Page 48 of It's All About the Duke
“You don’t mind asking personal questions, do you, Marlena?”
“It’s the usual way one gets answers.”
A grin broke across his masculine features and she realized she liked it when he looked at her like that. He quirked his head a little as a breeze scattered his dark locks across his forehead, reminding her of a brazen pirate yet again.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll tell you. Long ago I made a vow not to pursue innocent young ladies.”
She turned her head back to him. “After the secret admirer letters?”
“No, before then. When I realized young ladies’ hearts are too easily given and too easily broken. When I found out they believed a few kisses was a promise of marriage.”
“Did that happen to you? A young lady thought you intended marriage because you kissed her.”
“Twice, much to my father’s dismay, before I understood that it was best to seek comfort in the arms of a mistress or widow who had no illusions of marriage between us.”
Marlena cleared her throat. “Perhaps that was more than I wanted to know. I’m surprised you admitted it to me.”
“I think you understand men more than you realize, Marlena.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You would have never followed your cousins into a swamp or a cemetery unless you were quite sure they were looking out for you and would see to it you returned home safely. Since there were five of them, no doubt two of them stayed behind watching over you while the other three ran ahead of you.”
“Perhaps they did.” She smiled, remembering that her parents were watching over her, too. “It’s true the boys taught me more than just the difference between a frog and a toad and how to get down from a tree once I had climbed up it. I’ve missed them.”
“Where are they now? Are you still in touch with them?”
“No, I haven’t heard from my aunt in several years now. My uncle had a restless spirit, I think. He wanted to take his family to America and seek their fortunes there.” She sighed softly. “My aunt wasn’t happy butwouldn’t defy her husband. She didn’t think it fair to take me from my homeland and the life my parents expected me to have. That’s when my uncle arranged for me to live with Mr. Olingworth.”
“You’ve missed being part of a big family?”
Oh, yes, she had. She’d cried quietly in her room for weeks.
“Terribly at first. But Mr. Olingworth was kind and allowed me to play outside and roam about his spacious gardens. It made me feel closer to them, helped me remember them. And then it wasn’t long before Mr. Olingworth had me busy most days learning my lessons, reading, and sewing. All the things a proper young lady needs to know, but I never forgot chasing after the boys. Yelling for them to wait for me. Proving to them I wasn’t afraid of a worm, the dark, or tomorrow.” She stopped and smiled with sweet remembrance of those wonderful carefree days that helped make her strong. Strong enough to take on three dukes—even if it was anonymously.
“But all in your uncle’s family were safe in America last you heard?”
“Yes. A place called Boston at first. But the last I heard from them, which was years ago now, they were planning to move west and would be in touch.”
“But you didn’t hear from them again.”
A sadness gripped Marlena. “No, I didn’t.” She’d never forget the boys or the lessons they taught her.
Marlena looked over at the gate that stood in the middle of the side fence. The one that she, Eugenia, and Veronica had used many times to go back and forth between their houses. How could she be telling and revealing so much about herself to this man? It was his actions that had ruined Veronica and Eugenia’s lives and prompted her to startMiss Truth’s Scandal Sheet. Why was it that when she was with him like this, he seemed nothing likethe rake, the rogue she always thought him to be? Expected him to be.
She faced him. “If you knew young ladies’ hearts became involved so easily, why did you send letters asking them to meet a secret admirer?”
Her sudden accusation didn’t cause him to blink. “I can’t explain the foolish actions of a young man who was so full of drink and arrogance he cared for nothing other than his own pleasures.”
“I find that hard to believe,” she said softly. “You have offered to help Eugenia.”
“I have no reason to lie to you about it. About anything. I was that young man.” His shoulders relaxed, and he placed his elbow on the top of the bench. “You know that what happened years ago was never about the letters. It was about a wager among three friends. We truly thought most of the young ladies would throw our notes into the fire and never think of them again. We couldn’t believe that every one of them went to meet their secret admirer.”
“And then you bragged about it.”
“No,” he said quietly, earnestly. “I want you to know the truth. We were not bragging when our conversation was overheard.”
“Yet you offered the man money not to tell.”
