A Duet of Regency Sex Comedies

Copyright
2012 by L.C.
Zingera

No
part of this book may be reproduced without

 
the
written consent
of the copyright owner.

This
is a work of fiction.

Any
resemblance to persons living or dead

 
is
purely
coincidental.

Nothing
Less Than
A
Duke

By

 
L.C. Zingera

Chapter One

London 1812

“Nothing less than a duke
will do,” Lady Adele declared. Her friends murmured their agreement, though not
a single one of them except for her stood a chance of netting a duke and they
all knew it. Lady Adele was the toast of the Season and the eldest daughter of
a duke with a dowry to match her station.

Vincent leaned back in
the comfortable wing back chair and listened carefully, the four girls were
completely unaware of his presence and he intended to keep it that way.

“Lord Myerson is very
handsome…” a small voice suggested.

“But only a Viscount,”
Lady Adele answered quickly.

“Handsome doesn’t
provide for our heirs,” Lady Susan interposed. “I certainly don’t want to live
in a rundown manor house, do you?”

“She’s right Cubby,”
Lady Adele agreed.

“I suppose so,” Cubby,
the apparent owner of the small voice conceded.

Cubby?
Who named a girl Cubby? She was the only one he didn’t know, the rest were well
known daughters of the
Ton
with
expectations to match their stations.

“The
only duke here so far this Season is Lord Frightwood,” Lady Susan said and the
girls all shuddered loudly and dramatically.

“Rightwood,” Cubby
corrected.

“Trust me, if you’d
ever seen him up close, you wouldn’t say that,” Lady Adele warned her.

“I’ve seen him from a
distance, and he’s perfectly fine,” Cubby defended.

“You would change your
mind if you had to consider which gentleman you were going to allow
to nestle
between your thighs,” Lady Rose said with a laugh.

They all groaned.

“What?” asked
Cubby.

“Oh
my!
She doesn’t know does she?” Lady Adele addressed
the group in general.

They all shook their
heads including Cubby.

“It’s like the animals
on the farm Cubby, a man sticks his
unmentionable
between your thighs and…”

“Susan!” Lady Rose
cried in disgust.

“Well it’s true!” Lady
Susan declared.

“I’m very well aware of
that
thank you very much!” Cubby
defended herself quite well.

“Well,
perhaps you’re more grown up than we realized then!” Lady Susan teased.

“I
just can’t imagine letting that awful man do that to me!” Lady Adele said with
a sigh, “but I suppose I will have to, at least a couple of times, if we’re to
have heirs.”

Vincent
Blackheath
, current Duke of Rightwood, the
awful man
himself, wanted to laugh aloud
at the bizarre depiction of sex by the four
very
untutored debutantes. But remained silent as a ghost hidden behind the silk
screen in the corner of the library where the girls were taking a break from
the overheated ballroom. He observed only their shapes through a chink in the
screen.

“The animals seem to enjoy
it you know,” Cubby said pragmatically. Vincent did his best to stifle his
surprised snort of laughter.

“Ugh!” the rest of them
chorused again making loud dramatic shuddering sounds. Only one, Cubby,
giggled.

“Lord Frightwood does
appear to be more beast than man,” Lady Susan pondered.

“That shaggy mane and
black eyebrows…he’s quite untamed I’m sure,” Lady Rose said.

“It’s the amber eyes,
they are positively predatory,” Lady Adele affirmed. “Like a wild animal.”

“Can you imagine being
alone in the dark with him…?” Lady Susan asked, a sudden tremor appearing in
her voice.

“I’d rather not!” Lady
Adele declared.

“I’m
developing goose flesh at the
very
thought!” Lady Rose
exclaimed.

There
then followed only the soft sounds of their ballroom slippers against the
polished wooden floor and the creak of the brass hinges of the solid oak door,
as the ladies apparently decided it was time to return to the ball.

