It's All About the Duke--The Rakes of St. James

by Amelia Grey

  “She shouldn’t be. The ground is soft here and she didn’t appear to hit her head on anything as she went down.” Rath added, “Will she tell your cousin we were kissing?”

  That thought hadn’t crossed Marlena’s mind. “Eugenia tell Justine? No. No, she wouldn’t tell Justine anything. She wouldn’t even tell her sister. Unlike me, Eugenia is quite timid about most things and wouldn’t want to create any trouble for me or anyone. I have no fear of her tattling.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” the duke said. “She does seem quite timorous.”

  He reached over and picked up the article that had tumbled to the earth with Eugenia.

  The duke turned to Marlena. “Apparently the two of you enjoy Miss Truth’s books and her scandal sheets.”

  “Yes,” she answered after swallowing a lot more guilt.

  “Do you read it every week?”

  She nodded.

  “I haven’t read this one,” he said and his eyes drifted back to the paper.

  Merciful heavens! Was he going to read it right in front of her?

  It was horrifying to have the duke holding the scandal sheet in his hand. Knowing as he did that both their names were written in it. And that she had been the one who’d written them.

  Would he remember any of the words from the writings he’d seen that day in the drawer of her secretary? Was she about to be found out and have to admit she was the writer of the scandal sheet that had haunted him for almost three years?

  Seconds passed and he didn’t accuse her so she asked, “Do you really read them?”

  He looked over at her and said, “Most of the time. They’re never longer than a paragraph or two. It’s not like reading a book. I suppose you have read her book by now, too.”

  Guiltily, she nodded again.

  “I haven’t read it yet,” he offered.

  How long could it take to read such a simple book, she groused silently to herself!

  “I heard it’s selling rather briskly, which surprised me,” he said.

  That surprised Marlena, too, when Veronica had told her.

  “There’s really no reason you should bother yourself with such trivial entertainment,” she answered honestly. “You probably wouldn’t enjoy it anyway.”

  “But you did,” he said. “Your reading group as well?”

  Marlena was forced to nod for the third time, certain her throat was too dry to speak again.

  Looking at him, with the breeze stirring his dark hair, Marlena remembered the passion she’d felt in his arms and she wanted the ground to open and swallow her. Her double life was catching up with her, but she couldn’t let it scare her. What she’d done, what she was doing might be wrong but she had to remember it was for a worthy cause.

  “Apparently, Miss Truth has heard that I am now your guardian. Does that bother you? To have your name printed in here.”

  Yes, it bothered her. Just as it now bothered her to write about him. It was much easier before she could put a face to the name of the Duke of Rathburne.

  “I suppose it had to be done. Justine has been telling everyone,” Marlena said, more breathlessly than she would have liked to sound.

  The duke glanced back to her. “Does she know who Miss Truth is?”

  “I hope not.”

  He gave her a puzzled glance. “Why is that?”

  “She would probably tell everyone about that, too.”

  He smiled. “And you wouldn’t like that. You’d then have one less scandal sheet to read.”

  Eugenia rolled her head back and forth and started mumbling words that thankfully Marlena couldn’t understand. How was she ever going to explain what happened between her and the duke to her friend?

  The duke held the sheet toward Marlena. “Here, you take this. Since your name is printed in it along with mine, I’m sure you don’t want to lose it.” He extended the scandal sheet to her. “You carry it and I’ll carry Miss Everard into the house. It’s time to try your smelling salts.”

  Chapter 14

  He could be a rake if he fails to detect a young lady’s distress.

  MISS HONORA TRUTH’S WORDS OF WISDOM AND WARNING ABOUT RAKES, SCOUNDRELS, ROGUES, AND LIBERTINES

  “Now again,” Justine said. “Step forward, left, left, back on the right, forward on the right, twirl, clap, and curtsy. That’s good. Keep going. Now again, step forward—”

  “No, no, Justine,” Marlena said, walking over to the pianoforte, wiping her forehead, though it was chilly in the music room. “Please, I need to rest. You’ve had me dancing for over an hour now.”

