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pompous, a—
    “I asked you a question, Annabella. I expect an answer.” The man’s disdainful voice made her jump, interrupting her inner tirade.
    She ground her teeth together and wished him to the devil. “Yes! I’ve kept to myself. There. Happy?”
    “Hardly.” The duke laughed.
    Juliet’s blood boiled. She wanted to slap the smug look off his face, scratch his eyes out. “Forgive me, your grace, but may I ask what you find so amusing?”
    He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. Sunlight limned his face and sparked glints of gold in his light brown hair, giving him an almost angelic quality.
    Only y’re no angel, are you, your grace? Juliet concentrated on masking her churning emotions.
    “You expect me to believe your mother allowed you to miss even one country ball, lawn party, or dinner party where she had a chance to find a husband for you? More than likely you scared all the fops off with your haughty attitude… or bit them.” He raised his hand and extended the index finger. “I know I learned my lesson.”
    The elegant room started to spin and Juliet grabbed the arms of the chair to steady herself. Annabella? Bit the duke? Surely not! A vision of her friend in one of her fits of temper filled Juliet’s mind. Yes… she could well have bitten him, but surely that had been when she was younger. “I…” She offered a weak smile.
    He feigned surprise, even placed his hand over his heart. A gold signet ring inscribed with an intricate design flashed, drawing Juliet’s gaze.
    “Do not tell me you have already forgotten the day you…”
    Juliet’s heart thumped so hard she was sure the duke could hear it slam into her ribs. The insistent pounding filled her ears, drowning out his voice. She couldn’t breathe. She swallowed, but a knot had lodged in her throat and refused to permit air to pass. Annabella had persuaded her how easy it would be to fool the duke.
    “I just don’t think I can do it. I won’t know the proper thing to say, the suitable way to behave…”
    “Oh fluff. You are a lot more like a lady than I. Just be yourself and avoid the duke as much as you can. I have only seen his grace a handful of times, and not at all in the past four years. He never paid any mind to me, except for an occasional cursory glance to show his disapproval at something I had said or done. I’ll send a message with Mother’s name in a couple of days — a week at the most — and request that you join her in Bath. Instead, you will come back here to Wyndham Green, Mother will be none the wiser, and I will have avoided his grace.”
    How foolish they’d been to believe such a deception could work. While the duchess had insisted Juliet be schooled along with Annabella — especially after Annabella had started sounding more like a servant than an aristocrat — an education above her class offered little help if she didn’t know what in blazes the man was talking about. She wasn’t even going to last through this meeting without the duke realizing she was a fraud.
    I will never forgive Annabella for this . It would serve her right if Juliet exacted revenge by using the pretense that she was Annabella to confess to the duke that she was madly in love with Vicar Hamilton and couldn’t bear the thought of marrying anyone else. But her mother had refused to consent to the marriage and had only sent her to London to put distance between the two lovers. Beg the duke to intervene and arrange for her and the vicar to be married posthaste.
    “She didn’t have a choice.”
    “She? You mean you , don’t you?”
    Uh oh. Juliet’s mind raced for a way to correct her blunder. “I-I was referring to m-my mother. She hasn’t been invited to anything, which means I haven’t.”
    “That’s ridiculous and absurd. She’s the Duchess of Wyndham. Everyone would want her at their party.”
    “Not if she’s been given the cut.”
    “By whom?” Grey’s voice mixed disbelief with anger.