Page 127 of The Duke's Indecent Match

Pale blonde hair hung down, obscuring her face from the now roaring crowd.

A lady fallen on hard times.

That was Matthew’s first thought, due to the condition of her grey dress.Similar to her surroundings, it had once been fine but now was tattered and in need of repair.Pity stirred in his breast.She was not being forced by the auctioneer, he realized.

She was not a victim of kidnapping but of circumstance.

Though she had to be coaxed onstage, she walked on of her own accord, her fear and reluctance in every line of her body.Both of which would whet the appetites of the sadists in the crowd, those who delighted in causing fear and pain, who considered the right to brutalize their lovers as their due because they’d paid for it.

The sound of the crowd seemed to have increased tenfold by the time she reached the center of the stage.Something about her graceful movements, her blonde hair, even her dress, was plucking at his memory.

But it was not until she looked up and he saw her face that he realized.

He was far too far away to see the color of those wide, terrified eyes, but he knew.

He knew.

They were a startling shade of violet-blue.

It was Lady Johanna.The young woman who had left Lady Astrid’s party early.

He’d barely noticed her there because her stay had been so short and she’d been so quiet.The companion she’d been with, Miss Belle, had made far more of an impression.

Vaguely, he recalled something about a sick mother.

The family must be in dire straits.Even more dire than Nathanial’s.At his worst, Nathanial had never had to worry about one of his sisters selling her virginity.

I have to rescue her.

Right.Of course, he should.That was the right thing to do.

“Let us begin the auction!A real live virgin should be worth at least a hundred pounds, eh?”The auctioneer winked and laughed as bids immediately started being shouted at the stage.Even in such horrid surroundings as this brothel, a virgin would fetch a stunning price, though she could have gotten far more at a more respectable place.

What had brought her here?

Matthew reached for his coin.

He’d meant to ask if he should buy her.Because even though he knew it was the right thing to do, it was such a major thing.There might be something else he was supposed to do.

But that was not the question that flitted through his head.

The question that flitted through his head, as he flicked the coin into the air, was the one that he asked every time he found a debutante that he was at least somewhat attracted to.A question he hadnotasked about Lady Johanna at Blackstone Manor but which came to him now, to his utter surprise.

Should I marry Lady Johanna?

The coin fell into his hand, and he slapped it down on his wrist.His heart had started pounding in time to the shouts around him as the bidding continued.

He lifted his hand and stared at his answer.

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