Page 78 of The Good Duke
Stop!
Persephone gave her head a firm, steadying shake and set her jaw at a firm, unbending angle.
Get a hold of yourself.
So, he’d kissed her?
She fixed a hard gaze on her reflection, staring back.
It wasjusta kiss. She was a grown woman. She’d been kissed many times before.
Why…why, it wasn’t even thefirstone she and Simon had shared.
Yes, there’d been an urgency to his passionate embrace that had melted her inside and out—but she was not one to run and hide in her rooms like a scared child.
With each reminder, her shoulders drew further and further back, until her eyes glinted with their usual strength and determination, and her cheeks returned to their usual color.
As if on cue, there came a perfunctory knock at the door.
“Just a moment, please.” Persephone hastened across the room and drew the panel open.
Kindly Mrs. Trowbridge, wearing her usual deep-dimpled smile, stood in wait.
Eager, Persephone spoke before the other woman could. “Mrs. Trowbridge! Dare I hope—?”
“Your…His Grace’sguest just arrived, Miss Forsyth.”
She brightened. “Splendid news. Splendid.” Persephone ducked her head farther out into the hall and stole a glance up and down the corridor.
Even empty as the hall was, when she spoke, she lowered her voice a notch. “Is she as lovely as—”
“Even more so, Miss Forsyth.” Mrs. Trowbridge beamed as if she herself was the proud mama to the one who would soon find herself the new lady of the household. “Even more so. Such a sweet temperament too. His Grace will be hopelessly besotted.”
Persephone grinned.
Oh, he’d be something all right.
Just like that, all her earlier reservations, horror, and humiliation at her and Simon’s embrace melted clear away.
“Is she—?”
Efficient Mrs. Trowbridge anticipated the rest of that question before Persephone even needed to finish it. “Being attended to in the drawing room.”
“Splendid. Just splendid. If you would be so good as to see she is escorted to His Grace’s office, Mrs. Trowbridge, I’ll be along shortly.”
Mrs. Trowbridge dipped a curtsy. “It will be my pleasure, Miss Forsyth.”
They exchanged sly smiles, and then Mrs. Trowbridge hurried off.
The moment she’d gone, a gleeful Persephone rubbed her hands together.
It was all coming together.
Despite Mrs. Trowbridge’s confidence that Simon would fall instantly head over heels for the lady Persephone had brought into his life, Persephone didn’t delude herself.
He’d fight it. They all did. In terms of young bachelors? They were theworst.
Eventually, however, Simon would come around—all men did. They fought it valiantly, denying themselves that most special of relationships, and then once they experienced the joy of it, they were forever changed.
