Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
“Have you ever seen the film A Duchess for a Duke?” she asks.
I can’t stop the grin from spreading across my face at her mention of the Daniel De Luca movie. “One of my favorites,” I confess in the same almost-whisper.
“I’m so pleased to hear that.” Her eyes seem to dance like she’s about to reveal a secret. “Much of it was filmed here.”
My lungs stop functioning and I have to consciously breathe. “Here?” I lean closer to her, point my finger in the air and circle it.
“The entire house and gardens. I convinced George to go to the Chelsea house for three weeks while I stayed here during filming. He wasn’t happy about it, but a friend of a friend is a producer, and she thought Fairfield House would be the perfect location for the duke’s country residence in the film.”
“It was—is—perfect,” I reply. “So beautiful.” I shake my head. “I can’t believe the coincidence, but Ben and I met when I was visiting the spot in Green Park where Daniel and Julia Alice meet for the very first time. In fact, I mistook him for Daniel and made a complete fool out of myself.”
She laughs. “Yes, he does look rather like him. I thought that when we met this afternoon. It gave me flashbacks to when they were here filming.”
“What are you two talking about so conspiratorially over there?” the duke asks.
“Oh, nothing,” the duchess says, her eyes twinkling.
“I bet you’re talking about that stupid film,” he huffs.
I can’t help but laugh. The duke isn’t quite as grumpy as Ben, but he’s not far off.
“We’re having more fun than you lot over there, talking about hotels,” the duchess says.
The duke grumbles under his breath but goes back to his conversation with Ben.
“Was filming very disruptive?” I ask. How exciting to have movie stars wandering about your house.
“The duke would have thought so, but I enjoyed it. There were certain rooms they weren’t allowed into—our bedroom, George’s study, the afternoon parlor, the morning room.”
I scan the room around me, thinking back to the movie. I haven’t seen it for a while, but I don’t remember this room as a setting.
“Your bedroom is the room where the duke and duchess first kiss,” the duchess says.
I sit back in my chair. The excitement is almost overwhelming. I wish my mom were here—she would freaking love to hear this. “The duck-egg-blue silk walls. Of course. I should have remembered. That scene was so beautiful.”
“So romantic.”
“The most romantic. Up until that scene, I wasn’t certain he would ever make his move. I mean, all those brooding looks! I suspected he loved her, but that scene . . .” I sigh, remembering how he spluttered over his declaration of love.
“I think she was in love with him from the start,” the duchess says. “I know they were strangers when they first got engaged, but it was like she always saw a different side of him than anyone else.”
“I think it might be my favorite movie of his. I wasn’t expecting to like it; I didn’t think I’d appreciate Daniel De Luca in britches. But he can make anything look good.”
The duchess laughs a full, throaty laugh, and I catch the duke smiling to himself as he watches her. “Some men are like that. I always tell George he should buy his suits from Marks & Spencer because he could make them look just as good as the suits he has made on Jermyn Street.”
I shrug. “You’re right. Some men can look good in a garbage bag.” I squeeze Ben’s hand. There’s not a bone in my body faking anything at that moment.
“You know they had to move the bed in your room to get the shots of the kiss. They built a camera track in a circle.”
“It must have been so awesome to get to see it all. Did you get to talk to the actors?”
“Absolutely,” she says. “Both Daniel and Avani have come to stay with us since, and we occasionally meet up with Daniel in town. He’s a lovely man. Very thoughtful.”
I’m sitting opposite a person who has sat opposite Daniel De Luca. Maybe Melanie was right and the duchess will introduce us, and we’ll fall wildly in love and get married.
“I’m such a huge fan,” I say. “Tomorrow, could I take some pictures of the places where they filmed?”
“Of course. I can give you the full film tour.”
If the ladies attending the convention back at my hotel could only see me now. Who’d have thought that pretending to be an almost-stranger’s fiancée would have led me on another journey closer to Daniel De Luca?
Sometimes, you just can’t escape fate.
Chapter Fifteen
Sitting on the bed while I wait for Ben to finish in the bathroom, I take in the blue silk wallpaper. I can’t believe I get to sleep in the bedroom where Daniel De Luca kissed Avani Tudor in A Duchess for a Duke. It was such an iconic scene because it was the first time the duke let his cold exterior thaw a little. The thaw quickly became a flood, and he kissed her.