Title: Never Say Duke
Author: Erica Ridley
Publisher: Webmotion
Pub Date 05 Jan 2019
Summary
Yes, Virginia, there is a Viscount…
Miss Virginia Underwood cannot resist rescuing a stray. Her latest find turns out to be a surly, reclusive war hero trying to recover from his wounds in peace. He doesn’t want her help—and Virginia definitely doesn’t want to fall in love. Not when a future with him would mean returning to the the same haut ton who laughed her out of Town during her very first Season.
Theodore O’Hanlon, Viscount Ormondton, sequestered himself far from London to heal in anonymity. For now, he can be himself. As soon as he returns, he’s meant to wed the woman his father selected years before. But when Miss Underwood turns his carefully mapped life upside-down, Theo must decide which battles are truly worth fighting for.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Erica Ridley’s newest regency romance series features twelve delightful laugh-out-loud romps… and plenty of delicious dukes!
Excerpt: Never Say Duke
Virginia glanced at the clock in the corner. “I can spare another half an hour. Tell me, what does a gentleman do when he’s promised a set to a lady, but they’ve agreed not to dance?”
“Sneak her out to the balcony for a kiss?” Theo guessed hopefully.
She considered, then shook her head. “No balcony in here.”
He blinked. Would a kiss have been an option if he’d said “between the stacks” instead?
“I’ve never stood up with a gentleman at a ball,” she said. “For dancing or otherwise. You practice whatever is done in such situations, and at the same time I will learn what it is I am meant to do.”
The idea of Virginia spending her time with other gentlemen—locked in a dance or otherwise—soured Theo’s stomach.
“There’s nothing to practice about spending half an hour with an honorable gentleman,” he said. “What you need to learn is not to be taken advantage of by a boorish suitor.”
“Perfect,” she said. “I’ll be me, and you can be my boorish suitor.”
He grabbed her wrist and tugged her into the center of the room. When she complied, he glared at her. “That was the first test. You should not have come with me.”
She frowned. “This is where you dragged me.”
“I’m the boorish suitor,” he reminded her. “Never let the boorish suitor drag you anywhere.”
“What was I supposed to do?” she asked.
He pointed at his cheek. “Slap me.”
“You’re on crutches,” she stammered.
“Don’t slap me with one of my crutches. Just slap me.”
She nodded as if taking a mental note. “Anytime a loutish gentleman tries to drag me somewhere I do not wish to go, I will slap them.”
“Not just dragging,” Theo said quickly. “If he makes lewd comments you dislike, touches you anywhere unwelcome, acts fresh or forward in any manner at all, slap him with your glove. If you’re still wearing it, even better.”
She nodded. “Understood.”
“Next scenario,” he said. “What do you do if a scoundrel tries to kiss you?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Mostly just stand there until he finishes.”
He stared at her. “Does this happen often? I thought you’d never stood up with a man to dance before.”
“Kissing isn’t dancing,” she pointed out. “Men needn’t write their names upon one’s card in order to steal a kiss.”
“Writing their names upon your card is the very least that—” Theo clenched his fingers about his crutches and tried to slow his pulse. The blackguards in her past were not currently present for Theo to teach a lesson. He started again. “With the right man, you’ll enjoy kissing. With the wrong one, slap him.”
She made a face. “He was definitely the wrong one.”
Theo tried to ignore the flash of relief at the realization that there had been only one such incident before. With Virginia, any of the usual assumptions were out the window. He wanted their first time to be perfect. Theo hadn’t been this nervous about the thought of kissing a girl in twenty years. He didn’t want her to look back on the memory and wrinkle her nose, but to sigh happily.
His heart skipped when he realized this meant he was thinking of their first kiss as a foregone conclusion. As inevitable as the tides, or the waxing of the moon.
“Here we go.” He was glad they had the pretext of “boorish suitor” to protect them. If he kissed her as himself, in the way he truly wanted to… Who knew what would happen?
He closed the distance between them. Their toes were now touching. His lips could be on hers in a heartbeat.
“You’re not wearing a fichu,” he said. “I can look down your bodice from this angle.”
She stared back up at him in silence.
“Slap me,” he whispered. “That was an extremely impolite thing to say.”
“You can see down my bodice from that angle,” she said. “Do you like it?”
“I like your bosom from every angle,” he growled. “That’s not the point. The point is—”
Good Lord. He didn’t even have to act to behave poorly.
Her lips curved. “I like how you look from every angle, too.”
“Do not say things like that to a self-important cad,” he warned her. “He’ll think you mean them.”
“I mean it with you.” She peered up at him shyly, then glanced away. “I find you attractive.”
Desire pulsed through Theo’s blood. This lesson was not at all going the way he had planned.
“You are more than attractive.” He could barely fight the craving to kiss her. It was more than the allure of plump red lips and long lashes over bright green eyes. It was Virginia. Everything about her was irresistible. “Scoundrels will be as captivated by you as I am. You must defend yourself.”
“From what?”
“From this.” He lowered his mouth to hers.
