He could be a rake if he brings a young lady a gift she can’t show to her mother.
MISS HONORA TRUTH’S WORDS OF WISDOM AND WARNING ABOUT RAKES, SCOUNDRELS, ROGUES, AND LIBERTINES
A few minutes after Justine and Tut left, Marlena had finally settled on the first few lines of her article. It was so much easier to concentrate when she had silence. But after a few more sentences, she decided Justine had disturbed her thoughts so much she needed to take a walk in the back garden herself. Sometimes during the winter months it was difficult to come up with new gossip because most of Society wintered at their country estates. The parties in London were few. At those times she’d rely on a new twist to an old story to get her past the weeks neither Veronica nor Justine had anything new to tell her.
She supposed that is what she’d have to do today.
Usually she’d have the sheet finished and given to Eugenia before dark but she wasn’t sure that would happen. Not that it mattered much either way. Marlena could always use what they called their night plan. There was a side gate in the fence between their two houses. They often stopped there to chat, or to exchange books or other things during the day. It was also where, when necessary, their clandestine meetings took place.
When the scandal sheet was finished, Marlena would light a lamp in her bedchamber before taking Tut out for the last time in the evening. That was Eugenia’s sign that Marlena would be waiting at the gate for her with article in hand. Since it was a weekly sheet and not a daily one, as Mr. Trout had wanted her to do, their timing always seemed to work out. On the rare occasions they needed to have a nighttime exchange, it hadn’t been a problem.
Marlena opened the desk drawer, slipped her sheet of musings inside, and closed it. After capping the ink jar, she headed toward the back door to don her cape and gloves. Just after entering the corridor she heard a knock at the front door.
She stopped and listened. Her heart pounding in her ears was the only thing she heard.
Could it be the duke? Justine’s friend Lady Westerbrook? It could even be Mr. Bramwell since he lived next door.
Mrs. Doddle came out of the kitchen with flour on her hands, her apron, and her face.
“I’ll get that for you,” she told the housekeeper.
“Are you sure?” Mrs. Doddle asked. “It won’t take me long to clean my hands.”
“I’m sure,” she answered, realizing there was a knot of anticipation in her stomach. “You continue making the bread.”
After several deep breaths and much more expectancy than she should be feeling Marlena walked to the front door and opened it. She caught the duke with his hand midair, obviously ready to hit the door knocker again. He smiled at her and she would have sworn to anyone in the world that her heart flipped over in her chest.
There couldn’t be a man alive who was more handsome than the one standing before her in a three-tiered black cloak, his white neckcloth showing above it, looking as dashing, dangerous, and devilish as the rogues she wrote about. Feminine desires Marlena hadn’t known existed until she’d met the duke made themselves known again. Her pulse increased rapidly, her breaths grew short, and her lower abdomen clinched reflexively.
He removed his hat and said, “Miss Fast.”
She curtsied. “Your Grace.”
“May I come in?” he asked with a hint of humor in his tone. “Or should we stand on the steps for a few minutes and converse as we did the last time I was here?”
So as she remembered, he was a man who liked to tease and obviously not one to hold a grudge, either. She could accept that quite nicely. What she didn’t know was if she could handle the fast beating of her heart and the womanly desires curling inside her every time she saw him.
“Well, it is an unusually sunny afternoon,” she answered in the same light tone and easy smile he used. She deliberately looked past him to see a light-blue sky above the rooftops. “And it’s so near springtime there are probably a few bees buzzing about in the garden. I know of no reason for us to hurry inside, except I believe my cousin would be quite perturbed with me if I didn’t insist you join me in the drawing room without delay.”
“Then I shall.”
Marlena opened the door wider, stepped aside, and allowed him to enter. That’s when she noticed he was holding an unusual package. Something about the size of a loaf of bread, wrapped in white lace and tied with a fancy blue ribbon.
She shut the door behind him and said, “Allow me to take your hat and cloak.”
“I’ll handle it.”
He put his hat and the package on the side table and swung his expensive-looking woolen cloak off his wide shoulders, laying it beside the hat. He wore a dark-brown wool coat and a lighter-brown waistcoat. His neckcloth didn’t seem to be tied any better than it had been the last time she saw him, but there was something about the careless bow that added to his charm. Most gentlemen were very precise in how their neckcloths were secured, but obviously that wasn’t a concern for this duke. That more relaxed appearance appealed to her.
