An Unlikely Duchess Read online

  “Mary, it has been far too long,” the dowager responded equally as warm, which was unusual for his usually reserved mother, and the two women embraced.

  His mother turned to him to draw him forward.

  “You must remember my son, Edward, the Duke of Hartridge.”

  “I do of course, though it has been many, many years. How good to see you again, your grace.”

  Edward bowed politely then turned toward the man who was awaiting his turn for introductions.

  This man had been his father’s oldest friend and, by all accounts, the pair of them could have given the duke and his set a run for their money, in their hay day.

  The earl was a tall and broad shouldered man whose face was remarkably unlined, though his hair was a pure white.

  It was quite a bittersweet moment for Edward, to see his father’s best friend stand healthy and happy before him, when his own poor father should have been here too.

  The earl stepped forward to kiss the dowager on the cheek, and then turn to clasp Edward’s shoulder.

  “My dear boy” —obviously the Earl wasn’t one for formality— “how good to see you now after all these years. And what a fine gentleman you’ve turned out to be. Why you are the very image of your father at this age. A finer man I never knew, and I miss him still.”

  “Thank you, my lord. I miss him too, every day,” Edward responded.

  “La, let’s have none of that ‘my lord’ business. Why, I held you as a babe in arms.” The earl smiled warmly, his brown eyes twinkling.

  Edward could not help but respond to this friendly old man with a smile of his own. He immediately liked the earl and countess very much and was beginning to think that maybe this visit would not be such a bad thing.

  “You must call me Henry,” the earl continued jovially.

  “And I am Edward, of course,” responded Edward. He really had no choice. Propriety did not seem to be high up on the earl’s list of priorities.

  “Your grace.”

  Turning he found Lady Ranford bringing a pretty young woman forward for introduction. Edward did not know how he had missed her before, she was extremely like her mother, though in the first blush of youth.

  She was as tall and willowy as her mother, and where Lady Ranford’s hair was greying and her skin gently lined, this lady’s hair was as bright as the sun, her face unlined and blushing prettily.

  She was dressed in a pale lemon summer dress, which highlighted her slim figure. Edward cut a quick glance to his mother. Standing before him was the very picture of what the dowager would want for a daughter-in-law, he was sure. His thoughts were confirmed by the sheer joy on his mother’s face.

  Biting back a sigh of frustration, he smiled politely and bowed over the lady’s hand. Yes, she was pretty, carried herself well and was no doubt a lady.

  And was just like every other debutante that had been flung his way since he reached the grand old age of eighteen. His father had warned him about the debs and their mamas, but to see them in action was quite an experience. And, as he got older, they got more intense and, well frankly, frightening.

  “May I present my daughter, Lady Caroline,” Lady Ranford continued.

  “Your grace,” Lady Caroline demurred, curtseying very formally, and very properly, to the duke.

  “How do you do, Lady Caroline?”

  “Very well, I thank you. And you? I hope your journey was not too tiresome.”

  Did she think he was ancient, for goodness sake? Incapable of travel in a plush and luxurious coach?

  “No, not at all Lady Caroline, I only wish I could have ridden part of the way. I found myself in need of fresh air.”

  “Why Edward,” his mother pounced like a cat on a mouse, “what a wonderful idea. Why don’t you let Lady Caroline show you around some of these beautiful gardens?’

  As subtle as a blacksmith’s hammer, his mother.

  “I’d be delighted to, your grace.”

  Well, he could not bloody well say ‘no’ now, could he?

  He looked around at the faces of the occupants in the room. Every one of them wore matching expressions of calculated delight and it suddenly dawned on Edward, sending an icy chill down his spine, why it was he was here.

  So they’d decided he and Caroline should marry, had they?

  Damnation. He would be having serious words with Mother as soon as he had the chance.

  Now, however, was not the time.

  “Care to join us, Mother?” Edward asked through gritted teeth.

  His mother blinked innocently at him. Too innocently.

  “Oh no thank you, dear. I am quite tired out by the journey. I should much rather take tea and catch up with my very– “

  “Dear friends,” finished Edward bitingly.

  He wanted to say to hell with the lot of them and storm out to the nearest inn.

  But he was raised impeccably and good manners won out.

  “Lady Caroline, it looks like it is just us,” he said smoothly. Though she blushed rather fetchingly at his words, her eyes remained ever so slightly calculating and Edward could not help but feel that everything she was saying and doing was nothing other than a performance. Bearing that in mind, Edward turned to Tom who was studiously ignoring him and instead looking at his hands rather intently. “Tom, I do apologise. Did you not say you felt the need to stretch your legs too?” Edward’s tone and expression remained unfailingly polite but Tom knew him well enough to know that this was nothing other than a command. Albeit sugar coated.

  He coughed a couple of times before smiling. “Yes, yes I did. I should be glad of a walk.” Edward nodded ever so slightly in approval and pointedly ignored his mother’s audible sigh from his left.

  He waited in the parlour, listening to the chatter of old friends while Caroline fetched her bonnet. Within a couple of moments they were ready to go.

  As soon as they left, the earl puffed out a relieved breath.

