Duke Du Jour

by Petie McCarty

  Jared stared at his wolfhound. Harry wagged his tail. “I tried to take him with me.”

  “I know. I saw. I tried to stop you.” He patted the big wolfhound’s head. “Poor Harry waited a moment too late. By the time he jumped into the fountain, you were gone. He howled for hours, didn’t eat for three days. I started taking his food out there, and eventually he ate, but he never left.”

  Jared kneeled next to the wolfhound and hugged him hard. “You really missed me, did you?” Harry happily licked his face, his neck, his ears.

  “We all did,” Bullen said quietly.

  Jared could only nod, unable to get words past the damned lump that was back in his throat.

  Bullen led Hammer out of the stable, and Jared followed.

  “Where are you off to so soon?”

  Jared gave his brother a pointed look. “To see Ariana, of course. She did not waste any time.”

  “You told her you were leaving forever, and Wakefield wants grandchildren. That Scots earl is a handsome charmer.”

  “Am I too late?”

  Bullen grimaced.

  Jared did not want to hear any more. He snatched the reins from Bullen, vaulted onto Hammer’s back, and galloped down the entrance drive, Harry right on his heels.

  At the turn to Wakefield Manor, Jared spied an unfamiliar carriage parked at the front door. He slowed Hammer to a walk, his coat wet with lather from the hard run. The big stallion snorted and stomped as though anxious to reach the finish line. Harry whimpered.

  “I don’t like it either, boy.”

  Suddenly, the front door opened. A woman stepped across the threshold and out to the landing at the top of the steps. Sunlight glinted off reddish-gold locks flowing loose about the woman’s shoulders.

  Ari.

  His first glimpse of her dried his spit right up. What if he was too late?

  A gentleman came through the doorway a half step behind her, his hand protectively grasping her elbow. No doubt, this was Wink’s earl.

  She is mine, damn you!

  Jared started Hammer forward and stopped when Ari turned to face the earl. He held his breath. She went up on tiptoes and lightly bussed the man’s lips.

  “Over my rotting carcass,” Jared growled.

  He put Hammer into a trot, watched Ari retreat indoors and the earl climb into his carriage. As Jared passed the fancy equipage, the curtain pulled back. Bullen had been right. The blighter was indeed handsome. Not so much now though as he scowled at Jared on the way past.

  “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let’s go, you two.” He spurred Hammer to a canter right up to the front door where he pounded for admittance. The door opened moments later.

  Great! Another glaring butler—two in one day.

  Malcolm pursed his camel lips. “Yes, Your Grace?”

  Jared ignored the condescending Your Grace and said, “I am here to see Lady Ariana.”

  The butler sniffed disdainfully and turned, leaving the door ajar. Jared told Harry to stay and followed the man back through the foyer. Devil take it! What did he have to complain about? Malcolm loved Ari. Hell, everyone loved Ari. Especially Jared. Warmth spread through him. He liked the sound of that.

  Loved Ari.

  Malcolm did not lead him to the drawing room, however. The butler aligned their path with Albert’s library. This was not good, but Jared did not complain. He had made it inside. Maybe Ari was in the library with her father.

  No such luck.

  Malcolm literally pulled him through the library door and closed it behind him, locking Jared inside with a furious Wakefield who rose up behind his desk like a darkened thundercloud.

  “So, the wanderer has returned,” the earl all but sneered.

  Jared started forward and a collective growl promptly halted his progress. Lined up in front of Wakefield’s desk like military sentinels were Ari’s five dogs. The loudest growl came from the professional fence jumper, next loudest came the beagle, then the two spaniels, and finally her little rat dog Venus put forth a valiant effort to be heard.

  He went down to his knees. “It’s me, boys. Remember me?” Instead of mauling him like usual with licks and bumps, the growls intensified.

  “Apparently, they no longer care for you. Neither do I,” Wakefield snarled.

  Too bad.

  He would let nothing deter him. “I am here to see Ariana.”

  Wakefield came around the desk. Jared checked for pistol or sword, saw only fists. Bad enough.

  “I swore I would never let you see her if you were stupid enough to return. You broke her heart, you bastard, and she has just now repaired it.”

  “Repaired it?” He did his parrot impersonation again.

  “That’s right. Found someone new, someone she can count on—”

  Jared winced.

  “—and he come up to scratch right from the beginning. Makes her laugh. Makes her happy.”

  “Dunkirk?”

  “That’s right. He loves Ari.”

  “Does she love him?” Jared choked out.

  He made up his mind right then if she did love the Scot, he would let her go. He wanted her happiness most of all.

