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Girl meets Duke
Tessa Dare
‘I absolutely adored it. I laughed out loud numerous times… Love her writing.’ Jodi PicoultThe addictive new Regency read from the New York Times bestselling author that’s perfect for fans of Georgette Heyer!The next installment in Tessa Dare’s addictive Girl meets Duke series.
TESSA DARE is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty historical romances. Her books have won numerous accolades, including Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® award (twice) and the RT Book Reviews Seal of Excellence. Booklist magazine named her one of the ‘new stars of historical romance’, and her books have been contracted for translation in more than a dozen languages.
A librarian by training and a booklover at heart, Tessa makes her home in Southern California, where she lives with her husband, their two children, and a trio of cosmic kittens.
Girl Meets Duke
The Duchess Deal
The Governess Game
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
The Wallflower Wager
Tessa Dare
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-0-008-26827-5
THE WALLFLOWER WAGER
© 2019 Eve Ortega
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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Note to Readers (#u48879466-5512-5c83-8ef2-ad196a65799b)
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Because little girls don’t stay little forever
Contents
Cover (#ueab0ee5c-8ed0-5334-8741-b6ef43831e04)
About the Author (#uea765843-5c02-5785-bdfd-0837632cc3c1)
Booklist (#u263185a3-b623-513d-b087-d571100f7b92)
Title Page (#u66ce35c3-ee78-502d-8026-11c54107a01c)
Copyright (#u37259f81-329c-5bce-b88d-dd3e79ab2e4b)
Note to Readers (#u5277b18f-4fa8-55ac-9ab9-5382b63fea4c)
Dedication (#u69322a29-9d09-57f9-8478-f04d764f8d30)
Chapter One (#uf3c752e9-55bd-5ac1-8ea4-9856a479b16e)
Chapter Two (#ub2cfb009-48b1-5869-9f53-5532e75160aa)
Chapter Three (#u0af7de5d-7f64-5ec9-b403-ae383237cf32)
Chapter Four (#u5dbe0992-556a-5f2a-a079-94bb02cb9b4a)
Chapter Five (#u4f18dcaf-418b-5f31-a128-c2508017997e)
Chapter Six (#u8651d2b3-5cae-5d08-a486-26aa2e7a0102)
Chapter Seven (#u775638c7-604a-550c-9370-675264aa2195)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u48879466-5512-5c83-8ef2-ad196a65799b)
Over her years of caring for unwanted animals, Lady Penelope Campion had learned a few things.
Dogs barked; rabbits hopped.
Hedgehogs curled up into pincushions.
Cats plopped in the middle of the drawing room carpet and licked themselves in indelicate places.
Confused parrots flew out open windows and settled on ledges just out of reach. And Penny leaned over window sashes in her nightdress to rescue them—even if it meant risking her own neck.
She couldn’t change her nature, any more than the lost, lonely, wounded, and abandoned creatures filling her house could change theirs.
Penny gripped the window casing with one hand and waved a treat with her other. “Come now, sweeting. This way. I’ve a biscuit for you.”
Delilah cocked her plumed head and regarded the treat. But she didn’t budge.
Penny sighed. She had no one to blame but herself, really. She’d forgotten to cover the birdcage completely at sundown, and she’d left a candle burning far too late while she finished a delicious novel. However, she’d never dreamed Delilah could be clever enough to reach between the bars with one talon and unlatch the little door.
Once the parrot had escaped her cage, out the window she flew.
Penny pursed her lips and whistled. “See, darling? It’s a lovely biscuit, isn’t it? A gingersnap.”
“Pretty girl,” the parrot chirruped.
“Yes, dear. What a pretty, pretty girl you are.”
Delilah made a tentative shuffle sideways. At last, progress.
The bird came closer . . .
“That’s it. Here you come, sweetheart.”
Closer . . .
“Good girl.”
Just a few more inches . . .
Drat.
Delilah snatched the biscuit from Penny’s fingers, scuttled backward, and took a brief flight, coming to land on the windowsill of the next house.
“No. Please. No.”
With a flutter, Delilah disappeared through the open window.
Drat and blast.
The old Wendleby residence had lain vacant for years, save for a few servants to watch over the place, but the property had recently changed hands. The mysterious new owner had yet to make an appearance, but he’d sent an architect and a regiment of laborers to make several noisy, dusty improvements. A house under construction was no place for a defenseless bird to be flying about in the dark.
Penny had to retrieve her.
She eyed the ledge connecting the two houses. If she kicked off her slippers, climbed out onto the ledge, clung to the narrow lip of mortar with her bare toes, and inched across it . . . the open window would be within reach. The distance was only a few feet.
Correction: It was only a few feet to the window. It was twenty-odd feet to the ground.