“I expected Tut to meet me at the door,” he said, looking down the corridor past her. “He must be in the back garden.”
“No,” she said, pleased that he’d missed her beloved pet and expected to see him. “He’s with my cousin visiting a neighbor.”
The duke then picked up the package and said, “This is for you, Miss Fast.”
Marlena looked at it. Flowers, confections, and books were about the only gifts appropriate to give a young lady, and this didn’t appear to be any of those things. But no matter that, she was fairly certain that nothing should be wrapped in such a fine stitching of lace. She reluctantly took it from his hands.
It wasn’t heavy, so it couldn’t be books. In fact, it was very light. Confections, she would have thought, but still asked, “What is it?”
“Why don’t we go into the drawing room and you can open it and see for yourself?”
“All right.”
The corridor wasn’t long but it was wide and the duke walked right beside her. Though their shoulders never brushed, she felt his warmth, sensed his strength, and matched the determination with which he took every step.
At the entrance to the drawing room she stopped, looked up at him, and said, “If you’ll excuse me for a moment, Your Grace, I need to ask Mrs. Doddle to go next door and let my cousin know you’re here. She’s been most anxious to talk to you again.”
“Again?” he questioned. “I don’t believe I met her the last time I was here.”
“No, you didn’t. Not then. She says the two of you met some time ago. A few years, I think. And danced. She’s recently seen you at some parties as well.”
He seemed to study on that. “I’m not sure I remember her. Mr. Olingworth only said that your widowed cousin was your companion. What’s her name?”
“Mrs. Justine Abernathy.”
He gave her another slight smile. “If she says we’ve met, I’m sure I’ll remember her when I see her.”
“Make yourself comfortable inside. I’ll return shortly.”
Marlena stared down at the package as she walked into the kitchen. She decided it had to be fruit tarts. As for the lace covering, perhaps that’s how dukes chose to wrap their gifts. Though it was still extravagant.
“Mrs. Doddle?”
The woman looked up from the kitchen table where she was thoroughly working a mound of dough. “Yes, miss. Do you need me?”
“I’d like for you to go over to Mrs. Portington’s house and tell Mrs. Abernathy the duke is here.” And then, having no idea as to why, her hands tightened on the lace box and she added, “Please feel free to finish what you’re doing first.”
“Thank you, miss. I’d like to get this in the bowl to rise. And then I’ll go as soon as I can wash.”
Marlena nodded and headed back to the drawing room feeling as if she’d done something decidedly wicked and yet feeling quite giddy about it at the same time. She’d deliberately given herself more time alone with the duke before Justine returned. Which, of course, was an utterly ridiculous thing to do!
It was impulsive, too, but she couldn’t bring herself to be upset that she’d done it.
In truth, the less time she spent with the duke, the better for her. She must remember he was the main gentleman she wrote about in her scandal sheet. She must be careful around him at all times, and manipulating a reason to be alone with him, no matter the length of time, was the last thing she should be doing.
Reprimanding herself about it didn’t help, either. She still wasn’t sorry she’d done it.
The duke stood in front of the fireplace when she walked inside the drawing room and heaven help her, she swore her heart flipped again at the sight of him. He stood tall, comfortable, and so divinely inviting. She didn’t want to take her eyes off him.
She would have to do something drastic to change her unexpected feelings and desires. So she walked straight over to him, extended the package, and said, “I thank you, Your Grace, but I really don’t think it’s appropriate for me to receive a gift from you.”
A wrinkle formed along the top of his brows. “I am your guardian.”
“Still, I don’t think I should accept.”
He relaxed his stance and continued to gaze into her eyes, clearly not wanting to give up without a fight. “It’s not a personal item, Miss Fast. It’s a necessity.”
That sounded rather odd to her. “A necessity?” she questioned. “What does that mean?”
He folded his arms across his chest and gave the kind of roguish grin she’d seen on the faces of the pirates she’d seen in paintings. And it was tantalizing.
“I guess you’re going to have to open it and find out.”
