Page 53 of A Bride for the Wicked Duke

“Look who it is,” Rosalind said with a very smug grin as she looked through the window of the seamstress’s shopfront. “What a coincidence.”

“What?” Aurelia turned about to see to whom her friend was referring. For a moment, she allowed herself to feel hope. The smallest chance that it was the only person who she wanted to see right now. Only then, she saw to who Rosalind was indicating and her heart dropped. “Oh…”

“Someone has a stalker,” Rosalind teased.

“How did he know you were here,” Violet agreed eagerly. She swept in beside Rosalind and the two women began to giggle to one another. “Very concerning.”

“Quiet!” Aurelia snapped at them as she felt herself begin to panic.

“In here!” Rosalind waved through the window, bidding him inside.

“Rosalind!”

“What?” Rosalind asked with laughter. “I thought you would be glad. Are you not?”

“I…” Aurelia hesitated, biting into her lip. She knew that she should have felt glad. Even eager, for this looked to be a good sign. Was this not what she wanted? Was this not exactly what she was after? She knew it should be and yet there was only one man whom she would have liked to have bumped into accidentally today, and it most certainly was not he who hurried across the street and toward them.

“Should we leave?” Rosalind asked.

“What? No!” Aurelia cried, to which her sister and friend frowned. “I mean, it is not proper to be alone with a gentleman”

Violet scoffed. “When has what is proper ever been a concern of yours?”

“Please do not go,” she pleaded. “I…” She considered, her nerves building at an exponential rate. “I need the support.”

“Fine,” Rosalind said. “But if I sense that we are unwelcome…”

“We will fade into the background,” Violet agreed. “After all, we do not wish to get in the way – oh, too late!”

The door to the seamstress swung open, signaled by the sound of a ringing bell. Aurelia’s stomach dropped and she forced a smile on her face, not wishing to appear upset or disappointed by this most unexpected visitor. She needed to be on her best behavior. She needed to appear thrilled and eager. And most of all, she needed to not scare him away.

“Greetings, ladies,” Lord Mildenhall announced as he waded into the shop. “What a pleasant surprise.”

That it is. Although surprise would not have been my first choice of word.

It had been a confusing two days for Aurelia. Little sleep had. Barely able to eat. She felt sick half the time. And most of the day was spent wandering aimlessly around the house, unsure of what to do or how she should feel. Worse than that, unsure if there was anything that she could do.

What had happened between her and the duke was an experience that she could not scrub from her mind.Nor do I want to, for that matter. The thrill of the moment. The excitement. The lust and heat and arousal that had swallowed her and the duke both as he bent her over and spanked her again and again and again. Her butt still throbbed at the memory, and her thighs still tingled without reprieve.

She had suspected for some time now that she was developing feelings for the duke that went beyond mere arousal. It had been so easy for so long to tell herself that this couldn’t be the case, as such a concept as that was as absurd as it was impossible to imagine. Only now, and after what had happened between them, she could ignore the truth no longer.

But that was a problem. She was not supposed to fall for the duke. She hadn’t wanted to! This plan of hers was meant for her sister and family’s sake and safety – they were who she was doing this for! But to become distracted now so that she wasn’t even certain if she could go through with it. And why? Because she was starting to fall for a man who she doubted could ever feel that way for her? It simply would not do.

She had not heard from the duke for two days, and she was quite certain that she never would. This alone should have been enough to confirm with her that despite how he treated her, he wanted nothing to do with her. At least beyond the obvious.

He is not interested in me and he never will be.

Shopping with her sister and Rosalind today was supposed to be a chance for her to poke and prod about Rosalind’s defense as she sought to learn if he had spoken of her or given any hint at all that he was developing feelings.Absurd. Of course he has not! Nor should I.Alas, Rosalind refused to speak of him, seemingly furious at her brother for one reason or another. And Aurelia was too scared to push too hard lest her own feelings be known.

All that was to say that she had one option before her. Not one that she wanted, but the best that she could get.It is for my sister and my family, and that is all which matters.

“Lord Mildenhall…” She beamed as he approached her, doing her best to appear thrilled at the sudden sighting of him. “This is a most wonderful surprise.”

“Isn’t it though.” He reached her and took her hand, giving it a wet kiss. “I was walking by and spied you through the window. I hope it is not unbecoming of me to approach you as I have.”

“Not at all.”

“That is what I was hoping to hear,” he chuckled. “The luck of it. I have been shopping with my mother all morning, searching for the perfect gown if such a thing exists.” He laughed further. “But I am a slave to her whims.”

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