  Justine kept playing. “Only an hour? And you complain? You’ll be dancing all night, every night during the Season, dear girl, so I don’t want to hear your protest until you can dance for that long. Now back to the center of the room with you and let’s continue.”

  “At a ball I won’t be dancing by myself to the same tune over and over again and it won’t be one dance right after the other without a break in between sets. I’ll have time to rest, have a cup of punch, and hopefully a conversation or two.”

  Justine took her hands off the keys and leaned an arm on top of the pianoforte as she stared at Marlena with no softening in her determined features. “I would hope not.”

  “Really?” Marlena asked, confused by her cousin’s remark.

  “If you’re going to be the diamond of the Season, as I was, you must be on the floor for every dance. All the acceptable and eligible bachelors should be lining up to dance with you and trying to gain your favor. Besides, I’ve been sitting here playing the pianoforte for you for over an hour. You don’t hear me complaining that my fingers are tired and need a rest, do you?” She started the melody again. “See. They are still moving, but you are not still dancing.”

  “There’s quite a bit of difference between what you are doing and what I’m doing,” Marlena argued, though it wasn’t so much that she minded the dancing. She wasn’t actually tired, either, but she was nervous—again. She’d turned in another scandal sheet that morning, and hoped she’d made it outrageous enough everyone in London would want their own copy. If Mr. Trout saw the sales going up maybe he’d be more inclined to advance the money she’d written to him and asked about. Veronica was talking about Words of Wisdom to her ladies’ groups, but Justine had refused, saying she delighted in telling everyone she hadn’t read it and didn’t intend to. Even the duke had said he’d heard it was selling well.

  Marlena didn’t know anything else to do to get enough money to help Eugenia purchase two or three gowns for the Season. Since the duke admitted to carrying the package of smelling salts down the street, it wasn’t a far stretch to assume someone had seen him doing it. Though she didn’t expect he’d be happy Miss Truth had written about it. There was no way Marlena would have if it weren’t necessary for her to help the sisters.

  Since she couldn’t stop thinking about the duke, his kisses, or the very revealing scandal sheet she’d turned in yesterday, she’d decided to work on a complicated stitchery that happened to remind her even more of the duke. With a sharpened lead pencil, she’d painstakingly sketched a garden scene on a fine linen fabric suitable for framing.

  First, she’d drawn the grass. Tall swaying blades tightly nestled by shorter straight ones and a few wide sprigs, too. Next, she’d added flowers springing up from the grass. Big ones with wide-open petals, tiny ones with little closed blooms, and even a blossom or two that was falling away from the stem. When she had the garden lightly sketched the way she wanted it, she’d added a bee, a wasp, a ladybug, and two butterflies. One in flight over the top of what would be colorful flowers and the other sitting on a petal.

  It had taken her almost as long to pick out all the colors of embroidery thread she wanted to use as it had to sketch the entire scene. She was threading her first needle, eager to get started with her stitches and thinking about the duke, when Justine burst into the room and announced Marlena must practice her dancing. There had been no persuading h
er differently.

  Marlena had also wanted to think on her conversation with Eugenia about why she was kissing the duke. To Marlena’s surprise, Eugenia had understood Marlena’s desire to be kissed. It was good to know other young ladies had great curiosity about it. Her friend admitted she’d often wanted Mr. Bramwell to forget propriety and kiss her, too, but it hadn’t happened yet. What Eugenia hadn’t understood was why it was the duke giving Marlena her first kiss. That had been harder to explain. She wasn’t sure Eugenia believed her when she’d told her the truth: Marlena was the one who’d kissed the duke first.

  “Did you hear me?” Justine asked.

  “No, I’m sorry,” Marlena said, honestly. “I was thinking about the embroidery sample I was working on when you interrupted me for a dance. What did you say?”

  Justine continued playing the practice tune. “If you’d had the good sense to agree to move into the duke’s home in Mayfair we both would have—”

  “Thank you, Justine,” Marlena said, interrupting her. She would rather dance than hear her cousin complain once again about not getting to move to Mayfair. Marlena turned and walked back over to the center of the room to wait for her cousin to give her the prompt to start.

