Page 11 of Only a Duke (Ladies Who Dare #6)

W henever her brother eluded her, Louisa silently applauded him.

She also—deep in a corner of her heart she would never expose!

—felt a secret pleasure when he outwitted his governess.

It reassured her that he might, when darkness loomed, evade its clutches.

Though perhaps not the most prudent of sentiments, it was the truth of her feelings.

Granted, evading darkness in the real world was not as simple as evading one’s tutor. One must master the delicate proverbial footwork and precise proximity required for a waltz, so that one could leverage these artful steps to navigate and escape the scheming or dangerous situations in society.

She had learned this lesson ten years ago and in a petrifying way, no less. Vigilance was armor in the presence of powerful men. It was why Louisa felt the urge to laugh even as she burned with frustration at her brother’s antics!

The moment he dashed from the library, he disappeared like a puff of smoke.

The little brat!

While she had possessed the same skill for eluding her governess when she was his age, she didn’t know every hiding place on the estate.

She’d only ever concealed herself within the sheltering boughs of the weeping willow, and she had managed to preserve that hiding spot precisely because she had never been discovered.

Her brother, on the other hand, often sought the company of the servants, so while the duke searched the house, she would ask the servants Leo loved to converse with.

She strode into the kitchen, smiling at the cook who was busy kneading dough. “I’m looking for that rascal of a brother of mine. Have you perhaps seen him?”

“Can’t say I have, dearie. Why? Has he given Miss Hale the slip again?”

Louisa glanced at the other servants present, several of whom doted on her brother and indulged his whims. “Indeed. Then, do you perhaps know where he might choose to hide if he were hiding from her—or me?”

“Can’t say, dearie,” Cook said, kneading away. “But perhaps he has the same mind as you.”

“The same mind?” Louisa raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. “Meaning?”

Cook shrugged. “The young master is always following you around.”

Her? Surely not. “You mean he is always keeping the staff from their duties.”

Cook smiled. “And you always catch him, dearie.”

Precisely!

Wait . . . she did .

Did that mean... “Are you saying Leo bothers the household closest to where I am at any given time?”

The two maids standing to the side bobbed their heads furiously, and Cook chuckled. “It seems you finally understand.”

Louisa stood flabbergasted.

She had never noticed the connection. She always believed she was simply at the right place at the right time to catch her brother in his mischief. So, then, he had deliberately positioned himself to be caught by her.

For her attention?

Was that why he had taken the book?

That blasted book . . .

Chaos had reigned when Ophelia Thornton, one of the women on the list in the book, had slipped into White’s dressed as a man and stolen the thing.

After they’d shared copies of the book at a ball, many of the women of the ton began revolting against their male counterparts.

One member of White’s, a lord Digby or something, if she recalled correctly, had all but started a witch hunt.

So much trouble.

And now the book was connected to a criminal organization?

Double the trouble!

Honestly, Louisa just wanted to find the book and be done with it. The tall, stately man in livery flashed in her mind.

Make that triple the trouble.

Well, he certainly brought a measure of thrill to an otherwise dreary Ashford. Bothersome man.

But returning to her brother, if he were to follow her patterns, could it be possible that he had chosen her usual hiding spot? The weeping willow tree?

Could it be as simple as that?

“Thank you,” Louisa said to Cook, nodding at the housemaids before striding from the kitchen and making her way to the gardens.

Halfway there, she broke into a run until she burst outside and her slippers touched the soft grass.

She slowed, padding over the lawn until she came to a stop a few feet away from the tree.

She couldn’t see anything through the leaves at this time, but she could hear the soft murmur of voices.

Her brother.

And . . . the duke?

“How did you find me here?” Leo was asking.

“My observational skills are top notch.”

“Is that all ?”

“Of course, there is nothing else required.”

Louisa almost snorted. Nothing else required? She could just imagine the duke catching sight of her brother traipsing down the gardens and slipping through these hanging branches, and now he claims masterful observational skills?

But then again, he did possess a keen mind, and those eyes missed nothing.

At least they had found her brother. That was all that mattered. Now they would find the book. She stepped forward to part the branches and make her presence known, but her brother’s next question stopped her in her tracks.

