Page 12 of The Duke In My Bed (The Heirs’ Club of Scoundrels #1)

Strong reasons make strong actions.

It was a usual start to her day.

Louisa and her sisters were always early to bed and early to rise.

That schedule hadn’t changed just because they had moved to London.

At a young age, Louisa had realized it was better to sleep when it was dark and be up at first light.

There were so many more interesting things to be done during the day that couldn’t be done at night.

She never wanted to waste a minute of daylight sleeping.

During breakfast with her sisters, there was more discourse of the visit from the duke.

Louisa had remained quiet and let her sisters talk.

It was clear they were a little intimidated by the tall impressive gentleman, even though Sybil insisted she wasn’t.

Both Gwen and Lillian thought him handsome, and when they looked to Louisa for her agreement, she merely shrugged at first, hoping that would satisfy her thirsty little sisters, but they would not be content.

They were too eager to know her thoughts.

Later, as they pressed her, she had to admit the duke was quite pleasant to look at, but much too arrogant to be pleasant to talk to.

There was also a discussion about the arrival of the stern-looking Mrs. Ramona Colthrust, whom only Louisa and Gwen had met before the lady shut herself into her room for the evening.

Louisa indulged the girls’ chattering for a long time, and well after breakfast was finished.

It was Mrs. Trumpington who finally shooed them out of the breakfast room so she could start the cleanup.

It was the first day of warm, beautiful sunshine since arriving in London, so Louisa suggested they spend time in the back garden.

She gave her sisters the choice of playing games, reading, or joining her to explore the grounds and try to name all the different types of shrubs, plants, and flowers that were budding and getting ready to bloom.

The grounds were much smaller than the Wayebury estate, but each girl found something to do.

After the morning’s outside entertainment, Louisa sent Lillian and Gwen abovestairs to their makeshift schoolroom on the second floor with Miss Kindred, who swore she was getting too old to go up and down the stairs several times a day.

She preferred to always have the girls come to her.

Louisa left it up to the governess to decide the assignments for the day, be they lessons in history, mythology, and arithmetic or painting, music, and poetry.

A bright beam of sunlight streamed through the east window in the drawing room, making it the perfect place for Louisa to help Bonnie and Sybil work on their embroidery samples.

Bonnie was patient and diligent with her sewing, wanting to make each stitch perfect.

Sybil, even though she was two years older than Bonnie, found it difficult to sit still and do her best. She wanted to hurry through her pattern with little care for accuracy, so she could be done with sewing and on to something she enjoyed better than making pretty drawings with thread.

Once Louisa had Bonnie and Sybil busy, she picked up her teacup and walked to the other side of the room.

She pushed the drapery panel aside and looked out.

There was nothing to view except a little patch of blue sky, a hedgerow of yew, and the upper floors of the house next door.

That was all right with Louisa. She really didn’t want to look at anything. She wanted to stare and think.

Last week, she and her sisters were living a quiet life in Wayebury. Now, she had a feeling her life would never be so tranquil again, certainly not with the likes of the commanding Duke of Drakestone and the brash Mrs. Colthrust in it.

Last night, Louisa had tried to convince herself she wasn’t going to think about the duke—but every time she tried to put her mind on something else, the powerful-looking man would stride right back into her thoughts, looking so dashing with his shiny knee-high boots, his pristine white shirt, and beautifully tied starched neckcloth.

It was no wonder he was considered the most eligible bachelor in England.

And it had to be on his looks alone, for he didn’t have the temperament or the charm to enchant any young lady with his wit.

Louisa smiled after she thought that, knowing there wasn’t a bit of truth in it.

She didn’t understand why, but the duke’s arrogance held a certain attraction for her.

The front door opened and closed quickly with a bang. It startled Louisa and the girls, who looked up from their embroidery hoops.

Louisa heard loud mutterings from a female voice. “Back to work, girls,” Louisa told her sisters calmly. “I’ll go see what this is about.”

“I can’t believe it! The man refused to see me,” Mrs. Colthrust remarked, swishing into the room in a dark pink carriage dress before Louisa had time to set down her teacup.

“I don’t care if he is a duke. I am responsible for two of his charges.

He should have had the decency to put his other work aside and talk to me. ”

There was no mistaking that Mrs. Colthrust was unhappy, but Louisa wasn’t sure if the woman was talking to her or to the room. It was well past noon, and Louisa hadn’t seen or heard a peep out of the chaperone, so she had assumed the woman was still resting from her long and arduous journey.

