Page 10 of The Duke on Her List
Agnes put the book down, surprised. This must be the duke’s niece. He had mentioned her in passing, but Agnes hadn’t realized she was here. “May I help you with something?” she asked.
“You’re Lady Agnes,” the girl said, coming into the room.
“I am,” Agnes agreed. “Who might you be?”
“Helena.LadyHelena.” The girl lifted her chin slightly. “At least, that’s what everyone will have to call me once I make my debut—you don’t know about that, right? Because you’re a spinster.”
“You seem to know all about me,” Agnes said. She wasn’t especially bothered by Helena’s comments. People had come to their own conclusions about her spinsterhood for years. She couldn’t let that get under her skin.
“You were in the scandal sheets,” Helena explained. “It said that you were having a tryst with my uncle.”
“He allows you to read the scandal sheets?”
Helena smirked. “My lady’s maid sneaks them to me. She’s very loyal.” A thought seemed to occur to her. “If you tell my uncle about this, I’ll tell him you made it up. He’ll believe me. He always believes me.”
“Do you often deceive him?” Agnes asked.
“No, never,” Helena said. “I tell him everything. Uncle Gabriel is all the family I have. But I won’t allow you to put my maid in jeopardy of losing her position, even if it does mean I have to tell a lie.”
“You don’t have to worry,” Agnes said, deciding that she liked the girl in spite of her haughty demeanor. She could relate to the desire to protect the people who worked for you. “I don’t have any intention of telling your uncle anything.”
Helena came over and sat down in the chair the duke had occupied. “So…is it true?” she asked.
“Is what true?”
“Were you really having a tryst?” She was alert and excited, and Agnes recognized an element of her own thirst for adventure in Helena’s eyes.
She chuckled. “No,” she said. “We weren’t. I’m afraid you can’t believe much of what you read in the scandal sheets.”
Helena wrinkled her nose in disappointment. “But if that’s the case, then why are you here?” she asked. “Why would a lady visit a gentleman in his home?”
“I’m not here to visit your uncle.” She paused for a moment. Would Helena know about the false courtship? If she did know, would she know that it was a charade, or would she believe it to be a real thing?
Best not to take any chances. “I’m just here to use his library.” Agnes recalled what she had been reading a moment too late. Hoping the gesture was casual enough to go unnoticed, she leaned over and draped an arm across the book on the table beside her. To distract from what she’d done, she added quickly, “Your uncle has so many lovely books.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Helena agreed slowly. “Though I’m still surprised you would come here to read them.”
“And why does that surprise you?”
“Well, you’re a spinster, aren't you?”
Agnes frowned. “What does that have to do with books?”
Helena leaned forward, a sparkle in her eyes. “It means that no man tells you how to live your life,” she explained. “It means that you can do whatever you’d like, whenever you’d like. You can have your own library, and nobody can stop you. Isn’t that right?”
Agnes couldn’t help the smile that came to her lips. In all her time facing people who had made assumptions about her life as a spinster, this was one she had never heard—and it was also the closest one to the truth. She wasfree.Shecoulddo whatever she wanted, and no man had the power to intervene.
“That’s absolutely true,” she told Helena. “But books can be costly. Your uncle is doing me a kindness by allowing me to read some that he already owns so that I won’t have to purchase them for myself.”
Helena nodded. “I suppose that is nice,” she said. “He doesn’t often let me read these books.”
“I wonder why that is?” Agnes mused.
“Oh, he doesn’t think it’s a very appropriate pastime for a young lady,” Helena said. “But I suppose he doesn’t think a spinster has to be appropriate. I suppose youdon’thave to be. Who would you need to impress?”
“I don’t think reading books is such an inappropriate thing, even if you do wish to marry,” Agnes said. “There are plenty of gentlemen who appreciate a lady with a bit of knowledge.”
“How do you know what gentlemen appreciate?”
