Chapter 5
“Are you going to sit there the whole time I read this?” Agnes asked.
The duke regarded her calmly. “I said that you could come over to my house to read your book,” he told her. “I didn’t say that I was going to leave a known thief alone with my personal possessions.”
“You know I’m not going to take anything.” She was exasperated. “The book was the only thing I ever wanted, and I did my best to borrow it from you first. I’m not a thief, not really. If you’re allowing me to read the book, I have no need or desire to take anything at all from you.”
He crossed his arms. “That doesn’t mean I trust you. And I don’t see how you can expect me to do so.”
“Just leave me in peace to read.” It was incredibly awkward to read such a risqué book right in front of him.
She could only imagine what thoughts must be going through his head—surely he had looked through the book himself to try to find out what had so fascinated her.
He must know what she was reading about.
How uncomfortable for him to sit right here in the room while she did it!
“You really won’t leave?” she asked. “Couldn’t you leave me with a member of your staff?”
“Your insistence on being alone isn’t making you seem more trustworthy,” he said.
“I’m not going to steal anything! Just search my pockets before I depart, for goodness’ sake.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Maybe there are other things than theft I’m worried about.”
That threw her for a loop. “What things?”
“Don’t trouble yourself about it. Read your book. I don’t have all day,” he said. “I have other duties I’m going to have to attend to, and eventually I’ll have to send you on your way, so you should make the most of your time here while you can.”
Agnes sat back in her seat, annoyed. She wished he would at least pick up a book of his own and read, rather than just sit and watch her like she was here to be his personal entertainment. She sighed and flipped back a page. It was difficult to take anything in under the circumstances.
They remained like that for a quarter of an hour, with Agnes barely managing to get any reading done at all. Finally, the duke rose to his feet.
“I’m going to get some paperwork from my study,” he said. “You’re to remain in this room—if I find out you’ve left it for any reason, you will not be invited back.”
“You know,” Agnes commented, “if this was a real courtship, I would be tempted to end it right now.”
“It’s not a real courtship,” he said sharply. “This is only for the sake of appearances.”
“And I can see why a false courtship for the sake of appearances is something you need,” she agreed. “If you really wanted to court someone, you would be out of luck. Ordering people around like this, treating them like common criminals…”
“You broke into my home,” he seethed. “You can’t be surprised at being treated this way.” He shook his head. “Just stay in here. I’ll be back shortly.”
Agnes had no intention of going anywhere else. He’d finally left—now she was free to read in peace at last. The moment the door was closed, she turned her attention to the book.
She had barely gotten through one page, though, when the door opened again. Her irritation spiked—could she not have even five minutes to herself? She looked up, ready for another round of trading barbs with the duke—
It wasn’t the duke.
A girl in her mid-teens hovered in the doorway, looking hesitant. She glanced over her shoulder.
Agnes put the book down, surprised. This must be the duke’s niece. He had mentioned her in passing, but Agnes hadn’t realized she was here. “May I help you with something?” she asked.
“You’re Lady Agnes,” the girl said, coming into the room.
“I am,” Agnes agreed. “Who might you be?”
“Helena. Lady Helena.” The girl lifted her chin slightly. “At least, that’s what everyone will have to call me once I make my debut—you don’t know about that, right? Because you’re a spinster.”
“You seem to know all about me,” Agnes said. She wasn’t especially bothered by Helena’s comments. People had come to their own conclusions about her spinsterhood for years. She couldn’t let that get under her skin.
“You were in the scandal sheets,” Helena explained. “It said that you were having a tryst with my uncle.”
“He allows you to read the scandal sheets?”
Helena smirked. “My lady’s maid sneaks them to me. She’s very loyal.” A thought seemed to occur to her. “If you tell my uncle about this, I’ll tell him you made it up. He’ll believe me. He always believes me.”
“Do you often deceive him?” Agnes asked.
“No, never,” Helena said. “I tell him everything. Uncle Gabriel is all the family I have. But I won’t allow you to put my maid in jeopardy of losing her position, even if it does mean I have to tell a lie.”
“You don’t have to worry,” Agnes said, deciding that she liked the girl in spite of her haughty demeanor. She could relate to the desire to protect the people who worked for you. “I don’t have any intention of telling your uncle anything.”
Helena came over and sat down in the chair the duke had occupied. “So…is it true?” she asked.
“Is what true?”
“Were you really having a tryst?” She was alert and excited, and Agnes recognized an element of her own thirst for adventure in Helena’s eyes.
She chuckled. “No,” she said. “We weren’t. I’m afraid you can’t believe much of what you read in the scandal sheets.”
Helena wrinkled her nose in disappointment. “But if that’s the case, then why are you here?” she asked. “Why would a lady visit a gentleman in his home?”
