Page 2 of A Virgin for the Duke of Depravity
She opened her mouth to tell him that she had no idea what he was talking about when the Earl’s voice echoed across the street.
“Do you hear me, girl? You’ll come around sooner or later!”
Margaret turned to the driver with what she hoped was her most charming smile and a demure look. Instead of telling him thatshe had no idea what the book club was, she said, “Yes, please. Take me to the book club.”
The driver took her to a massive estate, much larger than that of the Earl. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw it, wondering what she had gotten herself into by agreeing to come. Who would she encounter here? Someone worse than the Earl?
“The book club is right through here, in the library.” The driver pointed to the heavy oak door. Margaret moved to open the door, but the man reached out and touched her arm before she could enter. “The rules, My Lady.”
“The rules,” Margaret echoed.
A stone sank in her stomach. She would never be able to pull this off. Someone would know that she was an imposter.
“First, wear your mask. And please, be discreet, My Lady. Some of our… readers don’t like to be stared at.”
With that, the driver took a step back and indicated that she could open the door. Margaret tentatively took a step toward the door and put her hand on the cold handle before gently pushing it open.
It took a moment for her to register the scene that greeted her as she stepped into the room.
Thisis what they do in book clubs?
After living in the convent for so long, she had no inkling that scenes like this were real. Even if she had grown up among the ton, she would not have imagined this.
Margaret stopped in the doorway, her skin so hot that it could have burned anyone who touched her. She knew her face must be bright red beneath her mask, but there was no chance that her blush would go away any time soon.
The couple closest to her was seated closer than was decent on the settee. The man had his arm around the woman and was just leaning in to kiss her hungrily. Margaret could see histongueteasing the seam of the woman’s lips.
She looked away, but her eyes could not find a safe place to land.
The next couple she spotted was almost worse. She watched a man lean into his lady’s ear and whisper the words of the book he was holding. The woman flushed a shade of pink that was almost certainly more delicate than the shade of Margaret’s face.
Some women were in various states of undress. The men looked like they could devour them, their eyes dark. No one looked up at her when she entered the room, allowing her to soak up the scene and figure out what the right move was.
I should leave before anyone notices that I’m here.
But curiosity got the better of her before she could turn around. The sisters at the convent always said that Margaret’s curiosity would lead her into temptation, and now she was here in thisbook club.
Surely, these couples had to be reading something.
Margaret leaned over the shoulder of the man closest to her and tried to read a few words from the book. Perhaps she could see what the book was about, and this whole scene would start to make some sense. Her eyes strained to find the words on the page, but her blush only crept down her neck.
She saw the words, but the pictures were really what drew her in. The picture was of a man and a woman, both of them naked. But they were not doing what she had been taught would make babies.
Leaning further over the man’s shoulder to get a better look at the book and the picture within, she started. The man’s head waswhere?
“May I see your invitation?”
Margaret froze. Ice ran through her veins. Had someone found her out?
Quickly, she considered the ways this could play out. She could feign ignorance—surely, shewasignorant of what this book club truly was. Perhaps that was the best course of action.
She straightened her spine and turned to face the deep voice that addressed her.
She was met with a more imposing man than she had been anticipating. He was tall, much taller than her. With his cold, dark brown eyes fixed on her, the words lodged in her throat.
“Your invitation,” he repeated, as if she had not heard him the first time.
“Excuse me?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
