Chapter 1

One

“ W ill she never give up?!” Aidan Norton, the Duke of Vaston, muttered as he weaved his way through the crowd.

The crush of revelers, all dressed in their most extravagant finery, was sure to cover him. Which was lucky, because just moments before, he had almost walked in on a group of ladies that included his ex-fiancée, who had been grilling the lot of them on his whereabouts.

“If she continues like this, she’ll run me out of town,” he muttered once more to himself.

“Tell me, Your Grace,” a voice in front of him said, “who could be so menacing that she has the Duke of Vaston on the run?”

Aidan looked up to see his old university friend, Lord Casserly, smiling at him, his hand extended in greeting. “It’s good to see you again, Vaston!”

“Casserly!” Aidan was instantly flooded with relief at the sight of the Viscount, and he grinned as he took his old friend’s hand and shook it warmly. “How long has it been? Four years? Five?”

“Six. Ever since I left for India.”

“Ah, yes… of course. And how was Bombay? Were you able to save your father’s businesses?”

Casserly laughed. “I don’t know if I saved them, but I certainly tried. They are, at least, running smoothly, which is why I have returned to England. The heat, it turns out, does not agree with me. Besides, I’ve missed this place!”

Aidan laughed as he clapped a hand on his old friend’s back. “What, the dreary weather and the endless Society balls?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve grown weary of Society balls,” Casserly said with a wink. “You always used to love charming the young debutantes. That is who you’re on the run from, I’m assuming? Them or your fiancée, who I can’t imagine enjoys being engaged to the most sought-after Duke in the country.”

At the mention of his former fiancée, Aidan’s mood soured. Some of what he was feeling must have shown on his face, because Casserly’s smile faltered, and his eyebrows knitted together in concern.

“What’s wrong? Have I hit a nerve?”

Aidan tried to think of what to say. It seemed improbable to him that there was anyone in the world who didn’t know about the disastrous ending of his engagement and the scandal that had precipitated it.

The story had been splashed across the front pages of every scandal sheet in London, gossiped about at every Society event, and had plagued Aidan everywhere he’d gone for the last two months. Casserly, it seemed, was the one person in London who had not heard the news, undoubtedly because he had only just returned.

However, Casserly was now watching him with such worry that Aidan knew he had to tell him the truth.

“Lady Natalie and I are no longer engaged,” he revealed at last.

Casserly’s surprise was immediate. “No longer engaged?!” He gaped at Aidan. “But you two were Society’s power couple. And you’d been engaged since you were, what, two years old?!”

“Intended for one another since before our births,” Aidan corrected. “Formally engaged when she turned eighteen two years ago.”

Casserly shook his head. “What happened?”

Aidan exhaled. “Lady Natalie decided that someone else was better suited for her attentions.”

“She broke off the engagement?” Casserly looked incredulous. “I’m shocked her father would let her bow out of becoming a duchess! He is a textbook social climber.”

“She didn’t break it off,” Aidan rushed to say. “She?—”

“Have you seen the Duke of Vaston? I could have sworn I just saw him pass this way…” a voice sounded from just behind them, and Aidan froze.

He would recognize that sharp voice anywhere. His ex-fiancée always spoke thus when she was angry and trying to conceal it. No one else but him, and perhaps the closest of her friends and family, would be able to recognize it. But it meant that she was furious—and far too close for comfort.

She’s found me.

Seizing Casserly’s arm, Aidan ducked to the left around a group of rowdy gentlemen, pulling his friend with him.

“Quick, this way!” Aidan breathed as Casserly yelped in protest at being dragged so roughly away.

“What’s happened?” his friend hissed.

“Lady Natalie,” Aidan said darkly. “You were right, I am trying to escape her.”

Casserly nodded and quickened his pace, and Aidan felt a deep rush of gratitude towards his friend. At Oxford, Casserly had been his closest friend. They’d even been planning a Grand Tour of Europe together, before Casserly’s father had recalled him to India to take up the family business. Life had happened instead, including Aidan’s engagement to Lady Natalie Laurens, the daughter of the Marquess of Reelvain.

For all the good that had come of it.

Aidan reached the edge of the crowd, ducked behind a woman with a particularly large plumage of feathers, and then darted left until he reached one of the Corinthian columns that characterized Lord and Lady Merryweather’s London mansion. Here, he finally straightened and let out a sigh of relief.

Casserly, meanwhile, was straightening his cravat and looking distinctly ruffled. “I never imagined the day would come when I’d be slinking through a ballroom trying to avoid a beautiful woman,” he muttered, more to himself than to Aidan.

Aidan peeked out from behind the column to assess the situation. Lady Natalie was still on the opposite side of the ballroom. He could see her ink-black hair twisted in her signature cone-like updo. He could spot her easily, even through all the elaborate coiffures and headdresses of the other ladies, turning back and forth as she searched the ballroom for him.

“I think we’re safe,” Aidan murmured. “She didn’t see us.”

