Page 44 of A Treacherous Bet to Win a Duchess

“Welcome back, Brother! How was the fitting?”

“It was all right, Cecilia. Thank you. How was the lesson?”

“Quite good. Although with all due respect to Miss Meyer, the highlight for today was my embroidery lesson with Mrs. Dunn. Come to the drawing room, Brother. I’ll show you what I did today!”

Cecilia excitedly bounced down the hallway, still carrying Daisy. Anthony and Miss Meyer trailed behind her together, and he fidgeted with the note in his pocket.

“Good afternoon, Miss Meyer.”

“Good afternoon, Your Grace.”

* * *

That night, Meredith sighed dreamily as she wrote in her journal. Meanwhile, Archimedes—her new orange kitten—regarded her from the chaise lounge.

She picked up the note that the Duke had given her yesterday and read it for what must have been the thousandth time since she received it. In neat, cursive writing, it read as follows,

Dear Miss Meyer,

According to trusted sources, the 14thof May will be a full moon. Would you be willing to join me in the conquest of some more stars?

Please enclose your answer between pages 156-157 and return the book to the library.

Yours sincerely,

Sherriden

Meredith squealed once more before carefully enclosing the precious note within the pages of her journal. He had delivered the note to her quite ingeniously.

Yesterday evening, he handed her two books on Mesopotamia and simply stated, “I believe both of these references would make for an exciting lesson, Miss Meyer. But I believe you will find page 37 of this one most interesting.”

It was interesting, indeed. For as soon as Meredith had opened the book to prepare today’s lesson, the Duke’s note fell out. It took her the better part of an hour to calm down enough so that she could plan her response.

After several unsuccessful drafts, she finally crafted a response that she was satisfied with. She then proceeded to enclose it between the specified pages and went downstairs to return the book as instructed.

The Duke’s study door happened to be ajar, so when he noticed her come into the library he exclaimed, “Oh! Returning the book already, Miss Meyer?”

“Yes, Your Grace. I think I gleaned everything I needed from it. You were quite right about page 37 being quite interesting.”

* * *

Anthony was searching his bedroom for the right place to stash the note. In the end he settled on hiding it in the same book, for he could not find anything else that wouldn’t be handled by the servants.

If I were to hide it under my bed or between my sheets, the maids would find it. Even if I slipped it into an old pair of boots, someone would come across it whilst polishing them.

And if I put it with my documents, then there’s a risk that I would inadvertently give it to someone else.

He sighed. At this rate, the only potential hiding spot that could work was the fireplace, but all it would take is a maid not asking his permission before lighting the fire just once and the note would be instantly incinerated.

Anthony read the note one last time before returning to the book. In delicate writing, it read:

Dear Duke,

I would be delighted.

Yours sincerely,

Miss Meredith Meyer