Page 1 of A Chance to Dance with the Duke
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*Please Note: This novella can be read as a standalone, but it picks up where the free prequel novelette left off, with the girls having just decided to play a game in which they dare one another to face their fears. If you haven’t read the short prequel and wish to, you can read it for free on my siteHERE.
Miss Margaret Taylorhad never swooned, not once in her entire life.
But this evening? Well…
This evening she was willing to make an exception.
Because there were dares and then there weredares. And mere seconds after agreeing to one—after committing to doing the one thing she’d never dreamed to do, dance in public—here she was.
Her heart raced in her chest, and for a moment her vision blurred at the edges.
All she could see was the Duke standing directly before her where she sat amongst her fellow wallflowers.
Towering over her, to be precise.
The young, handsome, famously charming Duke of Carver. The Duke every young lady wished to marry.
The Duke who’d never once noticed her existence before.
The Duke…who’d just asked her to dance.
Would you do me the honor?He’d said it with that dazzling smile. His teeth were so perfectly straight and white, it only added to her certainty that this…was not real.
She was most certainly dreaming.
No one’s smile was so very perfect, hence none of this was real. Not the crowd forming to await her answer. Not this unexpected excitement at the table of wallflowers who were only ever forgotten and abandoned in their corner.
And definitely not the handsome Duke with the perfect smile and the sandy-colored hair who was smiling down at her.Her.Poor Meg, as her family and friends called her.Pegleg Megby those less generous.
No. None of this could possibly be real.
Clearly she was dreaming.
“Meg,” Felicity hissed beside her, her dark brown curls bobbing as she leaned over. “Remember the game.”
Meg blinked, and for some reason this made the Duke’s smile broaden.
“I did not intend to make you uneasy, Miss Taylor,” he said, as his friends behind him, and hers as well, all seemed to let out an exhale at once now that he’d broken what was rapidly becoming an awkward silence.
“Oh no, I…” Her voice trailed off as her mind went blank.
This was real.
This was truly happening. A duke had asked her to dance.
Felicity pinched her arm. A not-so-subtle reminder that an answer was expected. She glanced over at her brave, often brazen friend, and Felicity winked. “I dare you,” she mouthed.
Meg’s lips parted and her eyes widened. Oh yes, the dare. How could she forget the game they’d only just decided to play.
A game of challenges and dares. A game they’d learned about from their friend Ann’s older sister Franny.
Franny, who was watching her now with such concern, Meg had the horrible urge to cling to the slightly older lady’s skirts like a child.
Meg lifted her chin. But that was the point of this game, was it not? To learn courage. To face their fears.
And as Meg’s greatest fear was having her worst flaw on full display, dancing was the dare Felicity had chosen for her. She might not actually have a peg for a leg, as everyone seemed to believe. But she did have a limp. An impossible to ignore one, that made everything she did look awkward and clumsy.