  “I’m ready whenever you are.”

  “Perhaps you will marry well. A man who has a home there and he’ll allow me to move in with you.”

  “Would you really want to do that? Give up your home here?”

  “That, or if it were possible, to continue to have a coach like the duke has provided for us so I could visit with my friends there anytime I wanted.”

  “You could walk. It’s really not that far.”

  Justine sighed heavily. “Still so much to teach you. I can’t be seen walking around Mayfair with all my friends now that I have the duke’s coach. Appearances are so important to Society. I’ve received so many invitations since the duke has become your guardian, I feel as if I’m the diamond of the Season again.”

  That Marlena did know.

  After playing a few more moments Justine said, “One. Two. Three. Begin. Step forward, left, left, back on the right, forward on the left, twirl, clap, and curtsy. That’s right. And again. Step—”

  “Excuse me, Mrs. Abernathy.”

  “What is it, Mrs. Doddle?” Justine asked, but she didn’t stop playing or turn to face the housekeeper.

  “Begging your pardon, but the Duke of Rathburne is here to see you and Miss Fast.”

  All ten of Justine’s fingers landed on the keys at the same time, making a dreadful sound.

  Eager anticipation gripped Marlena. She rose very slowly from her curtsy, suddenly more out of breath than she should be. The duke was here. Every sensation she’d felt when he held and kissed her came rushing back to excite her.

  “Oh, how absolutely wonderful!” Justine jumped up from the stool and walked away from the pianoforte. “I must have been playing so loud I didn’t hear the door. He was just here a few days ago. I thought for certain it’d be weeks before we’d see him again. He’s such a rogue.” She lifted her breasts to make sure an ample amount of flesh showed from beneath the neckline of her silk dress, and then pressed her hands down the front of her skirt. She looked over at Marlena and said, “How does my hair look? Is any of it out of place?” She touched the sides, top, and the back of it. “Are there any wrinkles in my clothing?”

  “You are very presentable,” Marlena said, having no doubt how she must look after an hour of skipping, twirling, and bowing from one end of the room to the other.

  “Good. You may show him in, Mrs. Doddle, and then please make tea for us.”

  Justine turned to Marlena. “Some of your hair has fallen out of your chignon but I suppose there’s nothing for us to do about that now. You’ve not time to completely redo it. Quickly brush it behind your ears and we’ll hope it will stay.”

  Marlena was far more worried about how her insides were jumping than about her unruly locks. It wasn’t the first time the duke had seen her with tangles in her hair, as he’d reminded her. She doubted it had been combed at all the morning she’d first seen him all those years ago. Now she was older and should be able to keep her hair under control, but some days it was as if it had a mind of its own. She tucked the loose strands behind her ears and moistened her lips.

  Seeing the duke again shouldn’t make her feel this happy. Thrilled even. But it did.

  The Duke of Rathburne strode into the drawing room as if with a purpose in mind. His gaze settled immediately on Marlena and she felt as if her heart melted in her chest and slowly flowed all the way down to her toes. The way looking at him made her feel couldn’t be explained by words. It was more comforting than a blazing-hot fire on the coldest of nights. There was a rich and lush appeal to him. He was devilishly handsome dressed in his coat of deep-ocean blue, boots that covered his knees, and an expression that told her he was pleased to see her, too.

  After greetings were appropriately taken care of, the duke said, “I heard a melody when I came into the house. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

  “No, not at all,” Justine said, walking closer to him. “I was playing for Marlena so she could work on her dance steps. The Season isn’t far away now and she still has much to learn.”

  Marlena had known the steps to every dance since she was sixteen. She opened her mouth to contradict her cousin but the duke spoke first.

  “The Season is why I’m here. But first”—he extended a box to Justine—“I brought you some sweets.”

  Justine’s face lit up as if a thousand candles were shining on it. Marlena couldn’t help but think her cousin’s heart was melting, too.

  “For me?” Justine took the box with one hand while the other flattened on her ample bosom. Her lashes fluttered. “How lovely. Thank you, Your Grace. Look, Marlena. Something sweet for us to enjoy.”

