Chapter 18 #3
Allegra curtsied. “Always a pleasure, your grace.” She looked over at Max. “Perhaps you might escort your father to the stables and see him on his way.”
Max took his father out of the front door and around the side of the house rather than through the kitchen. It was a very pleasant and normal day if you ignored the chairs, rolled-up rugs, and paintings stacked against the side of the house waiting to be placed in their proper places.
To Max’s surprise, his father didn’t say a word until they reached the stables and his horse had been fetched.
“Where are the rest of your stable?” the duke asked.
“Still in London,” Max said. “I’ll bring them down when I have the funds.”
“Your wife said I owed you an apology.”
Max met his father’s gaze. “I agree with her.”
“Perhaps I did jump to conclusions, but your past conduct has not given me a good impression of your worth.” He paused to put on his gloves. “But in this instance, I was the one who employed Cobbins, and I was at fault, so perhaps we could leave it at that.”
“Of course, your grace.” Max bowed low so that his father couldn’t see his face. “We hope to see you and Lord Tarleton here for dinner tomorrow evening.”
His father mounted his horse, gave Max a cool nod, and trotted off. Max let out his breath and went back into the house. Allegra was still in the study, watching the duke’s rapidly diminishing figure disappear down the drive.
“My father said you told him to apologize to me.”
Allegra turned to look at him. “That is correct.”
“No one ever speaks to him like that.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Then perhaps more people should, because he took it remarkably well.”
“He actually admitted that he might have been at fault,” Max said wonderingly. “I couldn’t believe it.” He placed his hands on Allegra’s waist, picked her up, and spun her around. “You little minx! Telling off a duke!”
She grinned down at him. “I couldn’t allow him to disrespect you in your own house.”
He kissed her soundly. “You are a wonder.”
“You’re the one who stood up to him first.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Max kissed her again. “I couldn’t allow him to speak to me like that in my own house, either—especially when he made that snide remark about your family.”
“Do you think he will come to dinner?”
“Yes, because he’s no coward, and after admitting he made a mistake for the first time in his life, he’s going to want to impress upon us his total refusal to ever refer to it again.”
“Oh, Max.” Allegra cupped his cheek. “You were wonderful.”
“So were you.”
Behind them, someone cleared their throat.
“My lord?”
Max turned around with Allegra still in his arms. “Yes, Brice?”
“We are ready to put the dining room furniture back, if her ladyship is available to show us where she wants it to be situated.”
“Excellent.” Max let Allegra go. “If the duke does intend to eat with us tomorrow, at least we’ll have a table for him to sit at.”
After Allegra left, Max poured himself a large glass of brandy and sat behind his desk.
For the first time in his life, he’d stood up to his father rather than running away and behaving even more atrociously.
He’d like to think that was all his own doing, but honesty demanded he acknowledge who had given him the courage to refute his father’s allegations to his face.
Allegra.
What a woman …
Max pictured the adroit way she’d handled the difficult duke and wanted to smile all over again.
He was in love with her.
The shock of the words was less than he’d imagined, because he’d been falling for her since their first meeting, when she’d thrown a book at his head and knocked him out. She was everything he was not—straightforward, brave, loyal—everything good.
Max drank his brandy. Now he just had to convince Allegra that their marriage was more than one of convenience and that it should be founded on love. How to do that eluded him, but he’d find a way. What he’d discovered with her was far too important to let slip through his fingers.
He’d thought he’d feel out of sorts away from London for so long, but he’d been far too busy to miss gambling, drinking, or whoring.
He had a woman in his bed who appreciated his lovemaking, he had his own cellar full of brandy, and the odds as to whether he’d ever set this house to rights were far more exciting than betting on the horses.
But did Allegra love him back? Sometimes he thought she did, and then she’d retreat again as if scared to have shown him that part of herself.
The good thing was that they were married and stuck together in a country house that required all their considerable talents to restore.
He had to convince her of his sincerity before she expected him to go back to London for the Season.
Max offered a silent toast to his wife and finished the brandy.
From the shouting outside his door, he reckoned the staff could do with an extra pair of hands in the dining room.
Anything he could do that helped Allegra settle down at Blanchard Hall by his side was worth it.
He’d literally move heaven and earth for her.