Taming the Wild Duke
Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
“ T here. You look like a countess already.” Lilian Weston stepped back and clasped her hands beneath her chin, surveying her younger sister with delight. Seated before the dressing table, twenty-year-old Jane tilted her head at her reflection in the mirror propped upon it. Light glinted across the pale chestnut braids Lilian had painstakingly woven about her head, and the pearls nestled among them.
“You’re sure this isn’t too ornate for an afternoon tea?” she questioned doubtfully.
“Not at all,” Lilian said firmly. At twenty-five, Lilian rarely concerned herself anymore over whether her own hair or garments were exactly appropriate for a particular gathering, but she had spared no effort in investigating acceptable styles in order to guide her two younger sisters through their debuts and courtships.
“Anything less than that could be seen as an affront to the Earl's position,” she assured her sister. “And although, of course, Lord Munro wouldn’t be offended, I don’t want anyone talking behind your back.”
Spinning on her seat, Jane looked up at Lilian with a beautiful smile. “Oh, Lilian, I truly can’t believe I’m going to be wed in only a month!” she gushed. “I love Munro—I mean, Lord Munro—so much. I never thought I could be so happy.”
Looking into her younger sister’s glowing eyes, Lilian felt a slight pang beneath her ribs. It was happiness, she told herself. But there was a wistfulness to it she hadn’t expected. Putting her private thoughts aside, she smiled back at her sister, reaching out to touch Jane’s rosy cheek lightly.
“I’m happy for you too, Jane. I can’t imagine a better match for you than Lord Munro. The fact that both you and Nancy found love with men of honor and means—it’s all my dreams come true.”
Jane’s face sobered, and her blue eyes grew searching. “Truly, Lilian?” she asked.
“What do you mean? Of course!” Lilian exclaimed. “You know that when Mother passed, I made it my mission in life to see you and Nancy happily settled. Father couldn’t possibly have done it on his own; you know how adverse he is to following gossip and chasing connections.”
Jane’s eyes remained narrow, and her lips pressed together almost saucily. “I know how adverse to all of those things you were once upon a time,” she said pertly. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten.”
Abruptly, she stood from the cushioned stool on which she had been sitting and threw her slender arms around Lilian’s neck. Lilian was so caught off guard that she stumbled a step backwards and had to put a hand on the dressing table to catch her balance.
“Thank you, Lilian,” Jane said in her ear, “for being the best elder sister ever. You’re such a dear. I don’t know what either Nancy or I would have done without you.”
Putting her arm around her sister’s waist, Lilian hugged her in return, blinking back surprised tears that seemed to have sprung from nowhere. Jane pulled back after one more tight squeeze.
“Now it’s my turn,” she said and pointed to the stool. “Sit. I’m doing your hair. Or have you forgotten you’ve also been invited to tea?”
“Of course, I haven’t forgotten,” Lilian protested. She let herself be pushed down onto the stool, her eyes catching her own reflection in the mirror. “It’s not so important how I look,” she added. “I’m just the elder sister—the chaperone.”
“Oh, come now,” Jane said, beginning to pull the pins from Lilian’s simple twist. “Don’t you have any plans for seeking out a husband for yourself? I thought surely you were only waiting to see Lord Munro and I betrothed before you allowed some fine gentleman to court you.”
Lilian nearly snorted, but she caught herself before the unladylike sound escaped. Jane pulled out the last pin, and Lilian’s thick, dark curls tumbled free, trailing over her shoulders. Her hair was both far curlier and several shades darker than either of her sisters, which she thought was a good deal less elegant than their gilded waves.
“I have no intention of seeking a match for myself,” she confided in her sister. “I’m quite content staying here and caring for Father until the end of his days. And then I will live off whatever he leaves to me and regularly visit you and Nancy and all of the lovely children you will have by then. I shall be a happy, peaceful spinster.”
“Hmm,” Jane said, sounding unconvinced. Bending forward, she selected a thick, green ribbon from the tussle of ornaments on top of the dressing table and began to twist it skillfully in and out of the thick locks of Lilian’s hair. “Do you suppose Lord Munro has invited any friends to tea?” she asked after a moment. Her tone held an edge of worry, and Lilian quickly guessed its source.
