Deceiving the Duke of Kerrington

Chapter One

Pierce Chadwick, the Duke of Kerrington, observed his surroundings with disdain. Once again he found himself at another monotonous ball given by another over-indulged lady of society with too much money on her hands. The ballroom was filled with white hothouse roses and a plethora of members of the ton, making this event a veritable crush. Lady Sedgewick would be pleased. Pierce grabbed another glass of champagne off the tray passing by, quickly downing its contents in one large gulp. It was his third glass, and so far it was proving not nearly effective enough to dull his senses. He would have to go in search of something stronger, if he had any hopes of making it through the rest of the evening.

The endless stream of assemblies and routs were wearing on his nerves. He had never been prone to enjoying the festivities of the ton, often finding the endless dancing and keeping-up pretenses wearisome and tedious. But growing up as the Duke of Kerrington's heir, he had all but been required to attend to keep up appearances, and of course, to look for a bride. He had often been rebellious in his youth, spending more time at his club, White's, or gallivanting around with his cronies, than taking the marriage mart seriously. But since the death of his father two years past and taking on the title of Duke himself, he was being forced to take his duties more seriously.

The duty that was forefront in his mind was taking a wife and producing an heir; not a desirable task if you asked him, but it seems that no one cared much about what he thought anyway. There may have been a time in his life when he wouldn't have minded the prospect of falling in love, getting married and starting a family of his own, but that was all in the past. For season after season, he had attended every uninteresting ball, every wearisome garden party, and every dull rout, in hopes of finding that elusive lady with whom he would fall madly in love. But season after season proved just as ineffective as the last.

The ladies of the ton bored him. He had grown tired years ago of fortune-hunting, title-seeking ladies, and their over-anxious mamas and found he could hardly tolerate their idle chatter long enough to endure a single dance with any of them. He knew his aloofness only added fuel to the already-burning fires regarding his reputation as a notorious rake, but he didn't care. Let them think what they may, for the ton often did whatever they wanted in that regards anyway.

Setting his glass down on the table, he looked up in time to see a girl looking at him coyly. Not just any girl, however, but a debutante clad in a white dress, her hair expertly coiffed like almost every other girl in attendance. Pierce wanted to groan in frustration. He supposed she was pleasant enough to look at, with her ebony hair piled high on her head and her lips the color of crushed berries, but it would take more than an attractive face to lure him in. He knew there was one thing only on the minds of any debutante, and that was catching a husband, the bigger the title the better. He quickly turned on his heel, heading in the opposite direction before the girl could get close enough to trap him into what would inevitably be a never-ending dance filled with pathetic attempts at flirtation.

Pierce exited the ballroom, relieved to get out of the stifling heat, and began wandering down the long hall, seeking other distractions to take his mind off his current search for an acceptable wife. He poked his head into a room that had been set up for gaming and quickly entered, knowing that a game or two of piquet would be the perfect diversion.

"Well, if it isn't the Duke of Kerrington." Pierce's good friend Elliot, the Viscount Martineau, sauntered towards Pierce, a drink in one hand and his other arm going clumsily around the duke's shoulders, obviously already deep in his cups. If there was one person who hated parties more than he, it was Lord Martineau. He was constantly sought out by various women of the ton who thought it was tragically romantic that he had vowed to never fall in love again after his first and only love had disappeared mysteriously. They found him a challenge and often made bets to see who could get him to fall in love with them first. So far there had been no winners.