He could be a rake if he tries to gain your attention by doing something unexpectedly nice for someone you care for.
MISS HONORA TRUTH’S WORDS OF WISDOM AND WARNING ABOUT RAKES, SCOUNDRELS, ROGUES, AND LIBERTINES
“Do tell him to be careful with my trunks, Sneeds,” Justine said as she and Marlena stood in the entryway of the duke’s St. James home. “I would be devastated to hear any of my perfume bottles breaking.”
“Really, Justine,” Marlena whispered, holding Tut’s warm body in her arms. “The duke’s staff knows how to handle your baggage. I’m sure everything will be fine.”
“We can hope,” Justine answered and turned back to the butler. “I should like to know what the duke’s favorite scent is.”
The short man looked aghast and snapped his hands behind his back. “I don’t discuss anything about the duke, madam.”
“Hmm. Very well. I’ll find out for myself.” Justine looked toward the two men carrying her trunk up the stairs. “You did tell them that I should be settled in the duke’s chambers, didn’t you?”
Sneeds pulled up his thin shoulders, lifted his square chin, and rose up on his toes. He was still no match for Justine’s superior height and breadth. “Certainly not.”
“Then you should. The duke would want me to occupy his suite of rooms. Wait,” she called to the men who were about to reach the landing at the top of the stairs. “You there, with my trunk, wait, please.”
The men stopped and turned their heads toward her. “That will go in the duke’s rooms.”
“No, it will not,” Sneeds said, also looking up at the men. “Put it in the room where you were told it would go.”
“Now, see here,” Justine said to Sneeds. “The duke would want me to have the bigger rooms.”
Holding himself stiffly, the butler insisted, “I can’t allow that, madam.”
“Thunderbolts and lightning! Why not? The duke won’t be using the rooms while we are here.” She paused and then added under her breath, “Not unless he wants to, of course.”
Marlena’s grip tightened around Tut in frustration. “Justine, please be careful what you say.”
“I said nothing wrong, my dear girl. Merely the truth.”
“The duke would have to give permission, Mrs. Abernathy. He hasn’t done so. I’m afraid it’s not possible for you to be allowed to use his private chambers.”
“Sneeds is right, Justine,” Marlena added, hoping to put this unpleasant conversation to an end. “You have no right to invade the duke’s private chambers. We will only be in the house a few days. It doesn’t matter the room you’re given.”
“I have no idea how long we will be staying. However, I intend to enjoy my time here, and I intend to do it from the duke’s chambers. He has given us the freedom of his house and I intend to use it.”
Marlena shook her head. Sometimes there was just no way to make her cousin see reason.
Sneeds looked back up to the men who still stood on the stairs close to the landing and said, “Be off with you to the guest room as you were told and stop tarrying.”
“Now, see here, Sneeds,” Justine said, sternly. “While I am here I will be mistress of this house and you will do well to remember that.”
“I’ve not been informed of that information, either, madam,” he answered quickly. “And until I am, those men are under my command, not yours.”
“We’ll see about that. Furthermore—”
The front door opened. Tut barked and squirmed. Justine stopped mid-sentence as Rath stepped inside, removing his hat as he entered. Marlena knew she’d never tire of seeing him. It was as if something bright shone inside her at the sight of him. She breathed a sigh of relief. He could now handle this situation between Justine and his butler.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Abernathy, Miss Fast, Sneeds.” He nodded to them all as he spoke their names. “I wanted to check in and make sure you’d arrived.”
“And just in time, Your Grace,” Justine said with a satisfied smile.
“Your Grace, let me help you with that,” Sneeds said, reaching for the duke’s cloak.
Rath’s gaze swept back to Marlena and lingered on her face. Tut barked again. “It seems I failed to speak to Tut.” He took the dog from her arms. “And how are you today?” Rath asked. “Are you enjoying sniffing around my house?”
