Page 33 of It's All About the Duke
“I understand, Mrs. Abernathy. I’ll see that’s done, too.”
“Wonderful.” She smiled broadly and rolled her shoulders in a flirtatious way. “Mr. Olingworth has been kind but he had limitations as to what he could provide for us. I assume we’ll have no such limitations where you’re concerned, Your Grace.”
The duke glanced at Marlena but said nothing before turning his attention to Justine again and saying, “Well, if there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave.” He turned to walk away.
“Ah, Your Grace, yes, there is one more thing I would like to mention before you go, if you don’t mind?”
He stopped and looked at her but remained quiet.
“Marlena said you had offered us the opportunity to live in your larger home in Mayfair, but she declined.”
“Justine.” Marlena spoke up without hesitation this time, knowing where her cousin was going with the comment. Rude or not, embarrassing to Justine or not, she would not let her control this. “You know I declined and I still do. It was kind of His Grace to offer but we will not accept. I like living near Eugenia. I made it clear to both of you I will acquiesce to a lot of things in order to attend the Season, however unwillingly, and become some man’s wife so the duke will not have to care for me indefinitely, but on this issue I will remain adamant.”
“Yes, yes, of course, dear girl. I know how close you and Eugenia are, and I do enjoy a visit with her and her sister from time to time myself. I only wanted to make sure you didn’t have second thoughts about the idea and apparently you haven’t so I’ll just thank the duke for hisgenerous offer to allow us to live in his much larger home.” Justine smiled sweetly at the duke again. “Thank you, Your Grace. Now I’ll walk you to the door.”
Justine fluttered by Marlena.
The duke gave Marlena a touch of a grin and a nod before he followed her cousin out of the room.
All Marlena could think was that he had almost kissed her.
He could have read the start of her scandal sheet, but if he knew what he was reading he gave no indication.
Marlena suddenly felt as if she’d somehow just dodged the balls of two pistols that were fired at her chest.
Chapter 9
He could be a rake if he tells his friends about a conversation he had with a young lady.
MISSHONORATRUTH’SWORDS OFWISDOMANDWARNINGABOUTRAKES, SCOUNDRELS, ROGUES, ANDLIBERTINES
Hell’s teeth, Rath thought as he opened the front door of his town house. Miss Fast would be the death of his sanity. He had wanted to kiss her. She had wanted to kiss him. And would have if not for her good sense to stick the handkerchief between them just before their lips touched. He knew it was wrong to allow a kiss but he would have.
A smile twitched the corner of his mouth. Thankfully she’d found a rather sobering and amusing way to say no. He could say that had never happened to him before.
She was his ward. A very appealing ward. He’d meant those things he’d told her about providing for and protecting her. Even against himself. He’d thought on it all the way home—which admittedly was a very short carriage ride—why, when he could probably kiss any available mistress, lady, or widow in London, had he felt so desperateto taste the lips of the one female who was completely off limits to him?
“Ah, that’s the problem,” he muttered to himself, plopping his hat down on the entryway table.
Forbidden fruit.
It had always been the most desirable, the tastiest, and the hardest to deny oneself. What he needed was a glass of port and a few minutes to relax quietly in front of the fire with his feet propped up so he could get his primal urges under control.
Too, it was best if from now on he spent as little time as possible at Miss Fast’s house. He didn’t need to be filled with the desire to ravish her. Not only was she his ward, but long ago he had taken an oath not to dally with innocent young ladies. And so far, he’d managed to keep that oath. He had no plans to break it now that he was nearing thirty and trying to make amends for proposing to Hawk and Griffin they send those damned secret admirer letters.
He couldn’t think about his ward as anything but a responsibility and an obligation that he must fulfill. And the hell of it was that it would be a whole lot easier if she still looked like the gangly youth holding a frog—toad—he’d first met.
Rath started taking off his leather gloves. Another irritation crossed his mind. Who the devil would have ever thought smelling salts were an objectionable item? They were a common product that should be in every household. And what did it matter what kind of bottle they were put in? He thought all women liked pretty things sitting around their houses.
“Hell’s teeth,” he murmured again under his breath. Rath was beginning to see why Mr. Olingworth allowed Miss Fast to have her way in so many things. Her previous guardian was a smart man. It probably didn’t takehim long to figure out how much easier it would be to agree with her and let her have her way than debate her.
It was no wonder she had the mettle to speak with such confidence. Following five boys around a country estate for a few years would bolster anyone’s courage. Not that he minded her pert answers during their conversations. He actually enjoyed them, which in itself was unusual for him. The only ladies who’d spoken their minds to him so freely were his best friends’ sisters, Lady Vera, Lady Sara, and Lady Adele. And that was because he’d always thought of them and treated them as if they were his sisters, too.
Though his mother had died when he was way too young to remember her, Rath had still been around women all his life. He enjoyed them. They enjoyed him. He was good to them and in turn, they were good to him. From his nurse, to his governesses, to servants, and in later years mistresses, widows, and young ladies. But not even his friends’ sisters Lady Vera, Lady Sara, and Lady Adele had questioned him or challenged to the extent Miss Fast had. And she did so without contemplation, fear, or regret.
“Your Grace, let me help you with that,” Sneeds said, rushing into the vestibule as fast as his short, sturdy legs would carry his rotund body. “I didn’t hear your carriage drive up or I would have been at the door waiting for you.”
His new butler was another person who didn’t seem to listen to him, Rath thought, throwing his gloves onto the top of his hat. But after his verbal boxing rounds with Miss Fast, he was in no mood to tell the eager-to-please Sneeds one more time that he needed no help removing his cloak, hat, or gloves. There were just some things a man wanted to do for himself.
