Page 9 of Always the Bridesmaid, Never the Duchess (Wallflower Season #3)
Kate sat in the darkness brooding over the day.
She found herself revisiting each sparring match and wishing that after she told Julia she couldn’t possibly work with the duke that a message informing him he needn’t assist her had been sent.
Now, she was forced to accommodate his wishes lest she be seen as a disagreeable shrew.
Her mind shifted once more to the night of the masquerade ball, and she felt the heat rise in her cheeks at the thought of his touch.
How could he vex her so? She groaned in frustration.
If only his eyes weren’t so intense, and his black hair did not curl just so.
If she were honest, his outside was sheer perfection. Too bad his inside did not match.
Outside on the landing, Kate heard a sound. Her grandmother would ring if she required assistance from one of the maids, but perhaps they failed to attend to her. Kate rose and opened the door only to step back. She peered around the door.
“Your Grace, I thought you were my grandmother. Do you require assistance? My maid can fetch your valet if you require him.” Kate looked around to see if Sally were nearby, but the hallway was empty.
Andrew moved across the hallway to stand before her door. “I require many things.” He reached his hand out and wrapped one of her curls around his finger. “Your hair is quite beautiful once released from its restraints.”
Kate’s breath caught in her throat. “Your Grace. This is most improper. If someone saw you standing outside my bedchamber, my reputation would be in tatters.”
“Perhaps it is a risk worth taking,” he said.
Andrew’s voice was low and sent shivers of delight through Kate.
Her heart raced at the thought of his touch.
Her earlier displeasure evaporated as his sapphire blue eyes lowered to her mouth.
A stirring in her womanhood made her bold.
She leaned forward, her lips open ready to receive his own when he stepped back, releasing her hair from his grasp.
“I don’t wish to compromise you. Have a good evening, Miss Avery.” He bowed slightly and walked toward his own bedchamber.
Kate longed to slam the door, but she dared not risk waking her grandmother.
The sheer audacity of the man! He truly was insufferable.
The wedding could not happen soon enough and then she would see the back of the Duke of Devonport.
It was a long time before she was finally able to sleep, and when she did, her dreams were filled with thoughts of dangerous blue eyes and hair as dark as a raven’s wing.
“Good morning, Kate. I trust you slept well.” The Dowager Viscountess sat at the table with her usual cup of tea and slice of toast with fig marmalade.
She was a creature of habit, much to the delight of staff, and the dismay of her grandchildren who enjoyed a bit of spontaneity in their daily lives.
“Yes, Grandmama. And you? How was your night?” Kate let the lie slip easily from her lips. In truth, she was exhausted and in an ill temper from her restless sleep filled with dreams of sapphire blue eyes and broad shoulders.
She picked up her cup of tea and sipped. The Duke of Devonport hadn’t made an appearance as of yet. Kate hoped that he wouldn’t languish the day away in his room. They had a great deal of work to do and little time to accomplish it.
“I thought I heard a noise in the hallway last night, but then I dismissed it as a fanciful notion. My hearing is not as sharp as it once was.” The Dowager Viscountess peered over her teacup at Kate. “Did you hear anything?”
Kate kept her eyes firmly downcast. She concentrated on smearing her toast with butter lest her grandmother glean something from her expression. “No. I fell fast asleep as soon as my head touched the bed.”
Kate held her tongue regarding her grandmother’s hearing.
The older woman had ears sharp as a barn cat listening for mice.
On many occasions, she and Nicholas would be discovered sneaking from their bedchambers down to the kitchen to steal a bit of sweets from the larder only to be discovered by their grandmother.
“I think that I should send a message to Julia telling her that the wedding cannot take place here,” Kate said. “I know Nicholas said that he would not be upset by it, but I think it was a mistake to agree to such a thing in the first place.”
The Dowager Viscountess stopped eating her toast. She set it down and sighed.
“I think you are not being forthright with me. Preparations have already been made. Guests will begin arriving in a few days’ time.