Marlena watched Rath rub Tut’s head and pat his shoulders and back with firm caring strokes. It pleased her that Rath took the time to give Tut attention.
“I haven’t put him down,” she answered. “We just arrived and we’re not settled yet.”
“And I was just saying to Sneeds,” Justine said, moving to stand between Marlena and the duke, “that I believed you would expect me to make myself comfortable in your chambers while I’m here. Since, of course, you won’t be.”
That wasn’t exactly the way Justine had said it to the butler but Marlena thought it best to stay quiet. Still, she wouldn’t let her cousin obstruct her view of the duke. She moved to the side so she could see him. Rath looked down at Tut again and lightly scratched the dog behind his ears. Tut yawned his pleasure.
“I think perhaps you should inspect all the rooms before you make that decision, Mrs. Abernathy.”
Justine smiled at the duke, and then at Marlena, and lastly at Sneeds before saying, “That’s not necessary, Your Grace. I’m sure yours will be perfect. I should be quite content residing in your chambers.”
“Still, I insist.” Rath nodded to Sneeds. “Show Mrs. Abernathy all the rooms and allow her to choose the one she wants.”
“All the rooms?” the butler questioned.
Rath nodded.
“Yes, Your Grace.” The butler stiffly turned to Justine and waved his arm toward the staircase. “After you, Mrs. Abernathy.”
Marlena watched her cousin walk away the victor. “Justine seemed be floating,” Marlena said. “It was very kind of you to give in to her wishes, yet again.”
He shrugged. “It’s a small thing.”
“Maybe for you but not for her. I don’t think she’s forgiven me for not agreeing for us to move into your Mayfair home when we had the chance.”
“Then maybe this will encourage her to look kindly on you once more. Besides, having her look at all the rooms gives me the opportunity to spend some time alone with you.”
Marlena’s heart started beating a little faster. She gave him a teasing smile. “For Justine, I think it feeds the designs she has for you. I think she intends to catch you in a snare.”
The duke’s brow wrinkled. “I think Mrs. Abernathy has sights set on no one but herself.” His frown turned to a pleasant grin. “And a rake can’t be caught unless he wants to.”
“Oh, you must have read my—” Marlena almost choked on the word my. She cleared her throat. “That is, my copy that I gave you of Miss Truth’s book that day you were at my house.”
“No, I haven’t read it yet.”
Marlena’s spirits fell. Why did she keep expecting he would read it? Why did she want him to read the book? She shouldn’t. She should hope he’d never read it.
“I thought perhaps since you mentioned a rake that you might have more insight about them now. But as I said before, there is no reason for you to read it. If anyone knows rakes, it’s you.”
He laughed softly and patted Tut’s head again. “Since you still have your coat and bonnet on, let’s take Tut out to explore the garden. There’s something I want to tell you.”
A feeling of anticipation washed over her. “What?” she asked as they started down the corridor. “Or maybe I don’t want to know. Is it good news or bad?”
“It’s not about rakes or Mrs. Abernathy for sure.”
“Then it can’t be too bad, can it?” Marlena smiled at him, and a shiver of awareness shook her when he returned the smile.
As soon as Rath opened the door, Tut was squirming to be put down. He scampered down the steps and into the garden barking, letting the neighbors know there was a new dog on the street.
Marlena walked down the steps beside Rath looking at the grounds spread before her. Late-afternoon clouds had darkened, and daylight was waning. The chilling breeze she’d felt when she’d entered the house earlier had calmed. But then she remembered she always felt warmer when she was with Rath.
It surprised her that the garden wasn’t much larger than Justine’s. Definitely wider, but not any longer. There were shrubs, plants, and small trees showing their new growth, and the tops of many flowers were peeking from below the ground. In the center of the garden stood a fountain with three cherubs in the middle. Tut sniffed around the bottom of it.
She and Rath started leisurely walking down the stone path that led directly to the back gate. “What is it you want to tell me?” she asked.
“So you are eager to know?”
