Page 1 of The Duke's Stubborn Wallflower
Chapter One
Of Debuts and Second Chances
“That’s the last time I offer to distract you with card games.” Duchess Rose shook her head in frustration. “How many wins is that now?”
Lady Olivia Rokesby smiled at her sister-in-law but decided that it would be in poor taste to tell her exactly how many games she had won.Winning six games in a row should feel delightful, especially that last hand.
Olivia muttered, “If only I was this skilled at courting.”
Rose gave her a sympathetic smile. “Courting is a skill like any other, it just takes time and practice.”
“I suppose.” Olivia made a noncommittal gesture.
“You are rather avoiding the question of how many games you have won; do not think I don’t see what you are doing,” Rose teased.
Olivia laughed but did not answer Rose. She knew her sister-in-law and friend was trying to distract her. Yet her thoughts inevitably turned the past.
Olivia’s first season had been, well, not quite a disaster but definitely not what she had hoped it would be. She was used to finding things easy and had expected that joining society would be more or less the same.How wrong I was.
“Hello? Olivia?” Rose waved a hand in front of her face, bringing Olivia back to the present. “Goodness, you looked like you were a million miles away. Come, you cannot have won so many games that you cannot contain your reverie.”
Her sister-in-law smiled, her tone teasing and light, and Olivia could not help but return the smile.Though I am still not going to tell her just how many games I have won — I may not have any suitors, but I do have some sense of decorum.
“She has won the last six games.” The interjection came from Rose’s mother, Lady Charlotte Pembleton, the Viscountess of Cotswalts, who clearly felt no compunction about telling her daughter just how poorly she had fared.
Olivia glanced at Rose, who looked thoroughly put out. But before either of them could speak, Lady Cotswalts continued, not looking up from her magazine, “Although, that last hand wasa near thing. Honestly, Rose, if you had not mislaid that trick quite so badly, I doubt she would have won.”
Olivia was taken aback. She hadn’t realised just how much attention Lady Cotswalts had been paying to them. After all, the woman had seemed utterly absorbed by what she was reading and was sitting on the sofa rather than near the card table with them.
As she caught Rose’s eye, her friend mouthed, “I told you she sees everything.” To her mother, Rose said in sweet tone that Olivia recognised as a dangerous sign, “That was one trick which hardly explains Olivia winning six games.”
“One trick of many that you misplayed. When I saw you discard the queen of hearts, I despaired.” Lady Cotswalts shook her head. “Honestly, I thought I had taught you better than that. One needs a clear head if they are to get anywhere in life.”
“I’d like to see how clearly you think when you’re the size of a small house,” Rose murmured under her breath, forcing Olivia to turn her laugh into a hasty cough.
“You are nowhere near as large as I was with Emily or even Jane for that matter.” Lady Cotswalts tone was amused and somewhat sympathetic, and Olivia couldn’t help but marvel at the woman’s hearing. “You were my first and thankfully, rather small.”
It was clear from the look on Rose’s face that she was used to her mother’s uncanny hearing. Olivia tried to imagine what it wouldhave been like, growing up with Lady Cotswalts for a mother. Rose didn’t talk about her life before Emberly often, and though Olivia had met both of Rose’s younger sisters, she did not feel that she knew them well.
“Well, be that as it may, I am still wildly uncomfortable and significantly larger than I was with Arthur.” Rose stroked her belly, and Olivia could see the irritation and love warring on her face.
“That is often the way with second and even third children.” Lady Cotswalts nodded sagely. “Though I do appreciate how uncomfortable it can be. This is why I told you to sit with your legs up whenever you can.”
Rose pouted. Olivia was reminded that for all Rose’s achievements, they were only a year apart in age.I am nineteen, the same age Rose was when she met Alexander.The thought only added to Olivia’s feelings of failure.One season and still no husband, not even the vaguest hint of affection or courtship.
“How would you suggest I raise my legs when I am sitting at the card table? There is barely any room as it is.” Rose gestured to the tiny card table they were playing at, her words preventing Olivia from becoming completely lost in her maudlin thoughts.
Lady Cotswalts pointed to the small coffee table. “When one is pregnant, one must think creatively. Just because you are playing cards does not mean you must sit at the card table. I am sure Lady Olivia would not mind if you moved to be more comfortable.”
“Perhaps we did not wish to disturb you; after all, you seem rather comfortable on the sofa.” Rose sounded irritable, and Olivia sensed that an intervention would be necessary to prevent an argument.
“Would you like to join us, Lady Cotswalts? Rose tells me you are a most skilled player.” Olivia ignored the pointed look her friend was giving her. “And then we might use the coffee table without fear of disturbing you.”
Lady Cotswalts glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner and then towards the door. “I suppose a few games would not go amiss. It will be nice to pass the time together until your mother joins us. I had rather hoped to speak to her this afternoon.”
“She has been kept quite busy with the twins.” Olivia helped Lady Cotswalts rearrange the coffee table and waited for Rose to settle onto the sofa and raise her feet.
As she waited, she shuffled the cards and deftly dealt them out, noticing the thoughtful look Lady Cotswalts cast over her.Is this approval or disapproval? Rose did say that her mother valued lady-like behaviour, but I do not think cards counts.