  “That would be none of your affair. Particularly after taking off and abandoning her the way you did.”

  “I did not aband—”

  But he had. He had told Ari he was leaving—forever.

  A bark sounded from the garden, then a squeal. Through the open French doors, Jared saw Harry leaping around a laughing Ariana as she twirled about him, her beautiful hair flowing out around her like a red-gold cape. His heart jackhammered so hard, his chest hurt. Was she lost to him?

  He spun toward Wakefield. “I have to see her. Just one more time.”

  The old earl glared his response.

  “I will get on my knees and beg you if I have to.”

  The earl’s features appeared to soften, if granite could even do so. “And tell her what exactly.”

  “That I never wanted to go, but I had things to settle. Things I could not control.”

  The glare was back. Jared was losing precious ground.

  He tried again. “That I love her. That without her, it is all I can manage just to breathe out and breathe in.” The growling strangely ceased. “That she is the most important thing in the world to me, and I will spend the rest of my life proving it to her.”

  Wakefield was shaking his head.

  “Devil take it! I will fight you if I have to.”

  The earl stared hard for one long interminable moment. “You have exactly five minutes.”

  Jared did not bother with thank you. He bolted through the terrace doors and out to the garden, then skidded to a halt a half-dozen yards from the garden bench where Ari had collapsed, Harry’s big head in her lap.

  She had heard his approach. Her eyes went wide.

  “Jared!” she gasped.

  “Lady Ariana.”

  She inhaled sharply.

  Why the devil was he being so formal now? Oh yes—to keep from stumbling forward and yanking her into his arms. Fear had stopped him. The fear she would send him packing.

  “You said…forever.”

  He winced. “I know.”

  Her face had gone so pale. His fingers tingled, knowing how soft the skin on her face and neck would feel, and he desperately wanted one more touch.

  She just watched him, did not utter a sound. Would she send him packing?

  Nerves had him babbling. “I had to go back. To see. I—I thought I had no choice. I could not afford to change history.”

  Two spots of color suddenly appeared in her cheeks. That was a good sign. Right? Her beautiful green eyes flashed sparks. That was not.

  “Why did you come back?”

  He took three steps forward, stopped when her eyes narrowed. “My cousin—in the future—said I had to come back because everyone, my ancestors, would be happier if I did, and I will spend my life proving it to you.”

  “Proving it to me? Why to
me? You only came back at your cousin’s behest?”

  The spots of color went to a full flush, an angry flush. Ari turned away to pet Harry. Jared had been summarily dismissed.

  He had mucked this up, just like he had mucked up everything in his life. He had been given this one chance. He could not ruin it.

  He tried again. “I knew when I was here before that I had found the one woman I could love. Did love.”

  Her head snapped up. Studied him warily.

  “She was perfect for me,” he said softly and eased two steps closer, “and damn it all to hell, I had to go back. Leaving her, giving her up was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.”

  Ari did not jump up and fly into his arms. Is that what he had expected? He stifled his innate arrogance. She merely watched him with those wide, wondering crème de menthe eyes. Wondering what he would do or say next…to muck things up.

  He waited—silently. He had pleaded his case. His future weighed in the balance over the course of the next few moments.

  “Lord Dunkirk came here today to propose.”

  “Propose what?” he asked hoarsely.

  The watchful green eyes narrowed. Wrong thing to say.

  “He has asked me to marry him.”

  Jared felt as though his knees had been sledge-hammered out from under him. His balance wavered, but he managed, “And what did you say?”

  Ariana stood. “Like I told you when you came to say good-bye, you left me no choice.”

  The world grew dark around him. Jared had lost. He had gambled, gone back…and lost.

  What the hell did he do now? He wanted to weep. He hadn’t even wept when his parents had died—the first time—but he wanted to now. No way would he show that much weakness. He wanted Ari to remember him as being strong. He made fists to stop his hands from trembling. At least, he could leave here with some dignity.

  “I just had to see you, see your face one more time. That is enough for me.”

  The second hardest thing he had ever done was turn to leave the garden. To give up. He made it three steps before his heart stopped, and he wondered if it would ever start up again.

  “Aye, left me no choice but to wait forever,” Ari’s voice echoed behind him. “I told Dunkirk no, because there is only one man I could ever love.”

  The air whooshed out of him in one hard exhale. Jared turned and Ari flew into his arms. Harry barked wildly and danced around them. He was crushing her against him, but he could not let go. He had not been too late. She had waited for him, even when he had said forever.

  “Tell me again,” he whispered in her ear.