Vincent
waited a few choice minutes for them to make their departure before leaving the
comfort of his hidden spot. He still hadn’t caught a glimpse of the cheeky
Cubby,
she’d had her back turned to him the whole time. And
exactly who was she? Both her voice and attitude were adorable and warranted
further investigation. He scanned the ballroom, Lady Adele and Lady Susan two
of the Duke of Rothersford’s daughters stood side by side with Lady Rose,
Viscount Hardy’s daughter. No fourth girl was present, but then hadn’t they
said ‘grown up enough’? She must be new on the marriage mart, two of the girls,
the sisters, although both exquisitely beautiful in a brittle porcelain doll
sort of way were each on their second Season. He wouldn’t be surprised to
discover they needed a third to snag an acceptable suitor with those ugly
attitudes. They didn’t hide them well either, as the daughters of a duke,
perhaps they didn’t think they needed to.

Damn it, he didn’t want
to spend the whole Season seeking out a suitable bride. He didn’t need an
influx of the ready, his estates were doing very well, thank you very much, though
a dowry
could
always be handy. But
certainly not handy enough to put up with those kind of disdainful attitudes
for the rest of his life! Still, a cynical side of him almost relished the idea
of putting one of them through enduring his ‘unmentionable’ between their
thighs. He had a decent enough mistress after all, but he wanted children, he
wanted a family, and he intended to get it. One way or another he would find a
suitable bride who wasn’t destined to become an uppity old hag before she was
twenty-five!

Just
for the hell of it, he strolled over to ask Lady Adele to dance first, as the
oldest daughter of a duke she obviously expected it. And he would have a better
chance to look over the rest of the crop from the dance floor. The room was
just as he anticipated. Filled with almost identical girls, similar stature,
similar dress, and hopeful expressions painted on their faces, except of course
when they saw him and quickly averted their eyes lest he invite them to dance
too. Apparently, even his enormous wealth and lofty title couldn’t compensate
for his looks. Lady Adele’s smile was frozen in place. It might have been a
grimace, it was hard to tell.

“My
father is here tonight Your Grace,” she said with emphasis, as if she expected
him to be pleased at the notion he could offer for her right away.

He didn’t answer, just
merely raised a brow. That made her frown; he imagined her scowling pouty face
over breakfast every day for the rest of his life and cringed. No doubt once
she had secured his title she would affect a permanent case of the megrims and
retire to her chambers to avoid him.

“Are you well Your
Grace?” she asked suddenly at his darkening expression. He’d been about to
answer when a petite golden haired angel walked into the ballroom, she stood at
the edge of the dance floor, and when his gaze connected briefly with hers, she
smiled at him. His heart lurched.

“Who is that?” he asked
abruptly, nodding toward the adorable angel.

“My little sister,
Cuthbertina, this is her first Season.”

Vincent’s
gaze swept from Lady Adele to the angel and back, there was barely a trace of a
family resemblance. Could this be Cubby? Suddenly his heart began to race as a
plan took shape, and he smiled down at the stick figure in his arms. “You will
introduce me,” he informed her, and propelled her across the dance floor toward
the heavenly creature before she could demure.

***

Lord
Rothersford stared at him as if he’d gone mad. There were those who thought he
was. It was the scowling dark brows that got to
them,
he didn’t try to hide or retrain his thick heavy black brows or tidy his wild
mane of jet black hair. He was a
duke,
therefore he
could and would, do as he pleased. And what pleased him now, was Cubby. He
focused his predatory amber eyes on the man before him and waited.

“I cannot allow Cubby
to go to the altar before Adele and Susan!” Lord Rothersford exclaimed.

“In that case, I bid
you good day!” Vincent rose to his feet and strode for the door. Counting down
as he did so under his breath. Five four three two…

“Very
well!”

He was back in the
library, where he’d listened in on the girls only an hour earlier. He wasn’t
about to waste any time, he knew which one he wanted, and he wasn’t going to
allow some young buck to snap her up first. Cubby had mentioned that she found
Lord Myerson handsome. When he’d requested an immediate audience with Lord
Rothersford, everyone was apparently expecting him to offer for Adele.