  “Well, that went very well,” he commented happily.

  “Yes,” agreed Lady Ranford, “and how beautiful they look together.”

  The dowager smiled her agreement, but she knew that her ear was in for a bashing when her fiercely independent son returned.

  ****

  Outside, the sun beat pleasantly down on the trio as they made their way down the sweeping lawn toward the pond.

  They were silent for a moment or two, each wondering what they should say. Somewhat to Edward’s surprise, it was Lady Caroline who broke the silence first.

  “We are so very pleased your mother and you could come to visit with us, your grace. My mother has been quite beside herself with excitement.” She smiled favouring him with a charming, if formal smile.

  “I am happy to do so, Lady Caroline,” he replied pleasantly. “I know my mother was very much looking forward to it also.”

  More silence ensued. Edward usually had quite a repertoire of conversation he could pull out when chit chatting with members of Society. At the moment though, he did not feel like it.

  The silence was suddenly broken by a ferocious shout coming from a clump of trees to their left as they made their way toward the pond.

  “Damnation Martin!” shouted the very loud, very female voice. “I told you not to let it go.”

  Edward and Tom both stopped walking and stared in amazement. For as much as the voice was loud and swearing like a sailor, it was also very much the cultured voice of a lady.

  Another scream rent the air followed by the shout of a young boy and suddenly a kite, being carried by the stiff summer breeze floated out from the trees and right over the lake, getting tangled in the up-stretched arm of one of the statues flanking the pond.

  So intent was Edward on the progress of the kite, and on seeing who on earth was making such a racket, that he paid little attention to whatever Lady Caroline was currently mumbling. However, he distinctly heard the words ‘warned’, ‘begged’ and, rather ominously, ‘murder’.

  Moments after
the kite got itself good and tangled, the trees rustled alarmingly and a young lady burst through onto the path at a dead run.

  Though she was moving far too quickly for anything identifiable to be established, she was trailed by a shock of chestnut hair flying out behind her. She came to a screeching halt at the foot of the statue and, shielding her eyes from the sun, peered up at it.

  The trio was not close enough to see her expression but they were definitely close enough to hear another unladylike word spew from her mouth before she hitched her skirts and began to climb the statue!

  Edward and Tom shared a look of pure shock. Lady Caroline had, at this point, buried her face in her hands.

  None of them moved to help the young lady. And she did not even glance their way. She leaned precariously and stretched her hand upwards to try and untangle the string of the kite, the tail of which was still trailing along the ground.

  Edward, in the midst of the commotion, could not help but notice that she had the body of a goddess. Shorter than the woman beside him, her heavenly curves were very well outlined by the material straining against her body as she reached. Suddenly he found his mouth had gone unaccountably dry.

  Her hair was magnificent and he found himself struck with an intense desire to see her face. If it matched the rest of her, he could honestly believe he was in the presence of a goddess or perhaps one of the faery folk these lands were so famous for.

  Another shout snapped Edward’s attention back to the copse of trees as yet another figure bounded toward the pond. This time, it was that of a young boy, maybe ten years old and, by the brief glimpse of his clothing, the son of a staff member.

  He skidded to a halt as he looked up towards the beautiful lady stretching with all her might, now leaning even further and seeming a lot more unsteady.

  Edward felt a sudden slam of fear in his heart and started towards her, albeit at a slow pace. He did not want to scare her into losing her footing by racing towards her.

  He chose not to examine the reason for this acute fear for a total stranger’s safety. He was just being a good human being. That was all.

  “My lady,” the lad shouted in triumph, “here’s the tail. We can pull it free.”

  It all happened so quickly that there was nothing Edward could do.

  At the young boy’s shout the young woman turned towards him. She had obviously managed to untie the string and was clutching it in her small hand.

  As she yelled ‘no,’ the young boy picked up the string and gave it a sharp tug.

  For a few heart-stopping seconds she balanced on top of the statue, her arms flailing about. The little boy, realising what he had done, promptly let go of the string, the only thing helping her even slightly to maintain her stance.

  With another scream she lost balance and hit the water of the pond with a huge splash.

  The splash seemed to galvanise the little group of spectators and they ran towards the pond, Edward leading the way.

  Now, Edward had had his fair share of experience with women. Especially gently bred women. And, although he could not imagine a single one of them ever being in the position this young lady found herself in—running through woods, chasing kites, climbing statues, he knew how the female psyche worked.

  He was fully prepared for the crying, possibly wailing that was about to assail his ears. He suspected there may be a touch of hysterics and could almost guarantee there would be swooning.

  This is what he expected. What he did not expect was to find the fair maiden sitting in the middle of the pond, covered in debris, soaked from head to toe… and laughing. Genuinely chuckling until the tears rolled down her flawless cheeks.

  The little boy, Martin presumably, had joined in and the pair of them laughed and laughed and gave no indication that they realised they had company.

  “Rebecca,” Lady Caroline’s sharp voice rang out bringing an abrupt end to the merriment. There was a world of disapproval, admonishment and anger in that tone. Rather impressive to have packed so much into one name, Edward thought distractedly.

