Page 78 of A Deal with the Devil

She just grinned at him.

He shook his head and turned politely to Lord Tadworth.

“It’s my name, you see,” the elderly earl said. “They called me Toadworth when I was a boy and snuck toads and frogs into my shoes and my bed and even my supper bowl at Eton. It backfired, of course. I don’t mind being called Toad at all now.”

Kitty ignored the rows of matching green books, though the sheer number of them tempted her to linger. It was difficult not to reach for them, to read a few pages. She forced herself past rows of poetry and plays and more books on natural history than she could have even guessed existed in London. All of England. There were novels, too, she was gratified to see. The critics said novels were bad for the female brain, that they caused anxiety and headaches. Poppycock. Novels were good for the soul. They were simply another way to make friends, to see the world. To rest.

And here they were. Shelves of novels, none of them in matching leather bindings. She searched, finding nothing but prose and poetry.

And then: The Delights of the Duchess, volume six.

She had found Lady Caroline’s note and scrawled symbol in another volume of the same series. Anticipation caught in her throat as she reached for it. Lord Tadworth was still talking to Devil about toad habitats. He had forgotten all about her. She bent over the book, shielding it as she thumbed through the pages. Please, please let there be something. Anything.

In this volume, the duchess explored her very wicked desires for the duke’s valet.

Lady Caroline had dog-eared a few pages.

And she’d also scrawled a note.

This is my favorite of the series thus far. I point you to chapter fifty-five. I’m sending this copy with Agnes. I would hate for your maman to open it accidentally!

Who was Agnes? Did Lady Caroline merely enjoy reading about being trapped in an artist’s studio in a snowstorm with a handsome man, or was there some other clue to the chapter?

Kitty dropped the book into her reticule, vowing to return it as soon as Evie was safe from Lord Portsmouth.

Whenever that might be.