How to Dazzle a Duke

Dazzle

a Duke

Claudia Dain

Praise for

The Courtesan’s Secret

“Clever, smart, fresh, and passionate . . . [A] lively romp . . .

Delightfully entertaining.”

—
Library Journal

“Highly amusing repartee and some wickedly attractive open

ends round things out.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“Dain’s clever tale of love and mayhem . . . Her talent for writing

humor remains. That, plus her suggestive dialogue and a diverse

set of characters, comes together in an enjoyable story.”

—
Romantic Times

The Courtesan’s Daughter

“This cleverly orchestrated, unconventional romp through the glit

tering world of the Regency elite [is] graced with intriguing char

acters, laced with humor, and plotted with Machiavellian fl air.”

—
Library Journal

“A witty Regency that sparkles and sizzles!”

—New York Times
bestselling author Liz Carlyle

continued . . .

“[The author adds] a feel for the ton . . . well-written.”

—
Midwest Book Review

“Wonderful . . . great dialogue . . . Sophia the seasoned courtesan

[is] so feisty and fun . . . Don’t miss this fresh and extremely fun

romp through romantic London. It is, as Sophia would say, ‘sim

ply too delicious to miss!’”

—Night Owl Romance

And more praise for

Claudia Dain’s novels

“Dain deftly blends humor, adventure, suspense, and pathos.”

—
Booklist

“Claudia Dain writes with intelligence, sensuality, and heart, and

the results are extraordinary!”

—New York Times
bestselling author Connie Brockway

“Claudia Dain never fails to write a challenging and complex

romance.”

—A Romance Review

“Dain is a talented writer who knows her craft.”

—
Romantic Times

“[Claudia Dain writes] a red-hot romance.”

—Publishers Weekly

Berkley Sensation Titles by Claudia Dain

THE COURTESAN’S DAUGHTER

THE COURTESAN’S SECRET

THE COURTESAN’S WAGER

How to

Dazzle

a Duke

Claudia Dain

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3,

Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R

0RL, England • Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Pen

guin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124,

Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Com

munity Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive,

Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books

(South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s

imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business

establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over

and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright © 2009 by Claudia Welch.

Interior text design by Tiffany Estreicher.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form

without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in viola

tion of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

BERKLEY® SENSATION and the “B” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dain, Claudia.

How to dazzle a duke / Claudia Dain.

p. cm.—(Berkley Sensation trade paperback ed.)

ISBN:

1-101-13914-5

1. Courtesans—Fiction. 2. Aristocracy (Social class)—England—Fiction. 3. Marriage brokerage—

Fiction. I.

Title.

PS3604.A348H69

2009

813'.6—dc22 2009020346

How to

Dazzle

a Duke

One

London 1802

MISS Penelope Prestwick stood in the middle of the conservatory

of her father’s Upper Brook Street home and stared at the roses.

The roses were a disaster.

The roses, purchased to make a pleasing and, one hoped,

impressive display of her horticultural talents to the marriage

able men of the ton, none of whom had any need to know

she did not possess horticultural talents until one of their num

ber was securely married to her, had not done the job at all.

All her roses had done was to somehow become involved

in getting Lady Amelia Caversham married to the Earl of

Cranleigh.

Which, actually, was perfectly lovely as Lady Amelia had

been rather obviously on the market for a duke. As Penelope was

also on the market for a duke, it would certainly have become

awkward very quickly. Her roses, ruined now, had done a good

bit of work, now that she considered it.

Penelope Prestwick was a girl who considered everything, a

trait she found quite admirable and certainly useful. Her future

husband had no need to know that either. Men were so much

2 CLAUDIA DAIN

more pleasant, which is to say, manageable, when they did not

understand too much.

“What will you do to them now?” her brother, George, asked

her, rather ironically, given the direction of her thoughts. “Throw

them down some distant well?”

“Don’t be absurd, George,” Penelope said stiffly. “How can I

get rid of the evidence of my spectacular talent with roses? I must

save them, somehow. I can’t simply get rid of them, can I?”

“They did serve their purpose. What point in keeping

them, Pen?”

“George,” she said with strained patience, “everyone at our

ball, indeed, everyone in Town, knows that I keep roses and that

they dwell in my conservatory. Having played a part in Lady

Amelia’s marriage, how can I ever be rid of them now? Besides,

everyone thinks I’m rose mad. I shall have to continue on with

it, shan’t I?”

“I don’t suppose you could simply inform people that they’d

died of some malady. That would be too simple by half.”