Marlena sighed. “You aren’t making this easy for me, but all right.” She pulled on the ribbon and the lace fell away from a plain tin box. After dropping the ribbon and lace onto a nearby chair she took the lid off and was immediately struck by such strong scents they almost took her breath away. There were several little satin pillows and three beautiful, colorful bottles of perfume.
Stunned, she looked up at him. “Contrary to what you think, perfume is not a necessity for a lady. Nor is it appropriate. I can’t accept this from you and you should realize that.”
The wrinkle suddenly extended to between his eyebrows and deepened. His bit of smile faded. “The only thing not appropriate about the package was me walking down the street to my carriage carrying it, but I did for you. Besides, it’s not perfume, Miss Fast. It’s smelling salts. I thought you might benefit from having some on hand in case Miss Everard faints again.”
“Smelling salts come in a small clear or brown vial with a plain cork stopper, not in a beautifully shaped crystal bottle with a silver closure!”
The duke shrugged in a noncommittal way. “I suppose that depends on whether you go to an apothecary’s shop for it or a la—” The duke stopped abruptly for a second or two and then continued. “Or a different kind of shop. It doesn’t matter where they came from. I assure you they are smelling salts.”
In what appeared to be one seamless motion he reached down, picked up one of the bottles, pulled out the stopper, and waved it swiftly under Marlena’s nose.
A strong, offensive whiff assailed her. “Heavens!” She quickly turned her head away but not before her eyes watered and she coughed. “What is that?”
“Mostly ammonia, I would assume. Now do you believe me when I say it’s not perfume?” he asked, replacing the top and settling the bottle back between the sachet pillows again.
Marlena coughed again. “You—you have vividly made your point, Your Grace, but there are three bottles and at least four or five sachets in here. How many did you think I needed?”
“I don’t know,” he said innocently.
He was impossible. “Well, let me enlighten you. This is enough for almost every house on this street to have one.”
Seeming to remain quite comfortable with the conversation as it was going, he said, “Miss Everard faints a lot.”
“No,” Marlena said, wanting to stomp her foot in frustration at the imposing man. She managed to resist the urge. “I told you she really doesn’t. Except that one time.”
“Twice,” he reminded her as one side of his mouth lifted with an attractive grin again. “She fainted twice.”
“All right,” Marlena agreed, reluctantly, and found herself giving in to a smile as well. “But the second time she woke with a strange man carrying her in his arms. I’m sure that would unsettle anyone.”
“She seemed terrified.”
He was right, but that was one admission Marlena would take to her grave. “She was dazed.” Which was also true.
“Then perhaps she simply needs to eat more, Miss Fast. She’s slight and fragile-looking. She hardly weighs more than a few feathers. It might do her good to go into the garden with you once in a while and get some natural color to her cheeks as you have. Whether or not it’s fashionable to do so.”
Marlena lifted a hand to her face, and her fingers caressed her cheeks.
“Yes,” he said softly, his dark-brown gaze sweeping slowly up and down her face. He stepped closer to her. “You look as if someone dipped a paintbrush in gold dust and skimmed it across your cheeks.”
A strange and wonderful feeling washed over Marlena. Her breasts tingled, her abdomen tightened, and her stomach did a slow enticing roll. Something was blooming inside her. She could feel it. His expression, the way his gaze combed her face, made her feel as if the duke was staring at her and thinking to himself that she was the most beautiful lady he’d ever seen.
Why was she so attracted to him?
It seemed unfair she even wanted him in the same room with her, much less enjoyed their banter. He shouldn’t be making her feel these wonderful sensations. He was a known rake. He’d ruined Veronica’s life with his selfish prank years ago and thereby Eugenia’s, too, for she had to live with Veronica and see how unhappy she was every day. Knowing that, Marlena should be appalled at the very sight of the duke. She’d always thought she would be should she ever meet him.
But she wasn’t. She found it difficult to be upset that he’d teased her about an insect on her cheek, and even now his charm was soothing and enjoyable.
To cover the intense, pleasurable sensations budding inside her, she coughed again and cleared her throat. “None of that is here nor there at the moment, Your Grace. What is—” She looked down at the tin of beautiful bottles and satin pouches in her hands and extended it toward him for the second time. “—is this. As thoughtful and considerate as it was of you to think of my dear friend and her needs, I can’t accept anything this personal from you. No matter what is in the bottles, they are beautiful and have expensive silver stoppers.”
