The Irish Duke by Virginia Henley Page A

tumbled to the track. The rest of the Russell brothers tried to avoid him and lost valuable time. At the three-quarter mark, Abercorn’s mare made her move and pulled into the lead. Louisa knew she couldn’t catch him, but she kept her head low and sailed past Teddy and George, whose big horses were winded.
    As Toby calculated the winnings and prepared to pay the bets, the Russell brothers flung insults at Edward and blamed him for their losses. “Lady Louisa takes the lion’s share of the winnings,” Toby said with a grin.
    “How the devil did you come in second?” Jack demanded.
    “Because my horse carried the least weight.”
    “What on earth made you think Abercorn would be the overall winner?”
    She glanced at James Hamilton as he accepted his winnings and when their eyes met, she quickly looked away. “I bet on his horse. Arabians are bred for speed and grace. It had absolutely nothing to do with him.” That’s not true. He has a will of iron. Determination is bred into his bones. Despite his beautiful smile and charming manners, if he sets his mind on a goal, I’m willing to bet he will move heaven and hell to achieve it. Louisa shuddered.

    Georgy followed Louisa into her bedchamber. “Help me out of this damn riding dress. It’s much too tight.”
    Lu unbuttoned the back of the dress, then proceeded to remove her own.
    “The very worst thing you can ever do is win a bet against a man. It humiliates him. But if you lose, it makes him feel superior. Don’t you know anything, Lu?”
    “I know that I refuse to play games in order to attract a man.”
    Georgy sat on the bed. “Catching a husband isn’t a game, Lu. It is a deadly serious business. Hasn’t it sunk in that without a husband you’ll have no status and no home?”
    Lu shivered as she recalled her disturbing dream about being homeless. “Mother often complains about her own mother’s obsessive matchmaking. She insists that titles are unimportant and encourages all of us to marry for love.”
    “Lu, for God’s sake, don’t be so obtuse. She says these things but she doesn’t mean them. Look at the facts! You know the history of the Gordon sisters. They all married titled, wealthy, powerful men. Mother was the youngest and her ambition knew no bounds. She managed to get herself engaged to the Duke of Bedford, the premier duke of the realm. But when Francis Russell suddenly died, she lost no time whatsoever in making sure she would still be the Duchess of Bedford. By marrying his brother, she got the status, the wealth, Woburn Abbey, and most important of all, she got the title.”
    Louisa was horrified at her sister’s words. “She married Father for love!”
    “How utterly convenient that she loved him.”

Chapter Four
    “Y ou’re looking most elegant this morning.” Lu was surprised to see her sister had donned one of her best gowns.
    “The Hollands and the Greys will be here soon. I’m determined to make a favorable impression upon the parents of both Teddy and George.”
    After breakfast, Lord and Lady Holland arrived and an hour later, Earl and Countess Grey showed up. The Duchess of Bedford gathered her guests in the blue drawing room, so the doting parents could be reunited with their sons.
    Louisa observed with a jaundiced eye how Earl Grey and Lord Holland fawned upon her mother, each outdoing the other’s blatant compliments and outrageous flattery. They act as if they are courting her, she thought with disgust. When her brothers Edward and Charles joined the company, Lu saw her chance to escape and slipped out unseen.
    She wandered down to the kennels where her brother Jack was visiting his hunting dogs. The moment they saw him, the hounds’ baying became deafening. “They have clearly missed you.”
    “And I’ve missed them.” As he opened the kennel gate, half a dozen hounds and Gordon setters bounded through it and encircled Jack, prancing and leaping ecstatically. “They want to play fetch . Help me find