  The lady, Rebecca, turned incredibly big and sinfully dark eyes toward Lady Caroline. Edward found he had to gulp around his dry throat again.

  “Caroline, how nice to see you,” her voice was warm and soft, terribly mischievous and made Edward think very inappropriate thoughts.

  “What in God’s name are you doing?” Caroline hissed. “Get out of there at once. Can you not see that we have company?”

  At Lady Caroline’s word, the lady turned the full force of her incredible eyes on Edward and Tom. Edward bit back a gasp as the impact hit him in an area that had no business feeling anything in broad daylight. He heard Tom’s audible gasp and imagined he suffered the same affliction. For some reason, this irritated Edward.

  “So we do.” The young lady was speaking again. And rather than sound upset, or scramble to her feet in mortification, she grinned unapologetically at the two gentlemen. “The Duke of Hartridge, I presume, and his cousin Mr. Crawdon?” She spoke politely, for all the world like they were being introduced in a drawing room or ballroom in London.

  Tom, finally unable to contain his mirth, burst into laughter, which he desperately tried to cover up as a cough.

  Lady Rebecca grinned even wider at Tom’s obvious amusement at the situation. Who was this woman? Edward had never seen anything like it!

  Lady Caroline stepped closer to the edge of the pond, her back ramrod straight. “Get. Up,” she hissed menacingly through clenched teeth.

  Lady Rebecca gave a defeated sigh and stood. As she did so, the water gushed off her person. Edward found he had to bite back a groan of pure, unadulterated lust. Her gown had originally been white, he would hazard, but had now been turned a slight shade of mud from the contents of the pond. The fact that it was wet meant it clung to her form like a second skin.

  As she stood there, dripping wet and futilely wringing out her long tresses, Edward found he could only stare like an immature adolescent. Never had he seen a body like hers. Never had he seen the curves of a lady so well, who wasn’t also standing naked in front of him and preparing to make love.

  The thought set his heart hammering and his body stirring. It was terribly embarrassing but he could not bring himself to care. There was a lump the size of a rock wedged in his throat, and he could no more have looked away than he could have plucked the sun from the sky.

  “Must you be such a bore Caroline?” Lady Rebecca asked, not a bit concerned with the other lady’s disapproval that was practically rolling off her rigid frame.

  “I told you we were to have guests today,” muttered Caroline in a frantic whisper. The gentlemen could still hear her very well but neither one was much inclined to pay attention at that particular time.

  Lady Rebecca finally seemed to be taking in the gravity of the situation. Her eyes travelled from Lady Caroline’s furious face to those of the two gentlemen who both looked like they wanted to eat her alive.

  She drew herself up to her full height and inhaled a deep breath before speaking again. “I apologise, Caro, really. I had quite forgotten the time.” Her apology was met with stony silence.

  “Gentlemen,” she continued turning slightly towards them, “pray forgive my – er – less than proper appearance. I assure you, I do not usually greet guests of my father in such a fashion.”

  Her words snapped Edward out of his frankly inappropriate daydream.

  “You are Ranford’s daughter?” he asked, and was irritated to hear how husky his voice was.

  “His youngest,” the goddess confirmed. “Lady Rebecca Carrington.” She dipped into a curtsey worthy of any daughter of a Peer, but since she was still standing in the middle of the pond, it rather seemed a little late for propriety.

  “A pleasure,” he answered a little dazedly.

  “Ahem.”

  “Excuse me. My cousin, Mr. Crawdon.” Edward gestured behind him.

  Tom stepped forward and gave a deep bow. “An honour to me
et you Lady Rebecca,” he said, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

  Her responding smile felt like a punch to Edward’s abdomen and he suddenly wanted to pull her out of the pond and shield her from Tom’s appreciative eyes.

  “Rebecca,” snapped Caroline, a blush of embarrassment rising in her cheeks, “please return to the house and clean yourself up.”

  Lady Rebecca rolled her eyes slightly but Edward caught it and could not bite back a slight grin. The chit was incorrigible.

  “Gentlemen, if you will excuse me,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster. Which wasn’t a lot, given the circumstances.

  She trudged to the edge of the pond, her progress slow due to the weight of the water on her dress. Edward did not think he’d ever seen such a beautiful dress!

  As she reached the edge and made to climb over, he rushed to her assistance, almost knocking both Tom and Lady Caroline to the ground and out of his way.

  “Allow me,” he said, extending his hand to assist her.

  Rebecca looked into his eyes and time seemed to come to a sudden halt. He heard the breath hitch in her throat and it was all he could do to prevent himself from pulling her flush against him. Good God! What was the matter with him?

  The air between them felt like it had been struck by lightning. She placed her small hand in his and it felt perfect. He could not resist rubbing his thumb along the delicate palm. He watched as her lips parted and almost groaned aloud once again.

  Get a handle on yourself man!

  He shook his head slightly to try to clear the sensual haze surrounding them and stepped back so she could climb over.

  Her bonnet, he noticed was still tied at the front, though it trailed down her back. For some reason he found it incredibly endearing. She must have noticed his glance for she reached back, which did nothing for his current state, and pulled it forward again.