Read Online Redemption of the Duke by Gayle Callen - Free Book Online

steal more kisses.
    It wasn’t much later that the kisses became more.
    “Miss Cooper?”
    She blinked and brought herself back to the present. Before her stood a tiny elderly
     woman, and when Faith rose to her feet, the woman barely came up to her chin. She
     wore an empire-waist gown from another era, plenty of necklaces that jingled together
     with her slight tremor, and a turban wrapped about her head. She now studied Faith
     through a monocle that dangled from a jeweled chain.
    “Good evening, ma’am,” Faith said, curtsying. “Have we met?”
    “No, we have not, young lady, and I decided to remedy that. I was looking for a place
     to sit and someone pointed out the open chair next to you.”
    Someone? she thought, but didn’t question her.
    “I am Lady Duncan. Do sit beside me and keep me company.”
    Faith waited until the lady sat down slowly, using her cane, before she took her own
     seat.
    Sighing as she stretched out one leg, Lady Duncan said, “Ah, that is better. These
     sorts of events are such a crush, and I find it difficult to stand so much. People
     talk over my head, of course, and it grows most tiresome asking them to repeat themselves
     with all this loud music. You speak right into my good ear, Miss Cooper, and we’ll
     get along famously.”
    Faith smiled at her. “May I fetch you a drink, my lady?”
    “Oh, no, then I’ll have to be in the ladies’ retiring room all the time.”
    Faith blinked and hid a snort of laughter at such refreshing honesty.
    “Eh, I look at all these foolish young girls, pining away for a dance, and I feel
     sorry for them.”
    “Why, ma’am?”
    “Today’s young man is too interested in himself, flitting about from his horse racing
     to his gambling to his pugilism. They don’t wish to find a nice wife—they want to
     enjoy themselves until they’re too old to make a girl a good husband.”
    Faith chuckled.
    “Ah, but I am hurting your feelings, Miss Cooper. You are unmarried, and perhaps you
     wish it were not so.”
    “I am a realist, my lady. My features did not attract a young man in my youth, and
     without a dowry, I had to work for my living. No young man here would be interested
     in a lady’s companion.”
    “Your youth? Are you an ancient, then?”
    Faith looked around at all the delicate young women. “Sometimes I feel it.”
    “Do tell me your age.”
    “Twenty and five, my lady.”
    “Pshaw, I did not marry Lord Duncan until near thirty. I turned down seven proposals
     before him, and a few after.”
    “Seven proposals?” Faith exclaimed, delighted.
    “A woman must be careful to find the man who will be indulgent to all of her activities.
     And my activities have always gone far beyond morning calls and the opera.”
    “And what activities do you pursue, my lady?” Faith asked.
    “Women’s rights!” Lady Duncan clapped her hands together, drawing several startled
     looks. “Did you read Mary Wollstonecraft’s book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ?”
    “Yes, ma’am, I did. A fascinating study about women’s education and upbringing limiting
     our expectations, not our gender.”
    Lady Duncan patted her knee. “I knew I was going to like you!”
    They conversed for the next half hour, their topics ranging from women’s rights to
     industrialization’s effect on landowners to the latest novel. Faith forgot about the
     party, her duties, and just enjoyed the eccentric old lady’s forward-thinking views
     and clever responses.
    “Oh, it is difficult to have such conversations at home,” Lady Duncan said, sighing
     heavily.
    “I feel the same way, ma’am.”
    “There are too many silly women in your house, too?”
    They shared grins.
    “My dear, I think you should come accept a position with me.”
    Faith’s smile died and she stared into the old woman’s bright eyes. “Oh, ma’am, you
     are kind, but—”
    “Do not think I’m being impulsive. Although I will not tell my family this,” and she
     leaned