketches may even be used in print.”

“It will be marvelous. Just think, you, a published author!” Sybella lowered her voice further. “Again,” she added with a conspiratorial smile.

Louise had published several poems that had seen some success in recent months. She had to use a man’s name for any publisher to consider her, and she knew she would have to use another for her encyclopedia. She longed to be recognized for her interest in plants, but she knew it would be impossible.

“My mother told me about a woman named Mary Delany. She was a great friend of the late Duchess of Portland,” Louise said. “Apparently, she studied plants all her life and created paper mosaics of them.”

“A woman?”

“A woman,” Louise confirmed triumphantly.

They shared a joyful smile at the progress their fellow women were making before Sybella’s eyes were drawn to something over Louise’s shoulder.

Louise turned around, and her smile widened when she saw Lady Charlotte Harding approaching her. She was one of the tallest ladies in the room and was rather flushed from dancing.

“I thought that was you, Your Grace,” Charlotte said enthusiastically. “I saw that Christian had arrived and was so hoping to see you again.”

As she stepped toward them, she tripped over the hem of her gown and fell forward with a startled cry, landing against both Sybella and Louise. Their arms shot out on instinct, and all three women righted themselves quickly while laughing.

“I do beg your pardon,” Charlotte muttered, coloring even further. “I declare that in any room, there would always be something for me to trip on.”

“Did you hurt yourself?” Louise asked.

“Only my pride.”

“Lady Charlotte Harding,” Louise said quickly as she caught Sybella’s eye. “May I present Lady Sybella Cecil. Lady Sybella is an old friend of mine, sister to the Duke of Arkley.”

“How do you do?” Charlotte offered with an easy smile.

“Who was it you were dancing with?” Louise asked curiously, recalling her brother’s irritated expression.

“Oh, his name is Lord Anthony Waldren. I have no designs on him, but my brother is rather against our supposed connection. They do not like each other, but it is entirely on Gabriel’s side—he does not get along withanyone. I like to irritate him by letting Waldren pen his name in my card now and then.”

There was a teasing light in Charlotte’s eyes, and Louise decided that she liked her immensely.

As Sybella and Charlotte began to speak about the ball and the opulence all around them, Louise took in the crowds around her and the hum of chatter in the air. Lady Barrington certainly knew how to organize an extravagant event. Her ears grew hot as she listened to the others talk, and somehow she knew that Christian was watching her. The knowledge warmed her blood in the strangest way.

Why do I like that he is so envious of other men? Does that not make me rather self-conceited?

And yet she could not help but feel proud that he wanted her so much. She had no illusions that it was anything more than lust, but it was a thrill, nonetheless, to have a man as handsome and sought-after as Christian so fixated on her.

As she turned back to Charlotte and Sybella, she caught some movement to her right and tensed as an older man came into view. His name was Lord Emming, and she had only met himtwice before, but that had been twice too many. She groaned softly as she caught his eye and he approached her with a supercilious smile.

Lord Emming bowed, startling Sybella a little as he stopped before them.

“Your Grace,” he said with to Louise. “A pleasure.” His eyes ran over her figure lecherously, and she took a tiny step back from him as he licked his lips. “I wished to congratulate you on your marriage.”

He stepped closer still, ensuring that she had to take another step away from her friends.

Louise felt isolated despite being in a room filled with people. The man was a lecherous creature, and she had felt the same about him when they first met.

“Thank you, My Lord. I trust you have been well since we last saw each other. How is Lady Emming?”

He chuckled softly, the sound echoing through the air between them. “Oh, my wife is always in excellent health.” His eyes dipped down to rest on her bodice, and she attempted to keep the grimace from her face.

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