“Of course I am. I’m hoping you’ve found Mr. Wentfield so we can get Mr. Portington’s money back for the giant reptile eggs.”
“I don’t believe we will ever find that man—not under that name anyway.”
“Well, I must say I don’t believe I’d ever show my face in public again, either, if I’d had the gall to sell someone the supposed remains of a reptile that probably never existed.”
Rath chuckled low under his breath. “The man was shrewd about it. I found out from the Royal Society that Mr. Portington wasn’t the only one tricked by Mr. Wentfield in the last year. There were others.”
“That’s disheartening news.”
“For the few men who were taken in by him. But that’s not what I wanted to tell you.”
They had made it to the back of the garden. Marlena stopped and stared up into his eyes. “So it is something serious then?”
“You might think it is, but I’m hoping not.”
A lump formed in her throat. “What is it?”
“After I left you and Mrs. Abernathy today I went to talk to Mr. Portington.”
Marlena’s breathing became deep and heavy. “Why?”
“A couple of reasons.” He paused. “I hadn’t planned to talk to him so soon. I’d wanted to wait until I had more plans in place, but this afternoon I decided to go ahead and tell Mr. Portington I wanted to finance a museum for him to put his collection in so it could be open for all to see. What he has, most of it, shouldn’t be kept in his home and hidden in crates. I suggested The Portington Museum of History.”
A museum?
Marlena understood what Rath was saying but not why. She searched his face. His dark eyes were looking straight into hers. “That seems as if it would be a tremendous investment.”
“It will, but I have a couple of friends who are dukes that I think might be willing to help me with this project.”
“The other rakes,” she said with no fondness in her voice.
“Yes.”
“Why would you want to do this?”
He smiled softly. “Several reasons. Portington didn’t want to sell anything,” Rath said. “This way he doesn’t have to. Everything will continue to be his and he will be the owner and curator of it. I had the idea after I visited his house but didn’t mention it because I didn’t know what such a creation would entail. I still don’t know all I need to. I asked him if someone from The Royal Society could visit him and he agreed. They assured me, from what I told them, that the man indeed has many items museum-worthy. Meticulously documented. And they agreed that some things would probably need to be kept in storage until they can be researched more.”
“The Megalosaurus eggs?”
“Among other things.”
“I don’t know what to say except thank you. I’m grateful you’re being so kind and generous to him, but—”
“But you’re wondering how this helps Mr. Portington get the money back from the eggs so that Miss Everard can have her Season in the most fashionable way?”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t. That is what I needed to tell you and once again offer to take care of her Season myself. Her benefactor can remain anonymous.”
Marlena stared into his eyes and wanted desperately to touch his cheek and kiss his lips. Instead she said, “I don’t think you are the rake you want everyone to believe you are.”
“Do not doubt that, Marlena. I am.”
“Well, then, I must ask you not to offer your help. Eugenia will be properly gowned for the balls and any of the teas or card parties she wants to attend.”
His gaze searched her face. “What did you—You gave her clothing, didn’t you?”
“It was much easier when I stopped arguing with Lady Vera and Justine about what I needed and let them purchase whatever they wanted for me. I had more than enough to share. Veronica and her maid will make alterations so that Lady Vera and Justine won’t recognize the gowns.”
“That was very clever of you. So you didn’t need my help after all.”
Marlena appreciated the admiration that shone in his eyes. “It helps knowing how to be resourceful and to have a generous sponsor myself.”
Rath bent his head and placed a short, sweet kiss on Marlena’s lips.
“What if Justine had seen you do that?”
“She would have been upset. I would have had a lot of explaining to do, but I couldn’t let you come to my house without giving you at least one kiss. A rake likes to take chances, after all. What good is it being one if I can’t steal a kiss or two in my own garden?”
Suddenly he caught her up to his chest, held her tightly, and kissed her long and hard and deeply. Marlena melted against him and sighed as he slowly let her go and stepped away.