Read Online JORDAN Nicole by The Courtship Wars 2 To Bed a Beauty - Free Book Online Page B

gratefully in a chair in the far corner of the ballroom. After the frenetic activity of the past few weeks, she was glad for the respite.
    She was gladder still to have avoided the Duke of Arden thus far. Thankfully, her hostess duties had kept her occupied and afforded them no opportunity for private conversation. She didn’t want to be alone with Arden so he could grill her about her attendance at the Cyprians’ ball a fortnight ago.
    She’d felt his eyes fastened upon her more than once during the course of the afternoon. Those vibrant green eyes were cool and critical, and Roslyn had done her best to ignore him. Yet he clearly comprehended her tactics. Moments ago when he’d spied her across the ballroom floor, he had offered her a smile filled with lazy charm, but his keen gaze promised an eventual accounting.
    Roslyn was remembering that unnerving look when Fanny settled beside her. “You appear spent, my dear.”
    Roslyn smiled. “I am indeed a little weary, but any discomfort I feel is utterly worthwhile. I have never seen Arabella so happy.”
    “I know.” Fanny gazed wistfully toward the ballroom floor where Arabella was waltzing with her new husband. “I’m thankful that you and your sisters allowed me to take part in the celebrations.”
    “You didn’t expect anything less, did you?”
    “No.” A trill of Fanny’s musical laughter followed. “You all place such high value on loyalty and friendship that you are willing to flout society for my sake. But I only hope your defiance doesn’t prove too detrimental to your own matrimonial prospects.”
    Roslyn shrugged. “Frankly, I don’t want any husband who cannot value loyalty and friendship as I do. And Lily doesn’t wish to wed at all, so the issue of your jeopardizing our matrimonial prospects is immaterial.”
    The two women shared a moment of amiable accord before Fanny spoke again. “You aren’t dancing?”
    Roslyn’s smile turned to a wry grimace. “My feet hurt too much in these new slippers. Marcus insisted on funding completely new wardrobes for us all, and I had no time to break them in.”
    “I noticed you haven’t spoken to the duke since the church service.”
    The observation elicited a rueful sigh from Roslyn. She’d given Fanny an abbreviated recount of what had happened the night of the Cyprians’ ball, although leaving out the fact that she’d shared more than a kiss with the duke. “No, we haven’t spoken, but I must eventually, I suppose. Arden has demanded an explanation and threatened to tell Marcus if I don’t comply. He thinks I have betrayed his friend’s trust, which isn’t quite true, since when I attended the ball with you, Marcus had already granted us our legal independence from his guardianship and I was no longer technically his ward.”
    “Why don’t you simply tell Arden the truth? Your motives were not so devious, after all.”
    Roslyn laughed outright. “I doubt he would understand my desire to make Lord Haviland fall in love with me. And the less I have to do with the Duke of Arden the better.”
    Her lips pursing in amusement, Fanny waved a hand airily down the sidelines. “Clearly not everyone feels the same as you do.”
    Following her gaze, Roslyn saw Arden in conversation with a half dozen of the other wedding guests. Not surprisingly he was the center of attention—and not merely because he was a scion of the nobility. His magnetic, commanding presence drew the eye. That, along with a breathtaking virility, made every member of the female sex take notice.
    “The ladies are obviously eager to shower him with attention,” Roslyn agreed.
    “Not just the ladies,” Fanny countered. “The young bucks in London all try to mimic his sporting exploits. And he is well respected for his political views by the Whigs and many of the Tories as well. Arden takes his seat in the House of Lords quite seriously.”
    She raised an eyebrow. That the duke was a sportsman was obvious, to judge by his well-muscled shoulders and limbs, but that he would be