Page 85 of A Virgin for the Ton's Wolf

“Dearest, is something amiss?” Alice asked when Scarlett finally managed to pull her aside for a minute. “You look just about as radiant as a ghost.”

“Do you mean that you can see right through me?” Scarlett joked weakly.

The Duchess of Blackthorn nodded. “You have never been able to hide much from me. I have known you for far too long. Been with you through far too much. This is the first time I have seen you so uncertain.”

That was because her friend was not marrying a man who had just told her he was not going to consummate their marriage. Atthis point, Scarlett did not know if no intercourse was just as bad as disappointing intercourse.

Or maybe they were tied right there at the very top of the things she wanted to avoid in her marriage.

Then you should never have become entangled with the Wolf, she sighed inwardly.

Marrying a rogue and living as a spinster? Nobody would believe her if she said it out loud.

“I am just not sure this is the right thing to do,” she told her friend, wringing her hands nervously. “Mama is over the moon that I am marrying a duke, no matter the circumstances surrounding it. Her Grace is only too elated thatheis finally getting married. And then…”

And then there were the two of them. No two people were as wrong for each other as they were.

This marriage had the potential to be the worst mistake she would ever make—or the most rewarding risk she would ever take.

Scarlett just did not like having to hover so precariously between the two. Or having her best friend regard her with laughter in her eyes.

“I do not understand your amusement in this matter,” she said in frustration. “There are so many ways this marriage could go wrong.”

“And so many more ways it could go right,” Alice reminded her gently. She took Scarlett’s hand in her own and squeezed it. “Marriage is a gamble, dearest Scarlett. Even I had misgivings about Colin when we… well, you know well enough what happened between us.”

Oh, yes, Scarlett did. Loving a Wolf was never so easy. Alice, Evelyn, and Phoebe—they were some of the bravest and strongest women she had ever known.

And now she was going to join their ranks. As the Duchess of the most feared Wolf.

“Colin is different,” Scarlett told her friend sadly. “And Hudson… well, I do not know what to make of him.”

He twisted her insides into knots and more knots, snarling and tangled and messy. He made her yearn and then pushed her away in the same breath. He was as complicated as they came and everything she warned herself never to fall for.

And yet, heaven help her, she could not seem to stay away from him. All good sense seemed to flee whenever she was with him.

“You alone know the desires of your heart.” Her best friend smiled at her. “And you are far braver and stronger than anyoneI know. If there is anyone who can make the Wolf come around, it would be you.”

“But does it have to be me?” Scarlett protested, frustration edging her voice.

Alice raised an eyebrow. “Would you rather it was somebody else marrying him right now?”

Hudson? With another woman?

Scarlett felt her insides twist painfully.

“And even worse, would you rather it was somebody else waiting for you at the altar today?”

Thatwas even worse if such a thing was possible.

Alice smiled and patted her hand. “Then you already have your answer.” She pressed a kiss to her forehead and stood up. “I shall give you a moment to compose yourself.”

Scarlett felt her lips quirk at that. “How do you know I will not attempt to run away and cause another scandal?”

Her best friend simply laughed. “You won’t.”

She spoke it with far more certainty than Scarlett herself possessed. As if she believed in something that only seemed to elude her.

For a moment, Scarlett simply sat there, at a loss for what to do. Beyond the door, she could hear the excited chatter of her friends and her mama’s apprehensive voice rising above the din every now and then. Inside, there was a stillness that was almost unreal.

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