Page 5 of Her Temporary Duke (Rakes and Roses #2)

L ady Phyllis walked with her daughters, who moved around her like orbiting moons. Amelia walked just behind her aunt and cousins. Her dress was resplendent, perfectly suited to her coloring, and enhanced her beauty. Seth loitered behind the group, but his eyes were drawn to Amelia again and again.

I must regain control of this situation. That encounter at the Prescott Estate was confusing and concerning.

It had not been difficult to flirt with Amelia. It never had been. But she had never responded to his flirtation before. With any other woman, Seth would consider himself to have successfully embarked on a new seduction.

Never has a first kiss been so thrilling. And never has that thrill been so… unwelcome.

Amelia peeked back at him for the tenth time, catching his eye. He could not help but smile, the grin of a rogue, which, he knew from experience, could bring a blush to a woman’s cheeks. It could make a lady drop her gaze demurely, only to return moments later, drawn back to him like a magnet.

“Do you not wish company on your walk, Your Grace?” Amelia asked.

Direct and with a hint of something in her tone. Flirtation? Why? Why now?

“I told you, my name is Seth,” he responded churlishly.

“You accompany us, but keep yourself separate from us. Is it so that you may look at me without being observed?” Amelia said, seeming unfazed by Seth’s tone.

They were falling further behind the Willoughbys, and Amelia allowed him to draw alongside her.

“I thought that you would appreciate the space, Amelia. Considering your letter to me from a fortnight ago,” he grumbled.

“It disturbed you?” Amelia replied.

She had stooped to pick a flower growing in a bed alongside the path they walked. She raised the flower to her nose, sniffing delicately.

“It did. As it would any man promised to a woman.”

“I would not have thought such a man as you could be disturbed by a simple letter,” Amelia replied, still devoting her attention to the flower.

“You may consider it an accomplishment then,” Seth replied, feeling as though he were engaged in a duel of words.

From amongst the delicate petals, Amelia raised her eyes to him.

Was there the ghost of a smile hiding behind that flower?

There was something about her that he had not noticed before.

She looked no different. Beautiful as she had always been.

Luscious lips and dark, alluring eyes. Silky curls.

Of the three betrothals, Amelia Nightingale was certainly the prettiest.

But what has changed about her? A confidence I did not see before? No, it is more than that. It is as though I am meeting her for the first time…

“A great accomplishment indeed to occupy the mind of a man such as you.”

“And what kind of man am I?” Seth probed.

Amelia seemed to think for a moment.

“We met shortly after an engagement ended for you. Lady Sally, I think you said.”

“ Sarah . Sarah Vickers,” Seth corrected, “you ought to know, you are acquainted.”

Amelia flushed and discarded the flower, looking away.

“Yes, of course. So, you are a man who falls in love easily. What our society would unflatteringly call a rake.”

“A rake? You are full of flattery. That is more like the letter you wrote. You swing like a pendulum, Amelia. I do not know which way you will go next,” Seth said with a laugh.

“A pendulum swings in just two directions. It is entirely predictable, Seth,” Amelia replied, levelly.

“But you are not.”

“Was I before?”

Seth thought for a moment. The Willoughbys were drawing further ahead. Phyllis was engaged in conversation with a young gentleman walking with an elderly woman. The younger Willoughbys were looking back at Seth and Amelia, talking among themselves.

Damnation, but the waters have muddied. Has that devil Tharpe Monkton been at her? Persuaded her to go along with the engagement just to try and force me into precipitate action? This was not the plan… Well, I will not be so manipulated.

“I did think so,” Seth replied.

“I would think that predictability would be the very antithesis of a man like you,” Amelia put in.

“A rake, you mean?”

“The kind of man who helps a woman dress whom he is not yet married to. Who presses her against a wall for a stolen kiss. If the cap fits,” Amelia shrugged.

“I fall in love easily,” Seth muttered snidely, exaggerating affection.

“Ah, so that is your idea of love? That is useful to know,” Amelia said with a tinkle of pretty laughter.

Despite himself, Seth was enjoying the badinage.

It was a duel, and she was scoring more points than he.

Amelia had seemed less sure of herself before, more preoccupied.

Seth found himself drawn to this new her, wanting to be alone with her.

He resented the Willoughbys and their constant watching.