“Will you tell my sister?”

Louisa furrowed her brows. What was she to do with that wretched question?

She already knew! Should she retreat and pretend she’d heard nothing?

Also, was this truly her brother’s hiding spot as well?

Was it even a hiding spot at all when it seemed the servants also knew about it?

That Leo had known? Had it ever been a secret?

She shook the thoughts off. It didn’t matter anymore. If her brother didn’t want her to know, then let Mortimer retrieve the information from him. She retreated slowly, but the duke’s answer brought her to a halt again.

“She already knows.”

“How?” Leo asked with a note of bewilderment and a smidgeon of consternation. “Did she send you here?”

“No,” the duke answered. “I told you, I possess exceptional observation abilities. They alerted me to the fact that she is standing beyond the curtain of branches, eavesdropping.”

Eavesdropping! Eavesdropping her arse!

Louisa swiftly parted the drooping branches of the tree and stepped into the shelter of the inner sanctum, her vision filling with a scene of a small boy and a large man kneeling before him. She came up short at the subdued sight.

“Sister!” Leo exclaimed, jolting.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll have you know, I was not eavesdropping.”

“Then what would you call it?” that sly duke asked.

“Hesitation.”

Leo furrowed his brows. “Hesitation? You? About what?”

Why did she have to explain herself to them? Still, she said, “Whether to reveal that I know my brother’s hiding spot, of course!”

“How did you know?” her brother asked.

Her chin lifted a notch. “I realized something about my brother.” Man and boy stared at her, and she narrowed her eyes even further on the smallest one. “You are always following me about.”

“I am not!” her brother instantly denied.

“Oh? Then why am I always catching you dilly-dallying with the servants? If you were clever, you would do it far away from me.”

“That doesn’t prove anything!”

“No? Then why are your cheeks so red?” Louisa asked. “Are you feeling guilty about something?”

“I am not!”

“And I don’t believe you.” She lowered her hands to settle them on her hips. “Which means you weren’t far away when Theodosia called on me that day and also handed over a certain book into my care, were you?”

His cheeks flushed, but he remained silent. Louisa knew her brother well enough to recognize that when he dug in his heels, nothing but a miracle would move him unless he wanted to move. It rarely happened, but when it did, it was quite a sight.

But this was no ordinary matter.

It was an extremely important one.

“James Leonard Talbot!” Louisa exclaimed when her brother moved to dart away again. “Where do you think you are going?”

The duke was faster and grabbed her brother by the scruff of his collar and pulled him back. He straightened to his full height. “Perhaps we should take the matter inside.”

Louisa nodded, glancing at the overhanging branches. While this spot served well for a bit of a retreat, it was apparently no secret, and anyone close enough could overhear their conversation. Though—she glanced at the duke—they would have to get past his masterful skill of observation first.

Did he have to look so irresistible and striking standing there, tall, commanding, and undeniably impressive?

Lord, Louisa.

She must be going crazy. Why else would she be so attuned to this man? A man her father would never approve of. A man she didn’t approve of. A man who didn’t approve of her.

Best they found that book and parted ways as soon as possible.

*

Oliver studied the boy intently, his gaze following the faintest flicker of emotion.

They were back in the library, and none of them had yet exchanged a single word.

That look—the one now on Leo’s face—was all too familiar.

He had worn that very expression countless times in his own youth when faced with questions he would rather not answer.

He knew well that little could persuade the boy to loosen his tongue.

Nothing had ever persuaded him.

But this boy was not him—he had a weakness. Oliver glanced at Louisa. The young heir had a spirited sister, a dynamic presence he had never known as a boy. If he had, perhaps the same nervous look now appearing in the boy’s eyes might have mirrored his own.

“You won’t be in trouble if you tell us,” Oliver said calmly.

The boy’s eyes shifted to him before he crossed his arms over his chest. “And who are you to promise that?”

In other words, you are nothing but a mere servant unable to promise anything .

Oliver nearly smiled. That the boy hadn’t called him a mere servant to his face was quite something.

Other lads would have been quicker to remind him of his place.

It was clear that Lady Louisa’s influence had already left its mark.