The Day of the Duchess (Scandal & Scoundrel, #3)

by Sarah MacLean

“I am deadly serious, Seraphina. Why are you here?” She leaned back against the far wall, arms crossed over her chest, glass dangling in one hand. “I was born here.” “No, you weren’t.” She lifted a shoulder. Let it fall. “I was born in a coal town in the North Country, and reborn in Boston. Covent Garden’s a proper third to the trio, don’t you think?” He narrowed his gaze on her. “You’re daughter to an earl.” She smirked. “And you are the one who was so very insistent that my father’s title didn’t count, Your Grace. A title won at cards makes no kind of blue blood, not even when won from Prinny himself.” The words stung with memory. “I never—” She stopped the lie with a wave of her glass. “More importantly, Haven, why are you here?” To rescue you. Another lie. This woman didn’t need him. In all the time he’d sought her, he’d imagined her fearful. Weak. Ruined. This woman was none of those things. There was nothing cowering about her. Instead, she was all strength. She was nothing like the woman he’d met on that long-ago night outside the Worthington ball. Except . . . she was. That woman had been bold and brash. She’d stood up to him. She’d drawn him in like a warm flame on a cold night. And for weeks afterward, her smart mouth had tempted him as much as her warm body had. And then he’d discovered the truth—that none of their courtship was real—and she’d changed. She’d quieted. She’d dimmed. She’d paled. She’d become someone else, entirely. Because of him. And now, here, w...