'Men can be very boring,' Annabel agreed. Of course, sometimes it's difficult to stay awake.' 'And listen to everything your suitor says as if God Himself is speaking. An innocent simper,' she clarified.'Smirk,' Josie noted in her book. It seemed to me that the primary requirement for a debutante is a smirk. 'I was in London for the better part of April,' Imogen said, 'and I saw plenty of young ladies in your situation, Josie. I can't rely on beauty, the way the two of you did.' I want to understand the challenges beforehand. 'There's more to gaining a husband than not tripping over his feet while waltzing. 'In that case, I wonder that you're so interested in it.' 'I've heard that marriage rots the brain,' her youngest sister told her cheerfully. 'Only because you mention it every other minute. You do remember that I'm to have a season next year, don't you?'Īnnabel opened one eye. 'You are the only one of us to have actually gone on the season, and you married into a title. 'I need better advice than that,' Josie said to her. You were stomping on Mayne's toes the other night.' 'One should be able to dance,' Annabel noted. 'I know nothing of the marriage market.' She was sorting silk stockings and didn't even look up from the dressing table. 'I am making a study of the skills required to succeed in the marriage market and since you two are both married, you are my primary sources of information.' 'That is precisely the kind of advice I need.' Josie snapped open a small book and poised her quill. 'Given that men make slim use of their heads,' Annabel, the Countess of Ardmore said, 'you don't have to threaten decapitation simply allow the fellow to believe that he made up his own mind about marriage.' She was tucked in Imogen's bed and appeared little more than a tousle of curls peeking from under the bedcovers. 'I'd remove his head from his body,' Josie said with dignity. 'What if he refused?' Imogen, sometimes known as Lady Maitland, asked. 'I would simply command an appropriate man to marry me by special license.' 'I wish I were a queen,' Miss Josephine Essex said to two of her elder sisters. The Taming of the Duke Chapter One In Which the Curiosities of Courtship are Reviewed

Eloisa james the taming of the duke