Regency Hearts Boxed Set

by Jennifer Monroe

  “Most excellent,” she said. “As a Duke, you must command respect no matter if you are entering a ballroom or your own offices. If you do so, you will get the respect of those around you. I would like you to continue practicing throughout the coming weeks, and soon it will become as natural to you as anything else you do on a regular basis.”

  “Thank you, Miss Blithe,” he said with a wide grin. “What can I learn to do next?”

  The woman smiled and pointed to a chair. “Please take a seat.”

  He walked over to the chair and looked at it with suspicion. Why did he need to learn how to sit? Was it not something he already knew how to do? It would be easier than walking. He gave her a quizzical look, and she returned it with a reassuring nod, as if she believed he was nervous about completing such a simple task. He shrugged and then plopped himself down on the chair and stared at her, his feet up on their toes and his elbows on his knees.

  “I learned how to sit when I was little,” he assured her, certain she would be as pleased with his sitting as she had been with his walking.

  However, she frowned. “First of all, Your Grace, you do not simply drop into a chair. One glides across the floor and lowers himself into the chair. Let me show you.” Her movements were indeed graceful, and he wondered why a man would be expected to move in such a flowing manner.

  “On most occasions, you will be wearing a tailcoat. You will flip the tails back so they are out of the way before you sit, or you risk wrinkling them. Then you lower yourself into the chair, not too quickly, but not too slowly either. Keep your back as straight when you sit as you do when you walk. Posture is everything when you are dealing with men and women of the aristocracy. A man with good posture tells everyone that he is in control, that he knows what he is about, and that he has all the answers, even if he truly does not.”

  He nodded. “I think I can do that.”

  “I know you can,” she corrected him. “Now, you will take your right foot and place it over your left knee like so.” He studied her movements and remembered his father sitting in such a way when he was a child. “Finally, you place your hands either in your lap or your arm along the arm of the chair, but never on the back.”

  He felt his face flush as he remembered how he had sat during dinner the night before. Every bit of how he sat was wrong, and he worried that it would be too difficult to remember. At the orphanage, children sat on benches at long tables and learned to hide their food from the other children while they ate or else risk losing a precious roll to a greedy neighbor.

  “Now, I want you to practice entering the room and taking a seat, please.”

  He once again went to the hallway and then reentered the room, only to have Marianne correct his shoulders once again. Each time he made a mistake, she immediately corrected him and made him start again from the beginning. Although she was kind and patient with him, he found the repetition of entering the room and taking his seat frustrating. He had practiced it at least a dozen times, if not two, when her face finally broke out into an approving smile as he placed an elbow on the arm of the chair.

  “Well, done, Your Grace,” she said with a light applause, accompanied by that of her mother from the window. “I believe we have done enough for this morning. We will resume our lessons in one hour.”

  He looked up at the clock and was surprised to see it was now time for the midday meal. He went to speak, but a single knock on the door had him turning to find Mr. Ludlow standing in the hallway.

  “Your Grace,” the man said with a bow, “I have arranged for a tailor to come tomorrow to take your measurements so you might have new clothes made.”

  New clothes, changing how he walked and sat, it was all so overwhelming. And this was just his first day! However, William thanked the man and then looked over at Marianne and found that her smile of approval was still in place, and he felt encouraged to keep going.

  ***

  After a light midday meal, William found himself outside in the gardens as Mrs. Blithe spoke of the remaining plans for the foreseeable future, though he found his attention turning to the plants around him. What he wanted to do at that moment was tend the flowerbed or help Jake, who was currently pruning a nearby tree.

  “I believe,” Mrs. Blithe was saying as they walked down the path, “the afternoons should be spent rehearsing your new background and continuing the studies of your education.”

  William snapped around to look at her. “My new background? I don’t understand.”

  “Mother, if I may?” Marianne said. Her mother gave her a considering look and then nodded. “William, as a Duke, it is imperative that we design a story concerning your upbringing. That story must not raise too many questions, and you must be consistent with what you tell people about your past. People of the aristocracy can be…fickle when it comes to a person’s background.”

  William placed his hands in the pocket of his trousers and grimaced. “What are you saying?” he asked, trying to keep the anger and humiliation he felt under control. “That working as a gardener is not noble enough for the good people of the Nobility? I’m not ashamed of who I am.”

  “Of course you are not ashamed, nor should you be,” Mrs. Blithe replied. “There is a great pride in doing such work. However, you must understand that, in your role, people will want to aspire to be like you, and they will look up to you, and being a gardener does not equal being a Duke.”

  Marianne added, “You will have children one day, will you not?”

  Although he had never given it much thought, he nodded. “Yes, I will eventually,” he replied.

  “Would you want our children laboring in the gardens by day or studying at the finest schools and receiving the best education available to them?”

  “I understand,” he said, though it still bothered him. He guessed that, in reality, they were right, but it still did not sit well with him.

  A grunt from a nearby tree him made him turn his head. “Forgive me,” he said to Marianne and her mother before walking over to where Jake struggled with a branch.

  “Your Grace!” the man said when he noticed William standing beside him. His bow was as awkward as any William had given.