“I’m not here to visit your uncle.” She paused for a moment. Would Helena know about the false courtship? If she did know, would she know that it was a charade, or would she believe it to be a real thing?
Best not to take any chances. “I’m just here to use his library.
” Agnes recalled what she had been reading a moment too late.
Hoping the gesture was casual enough to go unnoticed, she leaned over and draped an arm across the book on the table beside her.
To distract from what she’d done, she added quickly, “Your uncle has so many lovely books.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Helena agreed slowly. “Though I’m still surprised you would come here to read them.”
“And why does that surprise you?”
“Well, you’re a spinster, aren't you?”
Agnes frowned. “What does that have to do with books?”
Helena leaned forward, a sparkle in her eyes. “It means that no man tells you how to live your life,” she explained. “It means that you can do whatever you’d like, whenever you’d like. You can have your own library, and nobody can stop you. Isn’t that right?”
Agnes couldn’t help the smile that came to her lips.
In all her time facing people who had made assumptions about her life as a spinster, this was one she had never heard—and it was also the closest one to the truth.
She was free. She could do whatever she wanted, and no man had the power to intervene.
“That’s absolutely true,” she told Helena. “But books can be costly. Your uncle is doing me a kindness by allowing me to read some that he already owns so that I won’t have to purchase them for myself.”
Helena nodded. “I suppose that is nice,” she said. “He doesn’t often let me read these books.”
“I wonder why that is?” Agnes mused.
“Oh, he doesn’t think it’s a very appropriate pastime for a young lady,” Helena said. “But I suppose he doesn’t think a spinster has to be appropriate. I suppose you don’t have to be. Who would you need to impress?”
“I don’t think reading books is such an inappropriate thing, even if you do wish to marry,” Agnes said. “There are plenty of gentlemen who appreciate a lady with a bit of knowledge.”
“How do you know what gentlemen appreciate?”
“Oh, I spent my time in society before I retreated from it,” Agnes said.
“I wasn’t always a well-known spinster, you know.
There was a time when I was simply a young lady exploring her prospects.
I didn’t marry, but the fact that I’ve read books is not the reason for my spinsterhood.
I’d hate for you to keep yourself away from books because you’re afraid of that. ”
Helena lifted her chin. “I’m not afraid of anything,” she said firmly.
“And certainly not books. It’s my uncle’s rule for me, that’s all.
I have to do as he says—although I don’t always obey.
” She smirked. “I’m not supposed to be in here right now.
He told me to stay away while you were here.
He told me that he didn’t want me getting to know you.
I thought it was because you were his mistress, but I suppose he has some other reason. ”
“I suppose he does,” Agnes murmured, thinking again of her scandalous book.
Encouraging a young lady to read was one thing, but she would never have suggested that Helena pick up this tome at such a tender age.
“You should do what he says with regard to his collection,” she said.
“But if it were me, I would ask him to give you permission to read a few things. Tell him that he can choose something for you.”
Helena scowled. “Why should I let him choose?”
“Because if you do, then he might agree,” Agnes said.
She fixed Helena with a firm gaze. “If I may impart one thing—letting men have their way sometimes can be a powerful tool. If you’re willing to compromise on something small—something like the title of the book you get to read—a man may feel as if he’s in control and be willing to compromise on something much more significant, like allowing you to read at all. ”
Helena surveyed Agnes for a moment. “I wouldn’t have expected a spinster to understand anything at all about the ways of women and men,” she said. “But you do understand, don’t you?”
“I’ve had plenty of time to spend around all kinds of people,” Agnes said. “A married lady knows her own husband very well, but an unmarried lady may get to know many different men.”
“Well,” Helena said. “That sounds like you’re having trysts again. I’m not surprised the scandal sheets got you wrong, if you go around talking about all the men you get to know.”
Her lips quirked slightly—it was a joke, and Agnes laughed in appreciation. “Do you live here with your uncle, Helena?”
Helena’s smile faded slightly. “Yes,” she said, and by the way she glanced to the side, Agnes gathered that this was a sensitive topic.
She backpedaled. “He seems like a good man,” she said. “And I’m sure he counts himself lucky to have you in his life.”
Helena’s smile had returned. “We’re very close,” she said. “I’m lucky that Uncle Gabriel took me in. He can be a little too protective sometimes, but I know that he only wants the best for me.”
She rose to her feet just as the door opened once more.
The duke stood in the doorway, a scowl on his face, his arms folded across his chest.
Agnes’ heart beat a little faster. Even with that angry expression, there was something about him—he was powerfully attractive. It was like watching a storm, knowing that at any moment it might blow in your direction and do you damage, but being held captive by its might.
He wasn’t looking at her at all. His gaze was fixed on Helena. And for the first time since Agnes had made her acquaintance, Helena looked unnerved.