Page 13 of A Virgin to Tempt the Duke

“He only likes Frederick,” Rachel remarked. “And tolerates me,” she added, “but only if I don’t make any sudden movements.” She paused. “And only since about… eighteen months ago.”

“He will come around,” said His Grace, and Anna was almost certain that he was talking about the cat, though his tone hinted at something she could not name.

Percy had reached the far side of the yard and disappeared through a gap in the stable wall without looking back.

A quality he shares with his owner.

“Come,” Rachel said, taking her arm. “I want to show you that rose garden before the light goes flat.” She glanced at her brother as they turned back toward the house. “You should come too, Frederick. You never come to the garden.”

“I have estate papers,” he said, too quickly. “You always have estate papers.” Rachel was already steering Anna away. “Really, I don’t know how you survive out here when I don’t come with you.”

The Duke said nothing, in the way that suggested the answer to this wasvery quietly.Anna let Rachel turn her back toward the house up to the rose gardens, but at the edge of the yard she glanced back.

It was just once, without entirely meaning to.

The Duke was looking at them. She’d felt his attention like sun beating against her back, but she couldn’t tell if it was harsh noontime light or gentle afternoon warmth. He looked away at the same moment she did, with the same sort of speed.

Well then,she thought to herself, as she felt sparks jolt inside of her like wild lightning, her pulse quickened.Perhaps I am not quite imagining things…

She faced forward and kept walking.

CHAPTER 6

“It is too much for a dinner at home,” Anna said as she looked in the mirror. “Rachel.”

The dress was a deep amber hue, with a low neckline that was still well within the bounds of propriety but complemented her complexion. The skirt moved with her hips. Rachel had produced it from her own trunk, with the air of someone who had been waiting for an occasion.

“It is dinner with your dearest friend and her family, and I say what is and is not too much.” Rachel stood behind her in the mirror and smiled. “There. You see? Look.”

Anna really looked then. The amber did something particular to her soft blonde hair and her hazel eyes that she was not entirely used to seeing done. Her cousin had not considered the question of flattering colors worth the investment. She admitted to herself that the dress did suit her quite well, and yet she felt uncomfortable in such clothing. Her mother had been so distantafter her father’s passing when she was a little girl, that she wasn’t sure if she had ever been so fawned over.

“I’ll feel ridiculous,” she said quickly, though in her heart she knew Rachel was not wrong. “Dressed for an occasion when there is no occasion.”

“There is an occasion.” Rachel was already reaching for the pins. “You are here. I am here. We are having dinner together. That is an occasion. Now stand still.”

“Yes, sergeant,” she said with a mock salute.

Rachel’s eyes brightened. “It is good to see you smile again.’

They came downstairs together a half hour later, Rachel in blue, Anna in the amber, and the Duke was already in the drawing room. He was dressed in a tailored black suit with a silk cravat, standing by the window with a glass of something, reading what was probably a letter about the estate.

He turned when they came in and tucked the letter in his jacket pocket. His gaze moved to Anna, and it stayed there for a beat longer than it needed to. Her heart began to beat faster as she approached him. She inhaled deeply and caught his scent. Masculine, woodsy, clean, all soap and pine.

“Good evening,” he said, and crossed to greet them.

His scent grew stronger as Anna could not help but shiver at the proximity. What was happening to her? This was her best friend’s brother.

“Doesn’t she look well?” Rachel said, which Anna felt was a statement deployed like a small test.

“You both look well,” he said, which answered the test and nothing else.

The dining room at the Hall was not the formal one. That, Anna gathered, was reserved for occasions of genuine ceremony, which she doubted this family shared often. This was the informal dining room, a table that could seat twelve set for three at one end, with candles and good china and a fire that had been burning long enough to make the room warm. It smelled of woodsmoke, and whatever was coming.

The duke sat at the head. Rachel and Anna sat across from one another. The first course arrived: turtle soup. Anna looked at the duke and was struck by how brightly his amber eyes shone in the candlelight, offset by his thick sandy hair and trim beard. He may as well have been a painting as fine as he looked. Anna took a bite of her soup.

“How did the estate business go?” Rachel asked.

“The south field drainage will need attention before spring,” he said as he took a sip from his goblet of wine. “I’ve written to a contractor to secure a fair price. The far boundary fence also wants replacing. Three sections at least.”