  “Is that branch stuck?” William asked as he pointed at it with his chin.

  “It is, and I can’t seem to get it out.” Then he quickly added, “But I will.” The man was sweating profusely, and William suspected it had more to do with the fact that his employer stood watching him than as a result of the heat of the day.

  William clapped the man on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ve done this many times before.” He studied the tree for several moments. Then he jumped up, grabbed onto a branch, and began to climb.

  The two women behind him gasped.

  “Your Grace,” Mrs. Blithe called out.

  William waved at the woman from above, and she gaped up at him as she held her hat in the slight breeze that had picked up.

  “It is dangerous to risk your life in such a manner,” she said. “I beg of you, please come down at once!”

  He grinned down at her and then shot Marianne a wink. For a brief moment, he made a pretense of wobbling on the branch. “Oh, no! I’m gonna fall!” He laughed at their screams. “I’m fine, I promise,” he said and then turned to the gardener. “All right, Jake. Pull!”

  Jake did as he instructed. William guided the branch down, freeing it when the smaller branches caught and did not allow it to move further. Soon, they removed the large limb and William climbed back down to the ground.

  Both women stood staring at him in shock, their eyes wide and their jaws hanging open.

  “I might be a Duke,” he said with a laugh, “but I’m also an expert tree-climber.”

  Mrs. Blithe gave him a weak grin, but Marianne stood looking away, apparently too upset by his actions to look at him. This made him feel bad, for he had only meant to impress the woman with his skills. However, what he had done was upset her instead.

  “Your Grace
,” Mrs. Blithe said in a cautious tone, “might I make a request?”

  “Yes?”

  “It frightens me to see you doing such things. Please, do not do that again?”

  His regret deepened and he gave a heavy sigh. “Yes, Mrs. Blithe, you won’t catch me in a tree. My climbing days are over.” However, the loss of yet another activity he loved brought down a deep sadness. Would he ever do anything expected of a Duke?

  ***

  William stood admiring the painting of his father, a man he missed dearly. He recalled the day he had heard of the accident in the mine that took the man’s life as well as that of five other men. The funeral had been a simple matter, and the only marker to indicate his final resting place was a small wooden cross William had bound together himself with a piece of rope.

  He had been sent to the local orphanage, but it was a horrid place, and it did not take him long before he ran away. Wandering for many days, he met others like himself, and together they found work in fields, struggling to make it from day to day.

  However, now he was a Duke, his fortunes were great, or so he presumed from what little Mr. Ludlow had told him thus far. The old adviser had not been all too forthcoming about his current worth, but today was the day he would find out. He shook his head. If only Thomas could see him now. He had promised the gnarled gardener that he’d write to him and he would do so this very evening, for although the people around him did not treat him unkindly, they were not his friends, and right now he needed a friend desperately.

  “Your Grace?”

  William turned to see Mr. Ludlow enter the room. “Oh, hello, Mr. Ludlow. How’re you doing today?” Unlike Marianne, Mr. Ludlow refused to address William by anything other than his title, which only placed a feeling of distance between him and his adviser.

  “I am well, Your Grace,” the man replied. “And how did your first day of instruction go? Did you learn much?”

  Mr. Ludlow’s words reminded William of his father asking after him when he returned home from school, a place at which he had spent little time once his father was gone. How lucky he had been to have worked for Mr. Sampton, for the man had been kind by providing the young boys in his employ with a teacher to work with them after they completed their work. That coupled with the instruction he had received from Miss Garvey’s tutor had been a godsend to him. What William thought was normal he later found was an anomaly, for very few employers did such things.

  “I learned how to walk and to sit in a chair,” William said in exasperation. “I learned to do both at a young age, and yet, I’m being forced to learn them all over again.”

  The silver-haired man gave him a sympathetic smile. “I understand your frustration, but Mrs. Blithe and her daughter speak very highly of you. When I spoke to them earlier, they praised your willingness to learn and were quite surprised how quickly you did so.”

  William gave him a skeptical look. “Did they? Well, I’m surprised they didn’t give me a sweet for performing for them so well.”

  “Now, Your Grace,” Mr. Ludlow said with what sounded much like an admonishment, “I would not be so quick to anger. What you are learning will show to be more than beneficial once you are introduced to society. You have seen how differently those of the ton conduct themselves as compared to those who are not, have you not? Especially that of the hired help. I say this not to insult you about where you come from but rather to help you see that, if you do not learn these things, you leave yourself open for ridicule, and I am certain you do not wish that to happen.” He placed a comforting hand on William’s shoulder. “I would never lie to you. It would do me no good to set you up for failure.”

  William gave a heavy sigh. “You’re right,” he said. “I guess I do walk and sit better now than I did before.” He turned back to the paintings. “My grandfather, from what I understand, was the most perfect of Dukes. Father ran away from his title. I find myself somewhere in between, and that bothers me.”

  “Why is that?” Mr. Ludlow asked.

  “I can’t be a great Duke; I’m just a simple gardener. But I’m expected to learn in just two months what they both learned in a lifetime, and from the beginning of their lives.”

