Doubling Down on a Duke (WAGERING ON LOVE #5) by Rachel Ann Smith EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Rachel Ann Smith
- Language: English
- Genre: Historical Romance
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- Size: 2.8 MB
- Price: Free
REDBURN BALL – 1814
At one time, even the thought of hiding in a closet would have terrified
terrify Lady Helen, but that was no longer the case. At the ripe old
age of six-and-twenty, she would do whatever it took to avoid her
intended, even if she had to spend hours upon hours in a small, dark,
confined space. Avoiding Bryce Barrington, the Duke of Whistlestop, had
increasingly become a challenge over the past year, since the man had
declared he was no longer willing to delay the reading of the banns after
being formally betrothed for twenty years.
The first fifteen years of their
engagement had been rather uneventful; she’d lived as she pleased. Even
during her debut season, Bryce maintained his distance and his rakish ways,
but that all ceased the year she turned one-and-twenty and reached majority.
It was also the year that Bryce became the Duke of Whistlestop. After years
and years of rarely acknowledging one another in public, Bryce summoned
her to his home and informed her that he had no intention of annulling their
betrothal contract and that he fully expected them to marry and fulfill the
promises made by their parents.
It was no secret amongst the two families
that their union had been born out of necessity to form an alliance to
strengthen their status within the Network—a secret conglomerate of
individuals who had sworn to support the Crown and its designated
Protectors of the Royal Family, also referred to within the Network as
PORFs. His decision to wait until she could legally marry whomever she
pleased had left Helen in a dilemma for the past five years, which of course
led to her employing all sorts of trickery in order to avoid making a
decision.
Torn between family duty and her dream to have a husband who
loved her, Helen found herself yet again crouched in a small hall closet.
She rested her forehead on her bent knees. If only the blasted Duke of
Whistlestop wasn’t so darn honest with her. If he simply pretended to be
interested in her or employed his rakish charms on her and not half the
ladies of the ton, she might have been able to convince herself she could be
happy with the man, but over the past five years Bryce had made it
abundantly clear that he had no intention of changing his roguish ways and
he intended to marry her purely out of duty.
She rubbed her chest to ease
the constant ache that resided within her. Helen was certain if the late Earl
of Saxton had known that the well-mannered and inordinately intelligent
boy who would spend hour upon hour playing chess with him would grow
up to be a devilishly handsome and renowned rake, her papa would never
have agreed to the union. But her papa hadn’t lived long enough to witness
Bryce Barrington transform from a quiet studious lad into the well-liked
duke who everyone fawned over.
Eyes closed, she pictured her intended—
his wavy light brown hair had darkened and his adorable round face was
long gone, replaced with defined cheekbones and jawline that women
swooned over. The only things unchanged were Bryce’s striking blue-green
eyes that made her own heart flutter when his angry, frustrated gaze fell
upon her.
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