“Well, that was a narrow escape,” Casserly drawled. He gave his friend a piercing look. “Now, I think you need to tell me exactly what happened between yourself and the lady.”

Aidan sighed again and leaned back against the column. “It was two months ago,” he explained. “We were at Lord and Lady Harmon’s Spring Equinox ball when I caught her… in a compromising position with Lord Berbrooke. Of course, almost no one else knows of this detail, only that something happened and suddenly she had a new fiancé. So I hope I can count on your discretion!”

Casserly didn’t bother trying to disguise his shock. “I can hardly believe it,” he said faintly. “Lady Natalie?! But she is the epitome of propriety. Or, well, that is the reputation she always cultivated around herself. Of course, I won’t breathe a word of it to anyone, but I never thought this would be the reason behind the end of your engagement.”

“I believe she thought that her engagement gave her certain… liberties.”

Casserly shook his head. “And with Lord Berbrooke? The man is handsome, to be sure, but penniless. And a touch…”

“Conceited?” Aidan supplied.

“I was going to say arrogant,” Casserly replied with a smirk.

Aidan shrugged. “I don’t like to speak ill of him,” he said. “The man did the right thing after I broke our engagement. He asked for her hand before any gossip could spread, and she accepted. Of course, gossip still did spread… But at least the worst of it was mitigated.”

Casserly put a bracing hand on Aidan’s arm. “This all must have been very taxing for you. Unless you have changed very much in the past six years, I know that you avoid scandal like the plague. Of course, with looks and charm like yours, scandal was always bound to follow you, but I know you don’t seek it out.”

“Indeed,” Aidan said. “It has been… a difficult time.”

Casserly’s gaze softened. “And to lose your fiancée as well… I can only imagine what a blow that must have been.”

Aidan nodded and looked away, unsure of what to say. Even after two months, he still wasn’t entirely certain how to explain the simultaneous and sometimes contradictory feelings that the end of his engagement had brought him.

There was grief, yes, and embarrassment. Even anger. But also… something else. Something that felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders—like he’d just unclenched his jaw after years of biting down hard, like he could finally think about the future without an impending sense of doom hanging over him.

“Still, I’m not surprised the gossip columns jumped on this,” Casserly mused, interrupting Aidan’s thoughts. “A duke doesn’t end an engagement with the daughter of the Marquess of Reelvain without arousing suspicion. Such things are not generally done.”

“And generally not by the gentleman,” Aidan said with a sigh. “The honorable thing to do would have been to allow her to be the one to bow out. But I must admit, I was so shocked when I discovered them that the last thing on my mind was how to safeguard her reputation.”

“I would not feel bad about that if I were you,” Casserly scoffed indignantly. “You were the wronged party.”

“Still…” Aidan grimaced. “I do not like to cause scandal, and I hate to think what might have become of Lady Natalie’s reputation had Berbrooke not immediately offered her marriage.”

Casserly snorted. “Well, why wouldn’t he? He’s a baron, and now he’s marrying the daughter of a marquess!”

“If the marriage goes through,” Aidan said dryly. “From what I’ve heard, she is intent on getting me back. That’s why I’m avoiding her.”

This seemed to rattle Casserly. His eyes went wide, and his mouth fell open slightly. “Get you back?! She can’t be serious. After what she did?”

“It seems so,” Aidan sighed heavily. “From what my sister has been able to glean, Lady Natalie has been harassing every single woman I’ve spoken to over the last two months. She has been telling them they are wasting their efforts and that it is only a matter of time before she and I are once more engaged.”

“I’m surprised her fiancé allows her to speak that way,” Casserly said. “If a woman I’d offered for was going around telling ladies that she would soon be engaged to someone else…”

“Well, it’s as you said. Lord Berbrooke is so thrilled with the match that he gives her free rein. But from what Cherie tells me, he is trying everything within his power to plan the wedding as quickly as possible. Lady Natalie, however, is resisting a short engagement.”

Casserly nodded. His expression was slightly tense as he looked over Aidan’s shoulder, as if he couldn’t quite make eye contact with him.

“And how is Lady Cherie?” he asked slowly. “I have been meaning to call ever since I returned, but—” He cut himself off, his expression clouding. Then his eyes snapped to Aidan’s. They were wide with horror.

“What is it?” Aidan asked, his stomach lurching.

“Lady Natalie is heading right in this direction,” Casserly murmured. “And I believe she has spotted me.”

If he’d thought his stomach had lurched before, it was nothing compared to what Aidan felt now. His whole body had gone cold. In the two months since their engagement had fallen apart, Aidan had managed to avoid speaking to his ex-fiancée. But now, he was trapped in the back of the ballroom, behind a column with no easy escape.

The only hope he had would be to start a conversation with someone that Lady Natalie would rather not speak to. Someone like?—

His eyes fell on a group of women standing close by, several of whom he recognized. At once, his heart leapt. Here, at last, was his escape.

Someone like the very wallflowers she so detested.