Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
“ T hank the Lord for your quick thinking, Maddie,” Selina declared, squinting up at the sky. “I do not know how much more I could have endured in there.” She sighed heavily. “Was it my imagination, or are our mothers trying to match my brother with your sister?”
Maddie’s heart dropped into her shoes. So, she hadn’t imagined it either. “I think you are correct,” she said slowly. “Although how they have conspired so quickly, I cannot imagine!” She hesitated. “I did not even know that your brother had returned from abroad, Selina. You never told me.”
Selina sighed heavily again. “He has only been back a week. I suppose I simply forgot to mention it.” She bit her lip. “Daniel is an enigma. I am still getting to know him again—it has been so long since I last saw him. I was merely a child, back then. Five years is a long time.”
“Why has he returned now?” Maddie asked, her heart clenching a little.
“Mama forced him.” Selina rolled her eyes. “He has been gallivanting around the Continent for years, you see, avoiding his duties. Our cousin Christopher stepped into his shoes during his absence, but it has dragged on long enough. Mama wants to marry him off, and quickly. She is desperate to see him settle down and produce a longed-for heir to the duchy.”
“And is your brother in agreement?” Maddie held her breath. “Is he eager to find his Duchess?”
Selina gave a bark of laughter. “Oh, no! Not at all! He does not ever want to marry. Mama is going to have a hard time convincing him on the matter. But she is determined. They are like two old rams butting horns.”
Maddie’s heart flipped over. She didn’t know why she cared one way or the other what the devilish Duke’s views on matrimony were. She bit her lip, trying to drop the subject. But it seemed she couldn’t resist going back to it—much like pressing a sore thumb.
“I recall you telling me that he was quite a rake,” she said, her heart hammering. “Is that the reason he disdains matrimony?”
“Daniel is still a rake.” Selina shook her head. “A leopard does not change its spots that quickly!” She hesitated. “He has his own reasons as to why he does not wish to marry. It is all tied up with our late father…” She stopped abruptly, tears welling up in her eyes.
“I am sorry.” Maddie quickly squeezed her friend’s arm. “You do not need to speak of it if it makes you uncomfortable, dearest.”
Selina nodded, looking grateful.
The subject was dropped, but Maddie was still burning with curiosity. She wanted to question her best friend further about her rakish brother and his reasons for disdaining matrimony. But she couldn’t. Selina had clammed up, and she simply couldn’t press her any further on the matter.
“So,” Selina asked, her voice dropping to a whisper, even though there was nobody around to hear them, “have you given any more thought as to how we are going to make sure you tick all the items off your scandalous list?”
Maddie stiffened. She had wanted to talk to Selina so badly about the list. It was what had spurred her to visit Everly House last night, after all. And she had thought that she wanted to confide in her best friend about what had happened in that study last evening… but something was holding her back.
I cannot do it . It has become so very complicated. The gentleman blackmailing me is her brother, after all. I simply do not know how Selina will react.
“I… I think that we should forget about the list,” she said, a little breathlessly. “It was a foolish thing to do. A dangerous thing. I do not know what I was thinking at all!”
Selina’s face dropped with disappointment. “Truly? But it was going to be such delicious fun!” She pouted. “How are we going to spend the boring Season now? Oh, say you will reconsider, dearest!”
“I will think about it.” Maddie bit her lip. “That is all I can promise you, Selina.”
They had reached the gazebo. They both sat down in it, side by side. Maddie could tell that her best friend was a bit frustrated with her, and she didn’t blame her. They had both been so wildly excited about the list only the day before. But so much had changed since then that it might have been a year that had passed, instead of a mere day.
“Why did you call last evening,” Selina asked suddenly, “and then rushed off like that, without even talking to me? It was odd.”
“Oh, it was just a whim,” Maddie replied, trying to keep her voice neutral. “I do not know what I was thinking!” She glanced at Selina, who was looking unconvinced. “I thought I would find you in the study, and then I discovered your brother, and time slipped away… I had to rush home, as Mama would have gotten worried about me.”
Selina raised her eyebrows. “Daniel told me that you barely exchanged two words.”
“He is correct,” Maddie confirmed, feeling a bit desperate. “By the time we had introduced ourselves, you had arrived.”
There was an awkward silence. Maddie knew that she was talking lamely and that she wasn’t convincing her friend at all. But she just couldn’t tell her the truth of the matter. Not yet, at any rate. And perhaps it wouldn’t ever be necessary. Hopefully, Selina’s brother would reconsider his dastardly plan and just give her back the list and be done with it. Selina would never be the wiser.
“There you are!” a deep voice said, filled with amusement. “You have led me up the garden path, trying to find you both, well and truly.”
They both jumped, swiveling their heads around.
The Duke was standing there, watching them, his grey eyes narrowed. Maddie felt a jolt of lightning course through her, and her heart started to beat erratically again. He had sought them and found them. She felt rather like a mouse being cornered by a large cat.
“Brother,” Selina uttered, looking surprised.
“Sister.” He grinned at them. “Lady Madeline.” His eyes bored into Maddie’s. “I was hoping to see the gardens while I am here. Would you both mind squiring me around?”
“Are you not needed in the drawing room, Your Grace?” Maddie asked, an edge to her voice.
She knew she probably sounded rude, but she didn’t care. It was imperative that she avoid him as much as possible, and besides that, it would be terribly awkward strolling with him around the gardens, after what had happened between them last night, with Selina by their side.
A flash of memory assailed her. His eyes, locked with her own as he bent down to kiss her hand. The sensations that had coursed through her body at the contact. Sensations that she had never felt before. Sensations that were clearly sinful and dangerous, especially as they had been evoked by him…
She realized that her entire body felt heavy in some way. And that her nipples had hardened, feeling like two small pebbles pressing against the bodice of her gown. To her horror, his gaze dropped to that area of her body, lingering. Her stomach tightened with arousal, as well as fear.
“Oh, I think they can do without me for a few moments,” he replied, his eyes still lingering on her bodice, in an almost insolent way. “Your sister seems preoccupied with the pianoforte. And it will give the two older ladies a chance to gossip.” He gave an impish smile.
Selina sighed, then jumped up. “Come along, then!”
Maddie got to her feet reluctantly.
They started walking, three abreast, past the gazebo, still following the path. Maddie could hear the sounds of horses nickering and men talking on the other side of the high brick wall. It was coming from the mews, where the horses were stabled and the servants resided. The path was so close to the wall that they could hear practically everything.
“Oh!” Selina came to a sudden halt. “Can you hear that?”
“What?” Maddie asked, confused. “It is just the sounds of the mews on the other side of the wall.”
Selina shook her head. “No, not that! Listen!”
They all stopped, now, not saying a word. Maddie could hear a very faint sound that seemed to be coming from just beyond the wall. It sounded like the plaintive mewling of a kitten.
“I am going to find that cat,” Selina stated determinedly. “It might be separated from its mother. Is there a path to the mews from the garden, Maddie?”
Maddie nodded. “Yes. You just need to go down that path to a small gate. I will come with you?—”
“No.” Selina grinned widely. “I shall not be long! Carry on walking without me!”
Before Maddie could protest, she was gone, slipping away like quicksilver down the path, before disappearing entirely.
Maddie’s heart somersaulted in her chest, and her mouth felt dry. Somehow, despite all of her efforts, she now found herself alone with the devilish Duke!
She turned to face him. His expression was highly amused, and she blushed fiercely.
“Cat got your tongue again, My Lady?” he drawled, taking a step closer to her so that she could smell his cologne.
Maddie’s heart somersaulted again.
He had managed to catch her. What was he going to do now?