“You’re thinking of the Wild Duke,” she said. The Duke of Thorne , properly, but Simon Russell was rarely referred to by his proper title when it came to the gossip that swirled around him.
“I still don’t understand how he and Lord Munro can be such close friends,” Jane admitted. “They’re nothing alike.”
“Or so says the gossip,” Lilian quipped.
She had never paid much attention to the Duke, who was renowned for his dissolute habits and said to be a shameless rake. She had firmly ruled him out early on as a potential match for her sisters after hearing tales of the women he had ruined and the fortunes he’d gambled through. When they happened to attend the same social functions, she had steered well away from him and made sure that her sisters did as well.
“I shouldn’t worry,” she assured her sister. “If the Duke hasn’t had a bad influence on Lord Munro yet, I don’t think he’s likely to. I suspect the Earl simply doesn’t have the heart to end such a long-standing friendship. They grew up together, you know.”
“Yes,” Jane sighed. “Lord Munro has mentioned it. I suppose you’re right. No one has ever accused the Earl of the type of misconduct they’re always attributing to the Wild Duke.” She gave a slight shudder which Lilian felt through her fingertips in her hair. “Perhaps they really don’t run in the same circles at all, outside of each other.”
“That’s often how such childhood friendships are,” Lilian agreed. She was thinking privately of her own close friend from childhood, a clergyman’s daughter who had married a clergyman herself two years before and now had an infant son. It had been weeks since Lilian had called on Susan Benshaw, and she made a mental note to do so at her earliest convenience.
“All right, there you are.” Jane bent so that she could peer over Lilian’s shoulder into the mirror with her, pressing her chin into her shoulder gently. “How I envy you your curls,” she sighed.
Lilian laughed. “You wouldn’t if you had to wrestle them into order every day,” she replied. Jane had done a much better job with them than Lilian ever seemed able to do, though. She had managed to smooth most of Lilian’s hair into the generous twist on the back of her head, the green ribbon glistening among the curls. The few ringlets she’d left free clustered eagerly about Lilian’s forehead and nearly concealed her small ears.
“Now,” Jane said, “wear that blue-green gown you had made last Christmas, and you will look simply stunning. The gentlemen around here truly must be blind for none of them to have ever pursued you seriously, Lil. I’m thinking Nancy and I ought to return the favor you’ve done for us and?—”
“Don’t even say it,” Lilian interrupted, whirling to look up at her sister. “I’m not the marrying type, Jane. And besides, we’re supposed to be talking about your upcoming marriage. I imagine Lord Munro is the envy of every other bachelor in the ton about now.”
Jane blushed and giggled at Lilian’s flattery, but then she shook her head firmly. “None of that matters to me anymore. I’m just so happy to be loved by and in love with such a noble man. I hear that even his tenants speak well of him.”
“Oh, they do,” Lilian said, smirking at Jane’s lifted eyebrows.
“Don’t tell me you went so far as to interview farmers on the Munro estate,” Jane ventured.
“I don’t believe there would be anything wrong with it if I did,” Lilian said with some spice. Their parents had never been the type to make a point about keeping classes separate, and it bothered her that her sister may have allowed any of the snobbery of the ton to rub off on her in the past two years of being out in society. “But no, I simply spoke with Susan Benshaw. Mr. Benshaw is often out ministering among the tenants, and he says Lord Munro’s are among the most content and prosperous in the county.”
Jane nodded, her eyes shining once more. She clasped her hands in front of her, as if struggling to contain herself. Then, abruptly, she abandoned the effort. Grabbing Lilian’s hands, she pulled her to her feet and in a circle, twirling the two of them around the room.
“I’m going to tea with my betrothed, the Earl of Munro!” she cried, tipping her head back until Lilian feared for her labored-over pearls and braids. But Lilian laughed along with her, feeling that strange wistful joy once more.
It is joy, she assured herself. There was nothing to feel sad about, nothing to worry about. Even the Wild Duke was nothing to worry about anymore. Nancy was safely married, and Jane was betrothed, both to equally good men. Lilian’s six-year mission was finally over. She should be sweetly, carelessly happy.
And she was. Of course, she was.