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There was nothing about Ralston that Simon liked

He would do well to remember that

He exited the study and headed for the library, opening the door withup short just inside the room

She was asleep in his chair

With his dog

The chair she had selected was one that he had worked long and hard to get to the perfect level of co countless ti, soft fabric that he considered one of the seat’s finest attributes He took in Juliana’s sleeping forolden threads of the worn fabric

She had taken off her shoes and curled her feet beneath her, and Simon shook his head at the behavior Ladies across London would not dare go barefoot in the privacy of their own ho herself co a nap in a duke’s library

He stole a moment to watch her, to appreciate how she perfectly fit his chair It was larger than the average seat, built specifically for hi himself into ht of fashion,” he had decided that, as duke, he ithin his birthright to spend a fortune on a chair that fit his body It ide enough for hih extra roo his attention, or, as was the case right now, for a dog in search of a warm body

The dog, a brown mutt that had found his way into his sister’s country bedchamber one winter’s day, now traveled with Simon and made his home wherever the duke was The canine was particularly fond of the library in the town house, with its three fireplaces and comfortable furniture, and he had obviously ht ball, head on one of Juliana’s long thighs

Thighs Si

That his dog was a traitor was a concern Simon would address later

Noever, he had to deal with the lady

“Leopold” Sih in a practicedto heel in seconds

If only the sairl to heel

No, if he had his way, he would not wake her so easily Instead, he would rouse her sloith long, soft strokes along those glorious legshe would crouch beside her and bury his face in thatin the sle of her jaw until he reached the curve of one soft ear He would whisper her na her with breath instead of sound

And then he would finish what she had started all those o

And he would bring her to heel in an entirely different way

He fisted his hands at his sides to keep his body fro he could do that would bethe unwelcome desire he felt for this impossible female

He simply had to remember that he was in the market for the perfect duchess

And Miss Juliana Fiori was never going to be that

No matter hoell she filled out his favorite chair

It was tiirl up

And send her home

Chapter Three

Ladies’ salons are hotbeds of imperfection

Exquisite ladies need not linger within

—A Treatise on the Most Exquisite of Ladies

Surely there is no placein all of London than the balcony beyond a ballroom

—The Scandal Sheet, October 1823

“I thought that your season was over and ere through with balls!”

Juliana collapsed onto a settee in a small antecha sigh, reaching down to h her thin slipper

“We should be,” her closest friend Mariana, the newly e of her elaborate blue gown and inspected the place where her he as Parliae Every hostess wants her autumnal festivity to be more impressive than the last You only have yourself to blame,” Mariana said wryly

“Hoas I to know that Callie would start a revolution in entertaining on my behalf?” Calpurnia, Mariana’s sister and Juliana’s sister-in-law, had been charged with s Juliana’s introduction to London society upon her arrival that spring Once summer had arrived, the oal A wave of summer balls and activities had kept Juliana in the public eye and kept the other hostesses of the ton in town after the season was long finished

Callie’s goal was a se

Which oal survival

Waving a young maid over, Mariana pulled a thiirl, as already crouching down to repair the daaze in the mirror, she said, “You are very lucky that you could cry off Lady Davis’s Orange Extravaganza last week”

“She did not really call it that”

“She did! You should have seen the place, Julianait was an explosion of color, and not in a good way Everything was orange—the clothesthe floral arrangementsthe servants had new livery, for heaven’s sakethe food—”

“The food?” Juliana wrinkled her nose

Mariana nodded “It ful Everything was carrot-colored A feast fit for rabbits Be grateful you were not feeling well”

Juliana wondered what Lady Davis—a particularly opinionated doyenne of the ton—would have thought if she had attended, covered in scratches from her adventure with Grabeham the week prior

She gave a little sht and htful places “I thought that now you are a duchess, you do not have to suffer these events?”

“I thought so, too But Rivington tells er Duchess tells hed “If I never see another cornucopia, it will be too soon”

Juliana laughed “Yes, it uests of the year, Mariana What with beingall of London spread before you”

Her friend’s eyes twinkled “Oh, it’s a wicked trial Just wait Someday you’ll discover it for yourself”

Juliana doubted it

Nicknael, Mariana hadher husband, the Duke of Rivington, in her first season It had been the talk of the year, an al and a ind of social engage couple

Mariana was the kind of woman whom people adored Everyone wanted to be close to her, and she never lacked for companionship She had been the first friend that Juliana had made in London; both she and her duke had made it a priority to show the ton that they accepted Juliana—no ree

At Juliana’s first ball, it had been Rivington who had clai her with the approval of his venerable dukedom

So different fro

Leighton had shown no eaze across the ballroom, not when she’d passed close to him on the way to the refreshment table, not when he’d stumbled upon her in a private room set apart from the ball

That wasn’t precisely true He had shown emotion there Just not the kind she had wished

He’d been furious

“Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes”

“Which part? That my mother is the fallen Marchioness of Ralston? Thatmerchant? That I haven

’t a title?”

“All of it matters”

She had been warned about him—the Duke of Disdain, keenly aware of his station in society, who held no interest for those whom he considered beneath him He was known for his aloof presence, for his cool contempt She had heard that he selected his servants for their discretion, his mistresses for their lack of emotion, and his friends—well, there was no indication that he would stoop to so so common as friendship

But until that moment, when he discovered her identity, she had not believed the gossip Not until she had felt the sting of his infamous disdain

It had hurt Far ment of all the others

And then she had kissed him Like a fool And it had been remarkable Until he had pulled aith a violence that embarrassed her still

“You are a danger to yourself and others You should return to Italy If you stay, your instincts will find you utterly ruined With extraordinary speed”

“You enjoyed it,” Juliana said, accusation in her tone keeping the pain at bay

He leveled her with a cool, calculated look “Of course I did But unless you are angling for a position as asped, and he drove his point home like a knife to her chest “You would do well to remember your station”