Page 57 of Second Duke's the Charm

“It’s so much better agreeing to my own marriage settlement, instead of simply reading the one my father arranged for me.”

And if anything went wrong, she’d have only herself to blame.

She gave the ink one final blot, then refolded the papers and called for Gustav to have them sent back to Thornton.

Ellie slouched in her comfy leather chair. “So, now that’s done, we need to discuss underwear.”

“We do?” Tess wrinkled her nose.

“Your underwear, to be precise. You didn’t have any new clothes for your first wedding, but this time you definitely need a trousseau. Specifically, undergarments that look like they belong to a pleasure-loving harlot.”

“She’s right,” Daisy said with a nod. “Apart from that one set of silk drawers I bought you last Christmas from Madame Lefèvre—”

The one’s she’d mercifully been wearing the night Thornton debauched her in the carriage,Tess conceded silently.

“—your underwear is all practical cotton and boring linen. There are hermits in caves with more seductive drawers than you.”

“You need impractical lace. Delicate ribbons. Silk and damask so sheer you might as well be wearing nothing at all.”

“Then what’s the point?” Tess countered.

“Seductionis the point,” Ellie said forcefully. “Reducing a grown man to a stammering, gibbering wreck, willing to obey your every command is thepoint. With the right underwear you can achieve total annihilation.”

“Good God,” Tess laughed. “It’s my wedding night. Not a battlefield.”

“It is both,” Daisy said sternly. “And you can gain the early advantage by looking the part, even if you don’t have the faintest idea what to do. Distraction is an extremely effective tactic. Men are perverse, and very visual creatures. A partly naked woman is almost more exciting to them than a completely naked woman. Don’t ask me why.”

Ellie nodded vigorously. “With the right underclothes, Thornton might be so befuddled he might not even notice you’re a virgin.”

“That’s highly unlikely,” Tess scoffed. “He’snot a virgin. And he’ll have seen plenty of naked and half-dressed women before.”

“But none as beautiful as you,” Ellie said loyally. “And he didn’t want any of them enough to offer them marriage, did he?”

“I suppose not.”

“So it’s decided.” Daisy clapped her hands in excitement. “We’re going shopping. For the most scandalous, impractical, man-befuddling garments we can find. If Thornton’s willing to pay you a thousand pounds a year to dress well, the least you can do is comply.”

Tess threw up her hands in good-natured defeat. “Fine. I suppose I could buy a new gown for the wedding.”

“That’s the spirit.”

Tess didn’t hear a word from Thornton for the rest of the week, nor did Stockdale make contact regarding the princess’s letters.

On Friday, the day before the wedding, a packagecontaining a flat leather box arrived at Wansford House, bearing the illustrious name of Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, one of the prince regent’s favorite jewelers.

Tess read the accompanying note first, and her heart beat a little faster when she realized it was from Thornton.

Scarlet,

In anticipation of our wedding tomorrow, please accept this small token of my regard.

J

The box contained the most beautiful pearl necklace Tess had ever seen: three strands of graduated pearls, each one longer than the last. A pendant comprising a single large diamond, a delicate bow of smaller diamonds, and a huge pear-shaped pearl droplet hung from the center of the lowest strand.

Daisy gaped when she saw it. “Lord, Tess, that’s beautiful! It must have cost five hundred pounds at least.”

“But why does he address you as Scarlet?” Ellie frowned, reading the card over her shoulder.