“You’ve been out already?” Louisa queried.

“Isn’t it obvious?” she answered testily, untying the ribbons under her chin.

“Of course I’ve been out. I wanted to see the duke the first thing this morning before he left his house for the day.

He brushed me aside as easily as a fly on his cuff.

His portly butler told me he was busy and unavailable to speak with me. Ha!”

“I didn’t know you had even left the house,” Louisa said.

“I think you were in the garden. I told you last night I would see him today and discuss some things with him.”

“Yes, I remember,” Louisa said calmly. “The tea is still warm. May I pour you a cup?”

“No, don’t bother,” she said, pulling off her bonnet and tossing it on the settee. “I had chocolate earlier, and that was quite enough.”

“I don’t believe you’ve met Bonnie and Sybil. Girls, come meet Mrs. Colthrust.”

The girls dutifully put their sewing aside, walked over, and said, “Good morning.”

Mrs. Colthrust looked down at them as if she were inspecting something on the ground that she would just as soon step on as over.

Without a hint of a smile, she greeted the girls and turned immediately back to Louisa.

“I’ve just decided I must go to the duke’s house again.

Only, this time, I’m going to take you with me. ”

“Me?” Louisa asked, confused by the leap in her breath and tightness in her lower abdomen at the prospect of seeing the commanding man again.

“Of course. I should have thought about it before I went. You are his ward. If you need to see him, he can’t refuse you. I am merely a chaperone in his eyes and not worthy of his precious time.”

Bonnie looked up at them with eager eyes and said, “I want to go. Can I go, too?”

“What?” Mrs. Colthrust responded sharply. “Certainly not. The duke’s house is not a place for children.”

“How about me?” Sybil asked, looking just as eager as Bonnie. “Can I go? I’m older. I’m old enough to go. Tell her, Sister.”

“No, no, stop it, girls,” Mrs. Colthrust said, sounding offended that Sybil had asked. “Neither of you may go anywhere but back to your sewing, or embroidery, or whatever it is that you are doing with that needle and hoop.”

Louisa watched the exchange, and it tugged at her heart to see Sybil’s and Bonnie’s happy faces sag to disappointment.

“Wait,” Louisa said, feeling sorry for the girls because of Mrs. Colthrust’s coldhearted tone.

“Perhaps it is not the thing to do that children show up at a duke’s home unannounced, but I don’t see why they can’t ride with us.

They are well behaved and will give us no trouble.

They haven’t left this house or the grounds since we arrived last week.

I know they would enjoy the outing and be happy to wait for us in the carriage—right, girls? ”

“Yes,” Bonnie and Sybil squealed in unison, their expressions turning hopeful once again.

“Not so loud, girls, please!” Mrs. Colthrust said, rebuking them. “I’m standing right beside you, so you don’t have to scream at me.” She turned to Louisa. “You are very free with the funds, my dear. Do you know how much extra it will cost to have a carriage wait for us?”

Louisa didn’t care at the moment. “I’ll pay it,” she said firmly.

Mrs. Colthrust stared down at Bonnie’s and Sybil’s eager-looking faces. Suddenly a smile stretched across her face and a wicked gleam shone in her coal dark eyes. Louisa was astounded at how quickly the chaperone’s expression changed from scowling to a look of victory.

“You two have just given me a wonderful idea! Of course you can go. Fetch your bonnets and capes.”

Bonnie and Sybil immediately dashed toward the door. “Girls,” Louisa called to them. “What do you say before you leave this room?”

“Thank you, Mrs. Colthrust!” they yelled at the same time, and went racing out the door.

Mrs. Colthrust looked back to Louisa, still smiling.

“I just had another superb idea. We will all go. As you said, the girls need an outing and I will tell that to the duke. Get the other three girls. I’ll teach His Grace a lesson he won’t soon forget.

After I show up at his house with all of you under my wing, I guarantee you he will see me next time when I go alone. ”

Louisa shook her head, exasperated. “There are two other girls, Mrs. Colthrust. There are five of us total.” And Louisa wasn’t at all sure she wanted her sisters to be used as pawns in whatever Mrs. Colthrust had planned for the duke.

“Yes, well, of course—you know that’s what I meant.”