Page 5 of A Gamble on the Duke (The Gambling Dukes #4)

THREE

Catherine

I had to be dreaming.

People…people simply did not live like this.

“—and the billiards room is through there.” The Duke of Kineallen pointed to another door, as though I was going to be able to take all this in. “The laundry is downstairs but to be honest, the servants will find your clothes in your bedchamber, take them away to be cleaned…”

I stared around me, trying to take it all in.

We were standing in what the Duke of Kineallen called the parlor. The man had clearly never stood in an actual parlor, a small room with as many chairs squashed into it as possible with an old clock on the mantlepiece that never run to time, no matter what you did to it.

This was…

This was bigger than the house I was born in. The whole townhouse, he had told me on the way here, was ‘quite spacious’. Quite spacious? I could fit my entire lodgings, and shop in here, and still have plenty of room left over .

I stifled a laugh as I sank slowly onto a sofa and stared at the fireplace. Marble, of course. You could tell it was the real stuff, there was something about the patina. There was gold everywhere, all the fixtures and fittings, and something told me that it wasn’t the cheap tacky pretend stuff.

This was big money.

He was a duke. A duke!

“And you…live here alone?” I found myself saying.

The Duke of Kineallen halted and turned around. He’d been pointing at the bellpull where one could summon a whole host of servants, by the sound of it, to do almost anything I wanted. “No, I told you—this is the London townhouse. I stay here when I am in town.”

I tried not to grin like an idiot. “This—this is your spare house?”

“No, it’s my London townhouse,” he said slowly as though trying to explain something incredibly complicated. “Right, pay attention. You’re going to want to know how to find the dining room. If you step here…”

I walked forward as though I was listening, but my mind was spinning.

The room I had been renting for what felt like forever could fit six times over in this parlor, and I’d already seen a drawing room, a study, a library, two bedchambers, and an actual bathroom. A room merely here for a bath!

And I was going to be living here for weeks. Meals prepared by a duke’s cook included.

Was the gentleman quite mad?

“…though I think based on the time of year you’ll want to sit in here in the afternoon, the sun is most pleasant…”

I turned away from the Duke of Kineallen and his complicated instructions on how to live in his townhouse, and stepped slowly over to the drawing room .

It was gorgeous. I may not be a lady of a noble house but I was an artist to my bones, and this place had been decorated by someone who really understood their stuff.

The balance of light and fabrics, the choice of colors, not to mention the huge windows that gave a view of London I never thought I’d see in my life…

I swallowed. What on earth had I walked into?

“So you have everything you need?”

Turning on my heels, I grinned. “Yes, yes, all fine.”

“I thought it would be easier to have you here, closer to me when I need you,” the Duke of Kineallen said stiffly.

Everything the Duke of Kineallen did or said appeared to be stiff. I’d never seen anyone more uncomfortable in their own body.

Which was wild, because that was quite a body. I mean, the man wasn’t so much breathing as being permanently chiseled.

“Having me on tap, you mean?” I said with a grin as I fell onto a sofa. “Dear me, what is this made of, clouds?”

“Lilah was careful to choose only the best,” the Duke of Kineallen said quietly. He sat far more elegantly on the sofa opposite mine. “And she usually knows what she’s talking about.”

Lilah. Interesting.

“But it was Georgiana who ensured we got them for a great price,” he added.

Lilah. Georgiana. For a man who was essentially renting a woman, the Duke of Kineallen certainly had a great deal of women around him.

Perhaps something of what I was thinking showed on my face, because a smile cracked his lips and it was a rare natural one.

“My friends, remember? Lilah is the Dowager Duchess of Rotherwick, though she has recently wed a Mr. William Parry, and Georgiana is now Lady Georgiana Monroe, after marrying Fynn, though before that she was the Dowager Duchess of Cartice. She is also my sister-in-law.”

I blinked. Now, I was no expert in the vagaries of the nobility, but surely that had to mean?—

“My late wife,” the Duke of Kineallen said quietly, “was her sister.”

Her sister. His late wife.

And in that moment, so much of the complexity of the Duke of Kineallen became clear. The state of this beautiful house. The way he was direct with me as a woman in a way so few bachelors ever were. And the pain, the true agony that flashed in his eyes as he spoke of not wishing to be married.

What he should have said was that he did not wish to be married…again.

“Ah,” I said, hating that relief rushed through me.

