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“Indeed,” Lady Southford sighed. “And it just so happened that a certain suitor had chosen that particular day to ask for my hand in my papa’s study. When my father opened his drawer to pull out the betrothal contract, the poor thing jumped out immediately.”

Scarlett peered at her mother in pleasant surprise. “And then what happened?”

“Lord Delaney happened to despise all manner of creatures—smaller ones even worse. I heard that he barely tolerated horses and that was simply because he had to use them to get anywhere.” Her mama looked down at her plate with a hint of mischief in her smile. “It did not help matters at all that when the anxious creature skittered over his sleeve, my papa roared my name in fury.”

Her mama… had a different side to her, it would seem.

The Dowager Duchess laughed and shook her head, wiping tears from her eyes. “Seeing as you are now Lady Southford and not LadyDelaney, I would assume that he withdrew his suit?”

“He could not have left faster, Your Grace.”

The Dowager Duchess nodded her head sagely. “Well, if a gentleman cannot stomach even the smallest creatures, how can he be expected to protect a wife and children from the dangers of the world?”

The Dowager Countess smiled in reply. “My thoughts precisely, Your Grace.”

While the two women looked at each other in perfect agreement, Scarlett could only wonder how her mama might have been in her youth. A newt in her grandpapa’s drawer? That was brilliant! She could not have thought up a more ingenious plan herself, nor would she have managed to capture such a creature for her schemes.

“Somehow,” a dark voice intoned. “I find that I am not surprised. Brazenness clearly runs in the family.”

Scarlett felt the prickling sensation in her scalp skittering down her spine to the very tips of her toes before she even saw him. Even her fingertipstingled,and she clutched the cutlery as the Duke walked past the dining table. He barely spared her and her mother a cool, cursory glance, before he growled—absolutely,menacinglygrowled—for one of the servants to draw him a bath.

As he stalked off in long, angry strides, Scarlett vaguely heard the Dowager Duchess sigh in dismay, “And that is why I fear he would never marry.”

Indeed. Who would ever want to marry such an ill-tempered beast?

CHAPTER SIX

Scarlett blinked up at the lavish canopy of her obscenely large, four-poster bed. Of all her ‘harebrained’ ideas—as her mama liked to call them—this had to be the least profitable one.

Well, at least I am not marrying the Marquess of Colton.

That was a triumph of sorts. Even if she was now squarely in the Duke of Wolverton’s bad graces.

Orworsegraces.

Scarlett winced at the memory of the impeccably leashed fury in his eyes. Or the pure power that seemed to course right under his skin as he clenched his fists.

He had no business being so attractive when livid, andshehad no business being attracted to a man who was restraining himself from possibly wringing her neck.

I have gone mad, she thought with a slight shake of her head.

The Wolf of England? Attractive?

Undeniably so.

There. Shehadgone mad.

She rolled over, pressing her face into a pillow so soft it might as well have been stuffed with clouds. As it turned out, such downy pillows were perfect for drowning out screams of pure vexation.

Sleep, it seemed, would not come easily, even after all the candles had been extinguished in this huge, lavishly appointed bedchamber. Even if she lay tangled in silken sheets that slid sinfully against her skin, making her wonder what it would feel like to have his big, hard, muscular body covering hers, his large hands encircling her wrists as he pinned them over her head, his lips sweeping over hers as he ravished her…

No, no,no.

She couldnotbe fantasizing about the Wolf under his roof.

It was not only the height of impropriety—it was downright depravity.

And Wolverton Estate just seemed to feed her darker desires.