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.Too impatient to wait in the front hall for the carriage to be brought around, she stepped out onto the sidewalk and her heart sank when an opulent coach-and-four bearing the Bellingham insignia pulled up.A Bellingham footman jumped down from his place at the back of the horse-drawn carriage to open the door.Augustus’ chiseled profile leaned into view.“The lovely Lady Wilhelmina.” He eyed her package.“Are you going somewhere? Allow me to convey you there.”She looked around.Where was her carriage? Time was running short.Lady Rawdon’s event would commence at any moment.She had to get the tea there in time.“Very well.It will be just a moment for my abigail.”Augustus extended a hand to help her up into the coach.“No need for that.” A cool smile.“After all, we are practically family.”She stood her ground well away from the coach.As if she would ever place herself in a position of vulnerability with him again.“I go nowhere without Clara.”A footman hurried inside to call for Willa’s maid.Only when she finally rushed out, pulling on her bonnet, did Willa allow the earl to hand her up into his coach.Clara slipped in beside her.Augustus took the seat opposite them, his back to the driver.He tapped on the roof, signaling the coachman to drive on.“I am going to the coffee house on Bond Street,” Willa said.“Do you know it?”His brow arched.“I do indeed.Although I have to say it is distasteful the way unchaperoned innocents have taken to congregating there.”Glancing out the window, she wished the coachman would move faster.“It is a perfectly respectable establishment.”“I should like to announce our betrothal immediately.”She swung her head from the window to him.“I am not marrying you.I’ve made myself quite clear in that regard.”“I should think your reputation would not allow you to be so choosy.”“Whose fault is it that my reputation is not as pristine as it once was?” she retorted while Clara shifted uncomfortably beside her.“Exactly.” He regarded her over the bridge of his well-formed nose.“I am most willing to rectify it.”She shook her head, thoroughly exasperated.“I do not wish to marry.Not you nor anyone else.” The carriage lurched to a halt.“Why have we stopped?”“London traffic is atrocious.” His austere expression chilled.“Perhaps you await your duke.”“He is not my duke.I don’t know what this feud between you and Hartwell is about, but I want nothing to do with it.”“Impossible.You are the prize we both intend to claim.”“Please.Hartwell has no serious interest in me.” She almost laughed at the irony.For years, there had been no suitors save a bevy of fortune hunters.And now both a duke and an earl vied for her attention? “I’m quite the tainted prize, wouldn’t you say?”His expression firmed.“I don’t intend to lose to that man.”The carriage inched forward.She regarded Augustus with open curiosity, taking in the sun-shot curls and high-cut cheekbones.Without a doubt, he was pleasingly formed, probably the most handsome man of her acquaintance, yet his presence now left her completely unmoved.“Why did Hartwell pummel you at university?” she asked.“Isn’t it obvious?” If her question surprised him, he gave no sign of it.“I was the heir and he a second son with few prospects.I was deep in my cups which gave him quite an advantage during that unfortunate encounter.”The carriage stopped again.Willa glanced out of the window.She would be late to the coffee house if they didn’t start moving again soon.She turned her attention back to Augustus.“But that was long ago and now he is a duke.Why would the animus linger?”“Hartwell has always wanted what I have.” His lips twisted into an ironic smile.“Claiming you would be his ultimate revenge.The entire metropolis knows I intend to have you.Hartwell was aware of it even at university.”“Beg pardon? That was years ago.”“As your cousin’s particular friend, it was well known to him I planned to return home to pledge my troth to you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]