Page 23 of The Duke on Her List
“No, she’s not still here,” Gabriel said. “I told her she could stay as long as she wanted to, that she didn’t have to rush out in the morning. I told her that we would figure out a way to get her out of here that wouldn’t raise suspicions if she was seen. She seemed to agree to that idea. But this morning, I sent a maid to her room to check on her, and the maid came back and reported that she was already gone. There was no sign of her having been in the room at all. She must have snuck out at sunrise.”
“I wonder why she would do that,” Helena mused.
“I don’t know,” Gabriel admitted. “I could only guess. But I’m sure she had her reasons.”
“Maybe she finished reading her book,” Helena suggested.
“She didn’t. I thought of that too, but then I went to the library to check, and she had left it with a bookmark in it,” he said. “The bookmark was only about halfway through, so I know she has plenty of reading left to do.”
“Will I get the chance to see her again?” Helena bounced up and down in her seat.
“You will,” Gabriel said. “We had an agreement that she would come here in two days’ time to continue her reading, so she’ll be here then. I’ll send her a letter and tell her she can come during the day. These nighttime escapades don’t seem to be to anyone’s benefit.”
“And you’ll let me visit with her while she’s here?”
“I don’t seem to be having much success at keeping the two of you apart,” Gabriel said. “Just promise me that you aren’t going to decide you like her so much that you want to embrace a life of spinsterhood.”
Helena laughed. “Uncle Gabriel…don’t you realize that if I was going to emulate someone and choose to remain unmarried by doing so, my role model wouldn’t be Lady Agnes at all—it would beyou?”
CHAPTER 12
“Iknow you like having the room to yourself while you read,” the duke said as Agnes settled into her chair and picked up the book. “But I have some business in here today. Will it bother you if I’m in the room for a while?”
“Oh, I suppose I can make my peace with it,” Agnes said. After all, she could hardly order him out of the rooms in his own home.
He smirked at her. “You don’t need privacy to read your scandalous book?”
It would have embarrassed her before, possibly even infuriated her, but she was growing used to the way he teased. She smiled. “I can manage to do it in front of you,” she said. “If it won’t embarrass you too much to know what I’m reading.”
“I don’t know what you’re reading. I haven’t picked that book up myself.”
“Too dignified for it?” She grinned even wider. “You know what’s in the book. You might not have read it, but you’re a gentleman of the world. You understand what kind of contents are in a scandalous book.”
“You really just say whatever you want to,” he marveled.
“I told you that reputation wasn’t a concern for me.”
“Yes. I just continue to be surprised by the extent to which that’s true.” He shrugged. “I won’t bother you while you read.”
She put the book aside, curious. “What is it you’re doing in here? You don’t have a desk in this room, so I know this isn’t where you do your work.”
“No,” he agreed. “I’m choosing a collection of books for Helena.”
“So you are going to let her start reading books?”
“You convinced me,” the duke said wryly. “And so did she, in fairness to her. But I haven’t read that many of the novels in here. Most of the books I read tend to be histories, which I don’t think would interest her. So I’m going to have to at least skim through them and make sure that whatever she chooses is appropriate for a young lady.”
“I could help you.” Agnes got to her feet. “I do a lot of reading. I know there are some things in your library here that I could pull out that would be appropriate.”
He glanced at her. “I’m not sure I trust your assessment of what’s appropriate.”
“Oh, don’t even bother with that,” she said. “You know that I won’t give her a book like the one I’m reading. I might not take my own reputation very seriously, but I’d never put Helena at risk. Besides, you’re at perfect liberty to look through anything I choose. I’m just offering to save you some time by pointing you in the right direction.”
“All right,” he agreed. “I can accept that.”
She went to the shelf and began skimming it. “Here are a few of the books I started with when I was younger,” she said. “And before you say anything, I know what you’re thinking. You’re going to tell me that you don’t want her to grow up to be like me.”
“I wasn’t going to say that,” he said.