He didn’t make a move to take back the package; instead, he clasped his hands together behind his back. “They are pewter, Miss Fast. You’re mixing your metals.”
Determined he take the box, she stepped closer to him, extending the box so close it almost touched the velvet-covered buttons on his waistcoat. “And you are mincing your words.”
“I’m forced to when I’m with you,” he answered.
“Because you seem to ignore the accepted rules of propriety and I have to remind you.”
He moved so that the tin pressed against his middle and he leaned into it. Marlena hadn’t expected him to do that and for a moment her throat seemed to close on her. Should she accept his challenge and hold the tin firm against him or pull away?
No, she wasn’t going to surrender. She held her ground.
Keeping his hands behind his back, he pressed harder against the box between them. “You know, you’re still as precocious as you were when we met long ago,” he said.
“You’re still as overly confident,” she countered.
“You’ve been given too much freedom to speak your mind.”
“Yet it impresses you that I do.”
“It does,” he admitted, his gaze remaining on her face as he leaned even more into her. “Your eyes are still as big and bright as they were when you were twelve.”
Oh, he wasn’t making it easy for her senses or her strength. She tightened the muscles in her hands and arms and held steady against his pressing weight. “I was ten.”
“Your hair was unruly.”
“It was uncombed.”
“You held a frog.”
Marlena didn’t know how much longer she could defend herself. He was strong and he kept leaning harder and harder against the package. “It was a toad,” she assured him.
The duke’s brows squeezed closer together and the corners of his eyes narrowed. He straightened but didn’t step away. “Good Lord, can you really tell the difference in the two?”
Marlena laughed a little. Her arms relaxed as his weight left her. She realized they were trembly from trying to hold her own with the duke—with dialogue and somewhat with strength, too.
“Actually, I can. Toads’ legs are shorter and their skin is thicker and tougher than a frog’s.”
“I know the difference, Miss Fast. I’m just surprised you do, but I don’t suppose I should be.”
She relaxed. “I’ve always liked to read. I especially enjoy reading about gardens and all the things that grow and live in them.” Fond memories washed over her and she smiled. “It was my cousins who helped me develop a joy for being outside. They insisted that before I could play with them I must catch a toad. Several frogs later, my aunt had mercy on me and told me the difference between the two.”
“It sounds as if they little imps, but you didn’t mind.”
She nodded. “They were and no I didn’t mind.”
“And apparently you like reading about rakes, scoundrels, rogues, and—” He hesitated.
The duke seemed to be searching for the other word in the title of her book so, she said, “Libertines.”
“Yes, that’s it.”
A fluttering started in her chest and moved up into her throat. Marlena didn’t want to question him, shouldn’t question him, but her natural curiosity wouldn’t allow her to stay silent.
She had to ask, “Did you read the book?”
“Not yet.”
That admission piqued her tremendously.
Not yet?
“You asked for a copy to read,” she said hesitantly, trying not to sound petulant or even inquisitive.
She considered it downright shameful that he hadn’t bothered to open the book after he’d asked her for a copy. He’d had it a week—almost. She had no doubt he could breeze through the pages in less than an hour if he’d simply take the time to sit down and do it. Even if he were a slow reader, which she was sure he wasn’t, because he was so fast with his wit.
So why hadn’t he? Other than to irritate her.
“I’ll read it one day,” he offered casually.
One day!
She was miffed again. Affronted even. If he were holding the book right now she’d rip it from his grasp. How dare he ask for a copy of her book and then not have the manners to read it.
He was truly devilish.
And she couldn’t let it go, saying, “It’s quite informative,” sounding a little more peeved than she should have, but who wouldn’t be a little upset at his lack of respect for the effort she put into every word.
“I’m sure most ladies will find it so.” He moved closer to her again.
“I expect they will.”
“But you know if I read it, I won’t have any excuses for not changing my wicked ways. Miss Truth will have told me everything about the proper way to behave toward a lady.”
“Then you’d best get to reading, Your Grace, because you have a lot to learn.”
He slowly shook his head as his gaze held on hers once again. “Would you like to hear what I’m thinking right now?”
“That there are some things I know more about than you do.”
“No, that I want to kiss you.”