Page 1 of A Gamble with the Rakish Duke
Chapter One
“Your Grace, if I may speak so boldly, I do not think this is the best way to handle this matter.”
“Ellen, I appreciate your concern, but my mind is made up. There is no other way regarding this,” Alexandra Audley, the Duchess of Westgrave, declared as she watched her reflection in the full-length mirror and the agitated but somehow coordinated maid at her back. “With my father’s considerable debts, I must be here for him.”
Ellen fiddled nervously with the young duchess’s corset, checking the ribbons and lace thrice.
Alexandra was aware that her curvier figure required particular attention to the lacing of her stays, but Ellen was an expert in balancing comfort with achieving a fashionable silhouette.
“Your Grace, must I wait here at Lady Barrington’s country home? Shouldn’t I be with you?”
“The business is best settled by me alone, Ellen. And we are welcome in Lady Barrington’s home, even though she is not often here. I do admire her freedom. Her inheritance has allowed her to travel on her own.”
“S-She’s a widow, Your Grace.”
“True,” Alexandra said thoughtfully.
Alexandra did not care for what Society thought. It was why she was more focused on getting her job done at the gambling hell she was planning to storm into than on how she looked. However, she understood that she had to tame her curves, especially her ample bosom, before she visited a place of ill repute.
“The risk to your reputation… Forgive me, Your Grace.”
The distress was evident in the maid’s voice, and Alexandra could forgive what she would typically consider as overstepping. Ellen knew that she might be speaking out of turn.
“Father’s doing that all on his own,” Alexandra murmured as she smoothed her gloves. “Besides, reputations matter little when you’re already married. Don’t they?”
Through the mirror, she could see Ellen open and close her mouth to protest. The servants might not say anything, but some might suspect that the Duchess’s marriage was nothing morethan a farce. Her maid, whom she trusted the most, was the one who knew more than the rest.
Then again, Alexandra had not seen her husband in a year.
“It’s time for me to go,” she said after her maid finished styling her chocolate-brown ringlets.
It didn’t matter what she looked like when she might as well be heading for war.
Holding her chin up with determination, she turned to pat Ellen’s hand and strode toward the door, heading for the awaiting carriage and the potentially dangerous task ahead.
Alexandra arrived at her destination, wondering if it was folly on her part. She took a long, deep breath before walking through the heavy doors of the gaming establishment. The guards stopped her in her tracks, with one holding out a hand to keep her back.
“Where do you think you’re going, sweetheart?” he demanded. “This is not a place for you.”
“Perhaps she is looking for her runaway lover,” the other guard jeered.
All Alexandra could think was how silly they both looked—outwardly fancy but inwardly corrupt.
“Let me in, or I will report your establishment!”
The two large men looked at each other. A flicker of amusement crossed one’s face briefly, while the other remained stern. The Duchess knew that her report would not affect an establishment that even high officials frequented, but the two men shrugged and let her in.
“Let the lady see for herself…”
A shift from the vanilla scents in her country house and the rose blooms in Lady Barrington’s townhouse, the pungent smell of cigars, alcohol, and sweat invaded Alexandra’s nostrils.
She had prepared for this, but the reality overwhelmed her.
Surprisingly, the music was light enough for people to carry on deals and conversations. She recognized Haydn but thought that her mother’s pianoforte rendition would be several times more superior.
The place was crowded with wealthy aristocrats, social climbers, merchants, and the owner’s thugs. Despite the generally well-dressed crowd, it reeked of desperation.
“Father’s and mine,” Alexandra grumbled to herself.
