The Unexpected Duchess (Playful Brides #1)(20)

She tilted her head to the side. “To what? A wager?”

“Yes,” he replied with a smile on his face.

“A wager?” Cass gulped.

“What sort of wager?” Lucy asked. She had to admit, she was intrigued. Quite intrigued, actually.

“I challenge you to a battle of words. Tomorrow night, at the Havertys’ party.”

“A word challenge?” she scoffed. “You challenge me?”

Cass pointed a finger in the air. “Um, Your Grace, I’m not certain if you understand exactly…”

The duke waved away the warning. “Oh, I understand, perfectly. Lady Lucy here is known for her way with words. Correct?”

Cass nodded.

He grinned. “And I intend to show her up.”

Lucy picked up her skirts and crossed the threshold into the house. She didn’t let him see the small smile that had popped to her lips. It had been an age since anyone had challenged her. “You’d best get plenty of sleep tonight, Your Grace. You’ll need it.”





CHAPTER THIRTEEN


“The betting book at White’s has seen no rest in the last twenty-four hours.” Garrett slapped his gloves against his knee as the four friends bounced along in his carriage to the Havertys’ party the next evening. “Everyone in town is speculating about your challenge with the duke.”

Lucy straightened her shoulders and eyed her cousin. “First of all, how has everyone in town found out about it? Second, I didn’t think you were a member at White’s.”

Garrett laughed. “I’m not. But everyone at Brooks’s has been talking about it nonstop as well. You wouldn’t believe how high some of the bets are up to.”

“You didn’t answer the first question,” Lucy pointed out.

Garrett shrugged. “Very well, I may have mentioned it to a few chaps.”

“Dissolute gambler,” Jane mumbled, pulling the book away from her nose. She eyed Garrett over the top of it. “And out of curiosity, exactly how high are the bets?”

Garrett whistled. “High enough to buy a new carriage. And I’ll ignore the fact that you just called me dissolute.”

Jane smirked at him.

Cass worried her hands. “I think it is disastrous, simply disastrous.”

Lucy reached over and patted Cass’s knee. “Don’t worry, Cass. I’m certain to win.”

“I know that, Lucy. I’m just worried that it’ll harm your reputation and … Making a bet with a duke, the Duke of Claringdon of all people, cannot be good for your reputation. I’m certain of it.”

“Reputations are highly overrated if you ask me,” Jane said from behind her book.

Garrett’s eyebrow shot up. “Really?” he asked, his voice dripping sarcasm.

Jane pulled the book down to the tip of her nose and eyed him over its edge. “Yes, are you surprised I think that, Upton?”

Garrett shrugged. “No. Not particularly. Perhaps I’m only surprised that you admitted it.”

“I’m a bluestocking, Upton. If I gave a toss about my own reputation, I’d study far less and spend far more time worrying about things like hair ribbons and frocks.”

He blinked at her innocently. “Bluestockings don’t wear hair ribbons, Miss Lowndes?”

Jane pushed up the book to hide her face again. “We wear them, Upton. We just don’t care about them.”

“I’m truly worried for Lucy tonight,” Cass continued, interrupting them.

Jane dropped her book again. “I’m not worried. I’m looking forward to it, actually. I can see tomorrow’s headline in the Times, ‘Lady Lucy Crushes Claringdon.’”

Lucy raised her chin and smiled. “Thank you for your faith in me, Janie.”

“And I, for one, want a front-row seat tonight,” Jane added with a sly smile.

Cass waved her hand. “I’m worried. What if the headline ends up being, ‘Duke of Claringdon Wins Yet Another Battle’?”

“Do you really think our Lucy will let him win?” Garrett asked.

“Thank you, Garrett,” Lucy replied.

“I just think the duke is quite clever, and he’s seen a lot of the world,” Cass said. “I would hate for you to be humiliated, Lucy.”

Lucy regarded her friend closely. “Don’t worry, Cass. I’ll be fine. Have some faith.” Truth be told, she’d had her own moment of doubt in the middle of last night. Confronting the duke in public? Why, she wouldn’t be human if she didn’t have a moment’s doubt, would she? Would the arrogant duke consider for a moment if he would lose to her? She’d quickly got over it, however.

Lucy had few talents. Charming people, dancing, playing the pianoforte—those skills had eluded her for her entire life, but cutting people to shreds with her tongue? That was a gift the universe had seen fit to bestow upon her and she never doubted it. Well, perhaps for one brief little minute last night, but in the end, she knew she’d win. She had to.

When Lucy’s little group entered the ballroom, tension crackled in the air. It was as if one hundred pairs of eyes turned immediately to watch them.

“I wonder if the duke is here already,” Cass whispered from her right.