  Marlena watched Justine tear into the package and murmured, “Lovely indeed,” though his gift to her cousin irritated Marlena beyond sensible reason.

  How dare he. She had received very inappropriate, expensively bottled smelling salts from the duke and Justine was given confections. Confections that were properly wrapped in brown paper and tied with a common string. Not expensive lace and pretty blue ribbons. And to bring Justine sweets after he’d kissed Marlena. Kissed her so thoroughly she would never forget his touch.

  What nerve he had! Not that Marlena cared, of course. He could bring Justine all the sweets he wanted to.

  The more the better.

  What he did or didn’t give Justine, or how he chose to present it to her, meant nothing to Marlena. She’d told him she wanted him to give her her first kiss and he had. The mystery of what a kiss would be like was solved. That was the end of it, and that was the way she wanted it.

  But her mind reminded her she hadn’t expected the kiss to be so powerful, so delicious that she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of the duke kissing her again.

  “Oh, my, so tempting,” Justine said as she looked at the bounty nestled in the box. “Small apricot tarts glazed with sugar. You must have remembered they’re my favorite from my first Season. They’ll be divine.”

  The duke acknowledged her gratitude and then gave his attention to Marlena. “Back to the reason I’m here, Miss Fast,” he said. “I told you a friend was helping me find someone to guide and provide you with the things I couldn’t do for you during the Season.”

  “Of course we remember,” Justine answered for Marlena with another generous smile to the duke. “We’ve been patiently waiting to hear from you about this.”

  He nodded to Justine and then gave his attention back to Marlena. “I had a note from her this morning telling me she’d found someone and asked that I meet her here at your house this afternoon. She’s bringing the person to meet you.”

  “Splendid.” Justine beamed. “We are most appreciative, Your Grace. Perhaps it’s Mrs. Seagrove. She’s the best, I’m told. Or Miss
Provost. Though she never married, I’ve heard outstanding things about her as well. Either would be perfect.”

  “Who is she?” Marlena asked him, suddenly feeling wary.

  “I don’t know who the Duchess of Griffin has found. She didn’t say, but I trust Esmeralda. You’d have no reason to know this, but Her Grace once worked with an employment agency. She’s very familiar with most of the women who know what to do.”

  The Duchess of Griffin was coming to her house? Marlena knew very well about the duchess. She had written about her in Miss Honora Truth’s Scandal Sheet for a Season. And now Her Grace was on her way to meet Marlena. Face-to-face. Marlena’s stomach quaked at the thought, but she managed to mumble, “It was kind of the duchess to take the time to find someone.”

  When Marlena continued the scandal sheet after the first Season she should have known it would come back to haunt her in some way, but at the time she was only thinking she had to continue to help Eugenia and Veronica.

  At the back of her mind, Marlena was furiously trying to remember exactly what she’d written about the duchess when she was the chaperone for the Duke of Griffin’s twin sisters. It was impossible to recall it all. It was more than two years ago and she’d written many columns since then.

  Yet, some of the sentences she’d written came back to her. Perhaps the most scintillating gossip from the first ball of the Season wasn’t about the Duke of Griffin or his sisters. It centered on their intriguing young chaperone, Miss Esmeralda Swift.

  That wasn’t a bad thing to say. It was actually nice. Marlena remembered she’d commented on the announcement of the duchess’ engagement, too:

  The Duke of Griffin has made his intentions known, and the maiden who made the prized catch of the Season is none other than the chaperone for his twin sisters, Miss Esmeralda Swift.

  Marlena couldn’t remember saying anything unkind about the duchess. Thankfully, her rebukes were usually reserved for the Rakes of St. James and not others she mentioned in her scandal sheet.

  The front door knocker sounded. Justine’s eyes lit up again. “That must be the duchess. I do hate to bring it to your attention again, Your Grace, but this is a perfect example why we need more servants in the house. Mrs. Doddle is making tea but will have to stop and go answer the door because we don’t have enough servants to fulfill all the duties around here.”