It is quite fickle of you to declare that you no longer believe you should host the wedding. ”
Kate squirmed in her chair. She couldn’t tell her grandmother of her evening in the Lilac Room and her brazen behavior when she believed Andrew to be a rake sent to pleasure her.
Nor could she tell her of how a simple touch of his finger against the lock of her hair last night made her wish to throw aside propriety.
Or how every word from his lips seemed to cause her to want to throw something at his head in frustration.
He was a study in contrasts, and after only one day in his company she was vexed beyond measure.
Instead, Kate said, “I think you were too quick to forgive him for the role the Duke played in the breakup of Nicholas and Julia. Was it not the lies from his lips that brought scandal to our family?”
The Dowager Viscountess raised a finger in warning. “You forget yourself, granddaughter. I have not forgotten the scandal, nor have I been so quick to place the blame upon the Duke of Devonport. Julia was quick to believe the rumors despite Nicholas’s insistence that they were untrue.”
Although Kate could not fault her grandmother for placing some blame on Julia, Kate knew better than most the distress the scandal had caused her dear friend.
The gossip columns named the Duke of Devonport as the source of the scandal.
Nicholas and Julia’s broken engagement had been the sensational news last year.
The gossip mills ground over their breakup until a new scandal had finally replaced it.
Despite it being old news, it was still fodder for the wagging tongues when the opportunity presented itself.
No, she would not be so quick to forgive him.
To believe a man who she had loved since childhood could betray her so profoundly had deeply scarred Julia. So much so, that despite Kate promising the story was false, Julia had refused to even listen. And Kate knew that the fault lay with the Duke and the rumors he had spread.
When Kate felt a warm body rest itself upon her feet, she broke off a piece of toast and slipped it beneath the table to Tibbs.
At least he was always faithful and true, unlike most men of her acquaintance.
She turned to her grandmother and said, “I cannot forgive the Duke for the lies he told about our family. He has sullied our family’s honor.
I shall keep my promise to Julia, but I shall be quite glad to see the back of him after this wedding is over. ”
It was Tibbs who alerted Kate to his presence. A low growl from beneath her chair followed by an eruption of barking preceded Andrew’s arrival. Rather than coming from upstairs, he walked in from the back entrance. His hair was tousled from the morning breeze.
“Good morning, Lady Pembrooke.” He turned to Kate, his jaw like granite His nostrils flared slightly. “Miss Avery. I hope you slept well. I certainly did as I have a clear conscience with regard to anyone’s honor.”
The Dowager Viscountess cleared her throat. “Pardon my granddaughter’s impertinence, Your Grace. She is like a dog with a bone when it comes to her opinions. I am pleased that you slept well.”
Ignoring Kate’s glower, he smiled at the Dowager Viscountess. “It is glorious outside. I took the liberty of visiting your stables this morning. Your stable hand was good enough to saddle the black stallion so I could ride the grounds.” He took a seat at the opposite end of the table.
“I am surprised you were able to ride him,” Kate said, refusing to be ignored in her own home. “My brother acquired him a few weeks ago and has found him to be a spirited animal.”
Andrew leaned back in his chair. “Your brother was correct in his finding; however, I have found a firm hand soothes even the most spirited creature. Wouldn’t you agree, Miss Avery?” He lifted one eyebrow and gave her a sardonic glance.
Kate felt the heat rise in her cheeks and quickly lifted her teacup to hide her discomfort. He was being deliberately provocative in an attempt to disconcert her. “I wouldn’t know. I fear my knowledge of horses to be quite limited. I’ll defer to you on that one, Your Grace.”
“A victory indeed to have you not cross me.” He did not allow Kate a chance to respond. Instead, he stood and said, “I shall change and return shortly. We have a great deal to accomplish and little time to waste.”
Kate’s teacup rattled in its saucer as she set it down. The nerve of the man. She was not a horse to be tamed!
A small chuckle from her grandmother made Kate’s head whip around. “I do believe the Duke has your measure, Kate.” With that, the Dowager Viscountess stood and left the room leaving Kate with her mouth open and her frustration unvented.