I shouldn’t feel relieved. The poor man had made it perfectly clear—painfully clear—that he wanted nothing more from me than me to just walk about the place and smile. Here was a man genuinely uninterested in seducing me, more’s the pity, but just as uninterested in marrying me.

Which was a good thing. Obviously.

After everything I’ve been through, everything I’ve worked for, it was degrading, to be treated as essentially a servant—though of course I would be serving the Duke of Kineallen by acting as the object of his affections.

But it would keep me in business.

“So, the schedule for the week,” the Duke of Kineallen said bracingly.

“I thought you said the schedule wasn’t fixed?” I pointed out.

He nodded, as though praising me for having paid attention. A shiver of heat washed through me and I sat up a little straighter before catching myself.

Dear heavens, was I that easily swayed?

“It isn’t, but you should have a general sense of what to expect in the week,” the Duke of Kineallen said, leaning back and raising a hand to place it behind his head.

I swallowed. He was so attractive. The muscles of that arm, did he have any idea what he looked like?

Clearly not. I hardly knew the gentleman, but I had a sense that if the Duke of Kineallen had any clue how delicious he looked in that position, he would change it immediately.

“So, tomorrow. Luncheon was suggested with the Earl of Tuxford, and there’s a soiree in the evening during which…”

Words were said. Words that I tried to listen to, but it was…difficult.

This was all such a whirlwind. It was a good thing that the locksmith had come out to fix the door on my shop because it looked like I wouldn’t be going back there for a while.

I’d paid a month’s rent which Mr. Matthews had begrudgingly agreed was sufficient for now, and told him I’m be back to my shop soon.

And when I did, I’d have the money to keep hold of it.

I held onto that thought as my mind whirled, struggling to pay attention to anything with all the panic rising in my chest.

What on earth was I doing? I had no idea who this gentleman was, not really and now I lived in his house—sorry, not his house, but his spare house?

This was so beyond my expectations, it wasn’t even funny.

“—formal wear is not optional. I’ll have some gowns sent over, my friends will know what’s opera appropriate and what’s more suitable for the ballet. When it comes to…”

I swallowed, my mouth dry. I should be listening: the Duke of Kineallen was most definitely giving off the sense that he’ll be testing me on this later.

But I couldn’t. It was like my mind was shouting that this was a mistake.

Not that he would hurt me. No, all you had to do was spend five minutes in his company and you could swiftly see that the Duke of Kineallen was a good man.

Which begged the question…why did this rich, handsome duke need to hire a woman for the week?

It was stupid to even ask. I had a good thing here, if I could just smile, pretend to be in love with this tall handsome man, and take the money.

Just focus, Catherine!

“You’re not listening, are you?” the Duke of Kineallen said curtly.

I jumped as though he’d shouted. “What?”

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Miss Shenton. Seriously, you have to be more focused than this.”

I smiled weakly. “I was never cut out for this type of concentration, I'm afraid. I'm an artist by nature.”

When he looked up, the Duke of Kineallen’s eyes were cold. “I need you to be better than that.”

Kineallen

She wasn’t listening.

It was strange. Just hours ago I had never met this woman, and now here I was, finding it impossible to stop looking at her.

Because we had a job to do. Obviously. That was the only reason.

I cleared my throat, but that didn’t appear to wake Miss Shenton from whatever daydream she had managed to lose herself in.

Honestly!

I pinched the bridge of my nose, willing the headache that was threatening away. “Miss Shenton. Seriously, you have to be more focused than this.”

Her smile was far too attractive for her own good. Or mine. “I was never cut out for this type of concentration, I'm afraid. I'm an artist by nature.”

Of course she was. That was perhaps the one flaw in my plan. If I’d gone to Mayfair, allowed myself to be welcomed in by one of the many households which had grown rich through trade, I could have found someone who truly understood just how important it was to get the Earl of Tuxford on our side.

But then, they’d know me. They would see me as the Duke of Kineallen, leader of the Gambling Dukes. And that was before they fell in love with me.

Not going to happen.

I forced myself to be as cold as I could. “I need you to be better than that.”

Even I flinched at my words, but they were said, and it was best to keep this professional, wasn’t it.

Still. I didn’t have to be cruel.

I opened my mouth to apologize, or at the very least, explain it away—but I couldn’t. Because Miss Shenton was laughing.