He resented the ladies and gentlemen with whom he shared Hyde Park on this bright, summer day.

I must control myself. She is not a potential conquest but a hindrance that I must rid myself of without her knowing I am deliberately pushing her away.

“And what is yours?” Seth asked, inwardly cursing himself for not giving an answer that would be taken as crass.

“There are many kinds of love after all. I love my family and my friends,” Amelia mused aloud.

“Your family ? Does your Aunt not see you as a vehicle for social advancement for herself?” Seth bit out, putting a challenging edge to his voice.

It was time to end the flirtation that would only bring them closer together.

Amelia looked at him, stopping in her tracks.

He walked on casually for a moment, as though not noticing her reaction.

Ahead of them, a young man and an elderly woman were approaching, clearly with a view to an introduction.

“What would make you say such a thing?” Amelia demanded.

“Because I have eyes and ears. It is well known that Lady Prescott covets greater status than her husband’s rank can give. She practically threw you at me when I expressed interest.”

“Would she not rather have secured a Duke for her daughters?”

“Ah, but what kind of Duke?” Seth said with a grin.

“So, we return to your rakish nature again. Something a wife could iron out.”

“Change a man, you mean? I do not think it possible.”

Amelia resumed walking, stepping closer to him.

“I think I may be up to the challenge…”

Seth reached out to take her arm as she walked past, matching her insolent grin with one of his own.

He couldn’t help himself. She confused and infuriated him, attracted him, and made him want to run for the hills at the same time.

As he touched her, she spun to face him, and suddenly, they were close.

Seth found his breath quite taken away as he gazed into her dark, limitless eyes.

“Perhaps I will be the one to change you ,” he whispered.

“I guarantee that I will change,” she replied cryptically and with a hint of color in her cheeks.

Her lips were parted slightly, and he could see the rise and fall of her bosom increasing.

The flower she had held had left a petal in a curl of her hair.

Seth reached out to remove it, but a breath of air beat him to it.

The delicate petal floated away, dancing ahead of his fingers.

Amelia watched it breeze by with an expression of delight on her face.

Seth realized that he was standing before her with a hand raised to her face, inches from her smooth, alabaster skin.

Her doe-eyes returned to his, and she glanced at the upraised hand. She raised an eyebrow, saying nothing. The challenge was all too clear in her expression. ‘Was it your intention to touch me? As a man in love would touch the object of his love?’

Seth swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. He felt that the situation was falling out of his control.

This bloody woman has been receiving guidance! She has had lessons in dealing with a rogue. She was not this self-assured before. Who is trying to undermine me?

He made his thoughts harsh, stoking his anger, wanting to be free of the magnetism that drew him to her.

Being attracted to any of the women selected for him by his devil of a father was unacceptable and undesirable.

It simply would not happen. Seth clasped both his hands behind his back and turned away.

“Your Grace, the Duke of Bellmonte?” said the young man with the elderly companion.

“Yes,” Seth replied brusquely.

“Graham Wallace, Earl of Tewkesbury. Allow me to introduce my mother, the Dowager Countess.”

The man looked to be barely out of his teens with a round face and earnest expression. The Dowager Countess looked like a crow, dressed all in black and with a pointed, pinched face.

“What I do love about promenading in Hyde Park is the unsolicited introductions to people I ordinarily wouldn’t have sought out,” Seth said with a beaming, friendly smile.

Wallace blinked uncertainly, unsure if he was being insulted.

“Seth, you can be so prickly sometimes,” Amelia tutted from beside him. “Will you not introduce me?”

“Of course. Tewkesbury, this is my betrothed, Lady Amelia Nightingale of Prescott Estate,” Seth said grudgingly.

Wallace bowed over Amelia’s hand, and she curtsied to him and the Dowager Countess.

“Well, I will not inflict any more unsolicited company on you, Your Grace. I simply wished to make your acquaintance. We have just taken up residence here in town, Tavistock Square. We should be delighted if such a prominent man and his lady would join us for afternoon tea,” Wallace beamed, smoothly overcoming his earlier uncertainty.

“We would be delighted, Lord Tewkesbury,” Amelia smiled in return, “when would be suitable?”

“Tomorrow at three, perhaps?” Wallace suggested.

“I have an engagement,” Seth muttered.

“We will be there, my lord,” Amelia said as though not hearing Seth.