  “Your Grace,” the adviser said in a consoling tone, “when I set out to find you, which was no easy task, I assure you, I had received word of where you were employed. The man I had sent looking for you had observed you there, as well as your excursions about the town and even the pub in which you drank.”

  William gaped at the man. “I never saw anyone watching me.” The idea was more than a bit unsettling.

  Mr. Ludlow chuckled. “Then he did a fine job. He shared everything he had seen, and that included a kind man, one whose laugh could be heard from across a room and whose smile was always welcoming. It was then that I knew your father, though his time was short on this earth, had given you a strong foundation from which to build your life. Those traits I mentioned? Your father had them, as well, and he was well-known for them.”

  A sense of hope washed over William. “Do you believe I’ll be able to be successful in this role as Duke?” he asked. “Measuring up even to my grandfather?”

  “No, you will never match the other Dukes,” Mr. Ludlow said.

  William’s heart sank. Then why should he bother to even try? Would all his time be wasted with this practicing of walking and sitting, not to mention all of the other things he would be learning, would it be worth nothing in the end? Would it all result in him remaining nothing better than a gardener in the eyes of the ton?

  The smile Mr. Ludlow gave him was warm. “I suspect you will far surpass them.”

  As if someone had held a pitcher full of pride and poured it over him, William felt taller than he ever had, and a feeling of renewed eagerness awoke in him. “I think I’ll go to bed now,” he said. “I’ll need my rest if I’ll make it in the weeks ahead.

  “Good night, Your Grace,” Mr. Ludlow said.

  “Good night.” William left the room and headed to the main stairway. Tonight he would dream of the Duke he was to become.

  Chapter Seven

  It was now late evening, and Marianne made her way to the library to exchange a book she had borrowed two days before. Poetry had been a nice pastime, but now she wished to read something on the sciences. Her father would have gone into an apoplectic fit if he found out she was reading in a subject considered unacceptable to a woman, but she cared not. Well, not too much, for she hid such books from her mother, as well.

  A week had passed since they began instructing William, and although the man made great strides, Marianne wondered if he would be ready within the time frame they had been allotted. It was not that the man did not try, for he did despite the frustration evident on his face and the mumbling that could be heard under his breath. It was that he still had so much to learn, and time was passing much too quickly for her liking.

  The candle flickered in its holder as she moved down the hallway. The door to the room was partially open and a soft light seeped into the hall. She peeked inside and saw William sitting in a chair, a book in his hand.

  A smile crossed his lips when he noticed her standing in the doorway, and he placed his finger in the book to mark his place and closed it. “Marianne,” he said, and a shiver went down her spine. It was as if the way he said her name was a soft caress, “please, come in.” She entered the room and returned his smile as he asked, “Are you going to get another?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “I did not mean to disturb you.” She set the book on a table beside one of two lamps that glowed with a faint light. The other sat on a table beside the Duke.

  He chuckled and moved to stand beside her. “You didn’t disturb me at all. Do you know which book you’re going to read next?”

  Although she had spent the last week with him, being this close to him brought back the dryness to her mouth she had experienced when they first met. She attempted to speak but could not find the words and wondered why her legs had
suddenly become so weak she could barely stand. “Yes,” she said, though it came out in a squeak. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Yes.” Much better. “I was considering something either in the sciences or perhaps even on travel.”

  He stepped over to one of the bookcases and chose a particular book. “I looked at this one earlier,” he said as he showed her the brown leather tome. “A man wrote about his travels in Africa. It even mentions elephants.” His wide-eyed expression caused her to giggle. However, when she saw the frown that replaced his childlike grin, she felt shame for laughing. He was a Duke, and having just laughed at him was something for which her mother would have scolded her, regardless of how long the man had been a Duke.”

  “I apologize,” she said. “I did not mean to laugh. Forgive me?”

  He studied her for a moment with a scrunched brow. “Why did you laugh?” he asked. “Please, tell me.”

  If she had been nervous before, now she was terrified. It was not that she was afraid of the man, that he would hurt her in some way, but she did not realize how deeply she had offended him. He was a man with a kind heart, and she did not wish him to believe she viewed him as anything less than what he was.

  “The thing is,” she began, struggling to find the right words. “Well, you looked so excited speaking of elephants that I found you…” She swallowed hard. “Handsome.” She closed her eyes and groaned inwardly. Why would she say such a thing? If she could, she would crawl under a low bush and never return.

  “I think I understand,” he said. He did not sound offended in any way, and Marianne felt relieved. “It’s like your laugh.”

  “You find my laugh handsome?” she said teasingly.

  “No,” he replied with a chuckle. “What I meant was that it’s beautiful.”

  Her cheeks stung, and for some reason, her corset felt as if it was tightening around her. What surprised her was that he, too, sported cheeks that had to be the same crimson hers exhibited.

  “Will you join me in reading?” he asked, motioning her to the chair that sat opposite the one had been sitting in when she arrived. “I have wine, or I can get you another drink if you’d rather have something else. I can move the lamp closer if you’d like.”