“Who would ever believe a word of that? These roses are

famous. I can’t be rid of them now. No, the thing to do, obviously,

is to use them somehow. I wish I could think how.”

“As to using things, there’s that shawl.”

Yes, there was
that
shawl. Of course, it was quite well-known

that Lady Amelia, a duke’s daughter, had behaved in quite ques

tionable fashion and that a scandalous satire had been done of

her, and of Penelope’s roses. As a result of all of it, or a part of it,

no one was quite certain, Lady Amelia had been promptly mar

ried to Cranleigh.

It was, to put it mildly, a scandal.

Penelope had the shawl, ripped, and the roses, ruined,

and knew she had to do something with both, but was not at

all sure what.

Lady Dalby would know.

How to Daz zle a Duke

3

Yes, that was undeniable. Something had to be done. And

when something had to be done, particularly concerning men,

Sophia Dalby was the precise person one should see. Of that,

Penelope had no doubt whatsoever.

“George, we’re going to see Lady Dalby,” Penelope said fi rmly.

“You, of course, will wait for me outside. I do not think this will

be an appropriate conversation for a gentleman to hear.”

“Going to talk marriage, are you?” George said wryly.

“Precisely,” Penelope said as she walked away.

She was going to change her dress. She was not going to face

Sophia looking even slightly less than perfect. That it was coming

on five and the Duke of Edenham had an appointment with Lady

Dalby for six o’clock was not a coincidence to be ignored. In

deed, Penelope did not believe in coincidence. All could and

should be arranged to suit oneself beautifully. Relying on coin

cidence was for spoilt girls, and she was no such thing. She was

a determined, logical, precise sort of girl, and she had deter

mined to marry a duke, or an heir apparent at the very least.

Logically, she had made it a point to overhear Edenham make

his six o’clock appointment with Sophia. She planned to arrive

at Dalby House at precisely half fi ve. There was no need to look

too
precise about running into the duke, was there?

Of course not.

6

DALBY House was quite lovely, though the Dalby House butler

was not. He was a rugged-looking man, not at all what one

sought in a butler as to physical appearance, and he was of

somewhat irregular demeanor and perhaps just slightly indis

creet in his responses, which was also not at all desirable in a

butler. Why, he very nearly grinned when he accepted her card.

And then he was bold enough to stick his head out the door and

twist his neck around until it was perfectly obvious he’d spotted

4 CLAUDIA DAIN

George loitering across the street, fussing with his waistcoat,

most like.

What a perfectly horrid beginning to what was certain to be

an awkward exchange once she put her request to Lady Dalby in

the fl esh.

In the flesh
was not the sort of expression common to Penelope,

but when one was dealing with Sophia Dalby, it was the expression

that sprang most vigorously to mind. Sophia Dalby was, without

question, the most famously seductive woman that anyone in two

generations had occasion to know. Even Penelope’s father,

Viscount Prestwick, who did not know Sophia personally, knew

nearly everything about her and found her fascinating. It was

one of the main reasons that Lady Dalby had been included on

the guest list for the ball. One of
his
main reasons. Penelope’s sole

purpose in wanting Sophia to attend was that if a woman was as

famously seductive as Sophia was reputed to be, and indeed she

was, then all the most interesting men in Town were certain to

follow her about like cats after cream.

And so it was.

Very nearly everyone who had been invited, and her guest

list had been aggressive and high reaching, had attended. Hence

the horrid crush of people. Hence the attendance of two dukes

and one heir apparent. She hadn’t dared to even hope for that,

but come they had, trailing in Sophia’s wake. Penelope was far

from being outraged or insulted or alarmed by Sophia’s blatant

allure, for what good would that do? Besides, Sophia had mar

ried well and had provided the proper heir to the Dalby earldom,

what need had she for a husband now? No, Penelope was nothing

so foolish as to be jealous of Sophia. What she intended was to

make use of such a valuable lure. How could she not? With so

many perfectly eligible men of the proper rank buzzing around

Sophia like so many bees, it would make catching her own man

How to Daz zle a Duke

5

so much easier, wouldn’t it? It was a perfectly logical and, dare

she admit it, nearly effortless way to get a man.

But naturally, she did not want just any man. She wanted

a duke. And for that, she rather suspected she would require

expert assistance. If any woman was an expert in getting a man,

that woman was Sophia Dalby.

Penelope was no fool. She wanted the best, both in husbands

and in aid. Sophia was the best. Penelope had absolutely no

qualms at all about seeking the proper help.

Although, perhaps, just perhaps, she did have the slightest

qualm about actually putting into words what she wanted when

faced, well and truly, by Sophia’s perceptive gaze.