  “I love you,” she whispered back.

  He grinned.

  “I love you!” she shouted to the treetops.

  Joy forced him to swing her around before he bent his head and kissed her. Softly at first, with all the tenderness he had buried in his soul for so long, but that was not enough. The beast inside required more. He had not been too late for the rest of his life. He kissed Ari hard, ruthlessly, and with all the desperation he had felt at losing the one thing in his life he truly needed. He took her face in his hands, turned his head to deepen the kiss, needing to show her what he could not find words to say.

  “Mine,” was all he could manage against her lips.

  “Yes.”

  “Mine forever,” he insisted.

  “Forever.”

  He crushed her to him again, his joy so powerful he feared he would explode with it. Over the top of her head, he saw Wakefield at the edge of the terrace, wearing a giant smug grin.

  “You old bamboozler!” Jared called.

  “I had to be sure,” the earl called back.

  “I had to be sure, too,” Ari whispered against his neck.

  Jared pulled back to see her eyes. “And are you?”

  “What do you think?” she asked, her eyes twinkling.

  Jared scooped her up in his arms and headed for the house.

  “Where are we going?” Ari squealed.

  “To find the parish priest.”

  Wakefield roared with laughter.

  Epilogue

  In one of the half-dozen ornate drawing rooms at Carlton House, Jared helped Bullen into his new formal black coat and tails. Dexter held the ruby stickpin for his cravat and grinned at them.

  “I feel like one of Cook’s trussed-up turkeys,” Bullen complained and tugged at the tight snow-white cravat Wiggs had tied before departing ten minutes earlier.

  “You should feel like the new Viscount Dolan.” Jared laughed and hugged his brother. “I am proud of you, brother.”

  “Everything makes him happy since he married Lady Ari last month,” Bullen fumed to Dexter. “He has been grinning like a loon ever since.”

  “Allow me to complain about that,” Dexter said to Jared. “I did not get invited to the wedding, and here I thought I was your friend.”

  “Do not feel bad,” Bullen said. “Neither did I. No one did.”

  “You jest.” Dexter looked appalled.

  “No, I do not. Once Ariana said yes, Jared swooped her into his arms and carried her all the way to the parish priest with Wakefield in tow.”

  “I was not taking any chances with that Scots bounder hanging about,” Jared defended himself. “I had already lost her once.”

  “But how did you get away with it? What about a special license?” Dexter wanted to know.

  “Seems Wakefield had one in his desk from before Jared left,” Bullen said. “The old earl had hoped to corral our duke back then and had called in some favors owed him.”

  Dexter let out a hoot of laughter, and Jared just grinned. He could not help himself. He had been grinning for the past month, and he thought of his beautiful Ari now back at the townhouse waiting for him. He could not wait to tell her about their audience with the Prince Regent.

  Prinny wanted this to be a private ceremony since he had taken a few liberties with the letters patent. Jared was not about to complain. His brother Bullen would be a viscount, and the ton be damned. He would put all his ducal influence behind Bullen, as would Dex, to make sure the ton treated his brother as one of their own.

  “I have a question, Bullen. Or should I say Jack?” Dexter asked.

  Prinny’s letters patent had gone ahead and named the new earl as Jackson Alexander Langley—not Giovanni, the name Bullen detested, not wanting to be reminded of his mother’s Italian heritage or of her at all.

  “What is it?” Bullen replied, ignoring the name comment.

  “Is that special fountain still in working order back at Haverly?” Dexter asked cagily.

  “Yes, why do you care?”

  “Things are getting a little tame around here, what with the war being over and Napoleon in exile. I had thought about taking a trip.”

  Bullen and Jared gaped at him.

  At that moment, the door opened and one of Prinny’s half-dozen butlers stepped inside and said solemnly, “His Highness awaits. Follow me.”

  As the three friends filed out, Jared grabbed Dex by the collar. “No bloody way.”

  A word about the author…

  Petie spent a large part of her career working as a biologist at Walt Disney World—“The Most Magical Place on Earth”—where she enjoyed working in the land of fairytales by day and creating her own romantic fairytales by night. She eventually said goodbye to her day job to write her stories full-time.

  Petie shares her home on the beautiful Cumberland Plateau with her horticulturist husband, a spoiled-rotten English springer spaniel addicted to pimento-stuffed green olives, and a noisy Nanday Conure named Sassy who made a cameo appearance in one of her novels.

  For information on her seven previous releases, visit Petie’s website online at:

  http://www.petiemccarty.com

  or at:

  https://www.facebook.com/petie.mccarty

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