Page 45 of The Duke's Spinster

“Fine.” Boudicca gestured for everyone to sit down. Then she turned and faced them. “I don’t know how else to say it. Wesley was here last night and he proposed.”

“Oh. My. God. You’re going to marry a duke?” Mimi was all but shouting.

“Will you please be quiet? Everyone will hear.”

“The dare worked?” Mimi was beside herself. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.”

“Well, believe it, dear sister,” Boudicca said.

She repeated in a hushed whisper, “You’re going to marry a duke.”

“Botheration. Not that part. The part about him being here. He came here last night.”

Mimi pointed to the window with a cocked brow.

“Yes, through the window,” Boudicca muttered. “But I didn’t say yes.”

“You turned him away?”

“Oh my God, Mimi, are you even listening? He came in. He was here. We made…” she blushed as she waved her arm to the fireplace.

“You made fire.”

“Yes, Mimi. We made fire.” She had never been sarcastic with her sisters before. She was patient. Prim. Proper. Responsible. Only…she wasn’t all of that all of the time. And she was becoming less so of it more of the time. If that made sense…It was too much. The exasperation. The emotion. Now she actually had to say the words aloud to her younger, impressionable sisters who were about to set off on their own duke dares.

Joan stepped in, laying a hand on Mimi to quiet whatever garble was about to come out of her mouth. “So he was here.” She waved her hand around the fireplace where Boudicca had gestured. “And he proposed?”

“But I didn’t accept his proposal.”

Joan nodded silently.

“Why didn’t you accept?” Mimi asked.

“I’m sure she has her reasons,” Nobi said. “Don’t you?” It was almost a plea.

“If only I knew…” Boudicca sighed.

“He knows you. Better than any man ever has. You’ve let him in. That means something.” Mimi said.

“He likes you, though I think it’s more than like. And it could grow into love,” Joan was now on board with the youngest.

“Do I want to take that gamble though? Do I not deserve love? Shouldn’t I wait until the man I love is humble enough, happy enough, courageous enough to love me in return?”

“Yes.”

“Well, shouldn’t I?”

“Yes.” Joan repeated. “You absolutely do deserve that. And if you don’t think it’s with Wesley, then say no. Just know that even for the average man it’s a challenge to decipher their own feelings. Never mind one as haughty as Wesley. So yes, it’s a gamble. But it’s a gamble either way.”

And therein lay the problem. Life without love, alongside a man. Life without love, alone. Neither option looked great.

And it wasn’t until later that she realized she had referred to Wesley as the man she loved.

Chapter Seventeen

The titters ofgossip greeted Boudicca and her sisters upon being announced at Countess Linsgate’s ball. The garden party news was widespread. The handsome, powerful Duke of Baskim, theton’s most selective bachelor, had set his sights on someone. Her.

And though her heart was swarming with feelings, she maintained her composure and led her sisters to the dance floor. It seemed scandalous to be sans chaperone now, when only a few days ago, no one had batted an eyelash at the spinster.

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