Read Online Duke of Scandal (Moonlight Square, Book 1) by Gaelen Foley - Free Book Online Page B

earl and countess personally. Though Felicity had been out in Society for a few years now, they hadn’t seen much of each other—partly by design on his part.
    On those occasions when they had even attended the same balls, Felicity and Lady Kirby had either been on their way out or had already left when he was just arriving. After all, rakes of a certain stature did not go out before eleven, and dowagers of a certain age did not stay up much past ten.
    It had frustrated him sometimes that they were always missing each other, but it was probably just as well.
    Of course, current circumstances had changed the situation. Felicity needed him now, and being needed was something Jason secretly craved. His life of pleasure and luxury left him starved for a chance to be of use and do something—anything—that really mattered.
    Helping his darling girl had given him a much-needed mission. One he’d complete, whether she liked it or not.
    Upon joining her, he introduced her and Mrs. Brown to their hosts and their daughter, Lady Simone. As greetings with welcomes and thanks for the last-minute invitation were exchanged, Jason noticed Mrs. Brown looking rather less than pleased to see him.
    “Do take your seats, ladies,” the glamorous Countess of Pelletier said, relishing her role as the grand hostess of the evening. “They’ll be starting any moment now.”
    “You see? You got here just in time,” Jason said fondly to Felicity as they drifted into the joined concert rooms side by side.
    “I wasn’t sure we were going to make it at all,” Felicity confessed as they put just a little distance between the two of them and her chaperone.
    “Well, I’m glad you’re here. You look beautiful,” he added.
    She laughed off the compliment, glancing around at all the brightly garbed ladies. “I feel like a lump of coal in the midst of a rainbow!”
    “Well, at least you’re not the only lump of coal here. I wore black, too, so I could match you. See?”
    She chuckled. “Maybe we’re just two diamonds in the rough.”
    “Ah, me, no doubt. But you, my dear, are already very much a diamond.”
    “Such charm! And directed at me, of all people! Are you feeling all right?” she asked pertly.
    “Of course I am. I just don’t want you to feel out of place on account of your mourning attire. Lump of coal, indeed. It’s not the clothes that determine a woman’s beauty, anyway.”
    “You would know.”
    He ignored the jibe. “Besides, very soon, you are going to blossom like a flower into beautiful color again, and then you will outshine every woman here.”
    She squinted up at him. “I really am going to call the physician if you keep saying things like that. Do you have a fever?”
    “I’m just glad you came.” He gave her a rueful smile and offered her his arm.
    She took it, her gaze intrigued. “So am I. The invitation arrived, just as you predicted.”
    He smiled at her. “The Pelletiers are good friends of mine. They were dying to know why I wanted you here.”
    “So am I, frankly.”
    “What? To cheer you up in your mourning, of course. Why else?” he drawled. “Anyway, word has it there’s going to be a special guest for tonight’s grand finale,” he confided as he led her toward the orchestra, ignoring the stares as people watched him with Felicity, a young lady who, despite her beauty, had somehow managed to stay in the background of Society for the past few years.
    As if she did not want to be noticed, hiding behind her eccentric dragon of an aunt.
    As if some part of her was ashamed of herself. Or at least, did not trust herself.
    And that was all his fault.
    Oh yes, deep down, Jason knew how he had hurt her by rejecting her adorable, kittenish advance on him eight years ago. He’d had no choice. She was too young, too tempting, and at nineteen, he had been in no wise ready to take a wife, which was what the situation would have demanded.
    Why, at that age, he hadn’t even known yet who he was, other