Page 96 of How to Ruin a Rake

“Still in London,” Max said. “I’ll bring them down when I have the funds.”

“Your wife said I owed you an apology.”

Max met his father’s gaze. “I agree with her.”

“Perhaps I did jump to conclusions, but your past conduct has not given me a good impression of your worth.” He paused to put on his gloves. “But in this instance, I was the one who employed Cobbins, and I was at fault, so perhaps we could leave it at that.”

“Of course, your grace.” Max bowed low so that his father couldn’t see his face. “We hope to see you and Lord Tarleton here for dinner tomorrow evening.”

His father mounted his horse, gave Max a cool nod, and trotted off. Max let out his breath and went back into the house. Allegra was still in the study, watching the duke’s rapidly diminishing figure disappear down the drive.

“My father said you told him to apologize to me.”

Allegra turned to look at him. “That is correct.”

“No one ever speaks to him like that.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Then perhaps more people should, because he took it remarkably well.”

“He actually admitted that he might have been at fault,” Max said wonderingly. “I couldn’t believe it.” He placed his hands on Allegra’s waist, picked her up, and spun her around. “You little minx! Telling off a duke!”

She grinned down at him. “I couldn’t allow him to disrespect you in your own house.”

He kissed her soundly. “You are a wonder.”

“You’re the one who stood up to him first.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Max kissed her again. “I couldn’t allow him to speak to me like that in my own house, either—especially when he made that snide remark about your family.”

“Do you think he will come to dinner?”

“Yes, because he’s no coward, and after admitting he made a mistake for the first time in his life, he’s going to want to impress upon us his total refusal to ever refer to it again.”

“Oh, Max.” Allegra cupped his cheek. “You were wonderful.”

“So were you.”

Behind them, someone cleared their throat.

“My lord?”

Max turned around with Allegra still in his arms. “Yes, Brice?”

“We are ready to put the dining room furniture back, if her ladyship is available to show us where she wants it to be situated.”

“Excellent.” Max let Allegra go. “If the duke does intend to eat with us tomorrow, at least we’ll have a table for him to sit at.”

After Allegra left, Max poured himself a large glass of brandy and sat behind his desk. For the first time in his life, he’d stood up to his father rather than running away and behaving even more atrociously. He’d like to think that was all his own doing, but honesty demanded he acknowledge who had given him the courage to refute his father’s allegations to his face.

Allegra.

What a woman …

Max pictured the adroit way she’d handled the difficult duke and wanted to smile all over again.

He was in love with her.

The shock of the words was less than he’d imagined, because he’d been falling for her since their first meeting, when she’d thrown a book at his head and knocked him out. She was everything he was not—straightforward, brave, loyal—everything good.