The Devious Seduction 0f A Wayward Duke (Steamy Historical Romance)

by Olivia Bennet

  She had a sense of pride as she watched him, and even with the events of the week, she was still proud of the gentleman that he was becoming, and she really cared about him and his well-being. When he finally went to boarding school, and she was no longer needed here, at least she could leave with the memories and the pride of a job well done.

  Of course, leaving Lord Seton also meant leaving the Duke. She had been so frightened of him when he got angry, but seeing the change in his demeanor after a while made her think that maybe her instincts—and Joan’s—were right. He was starting to develop feelings for her. If this was the case, she wanted to give him the same level of affection. She thought that, perhaps, she was only holding back on expressing her growing feelings because she never thought it possible that a gentleman like him could ever have feelings for a woman like her.

  At that moment, there was a knock at the door. She stood, walked over to it, and quietly pulled it open so as to not disturb Lord Seton.

  “A letter for you, Miss Ainsley.”

  “Thank you,” she said, taking the letter before quietly closing the door. She looked up and Lord Seton was still working on his lesson, so she glanced down at the letter. She was hoping with all of her might that it was from Joan. She turned the letter over, broke the unidentifiable wax seal, and opened it.

  It wasn’t from Joan…

  “I received your letter. If you don’t get the job done, I will get someone in there who will.”

  Chapter 15

  “Thank you so much,” Oliver said, shaking the hand of his business contact. He had just made an excellent deal on paper labels, which would be delivered to the distillery in the next couple of weeks.

  He turned and came face-to-face with the waiting coachman, who would finally get him to the gentlemen’s club where he would meet Darnerton.

  “We need to go to St. James Street, to White’s.”

  “Yes, Your Grace. We are close, I believe. It should only be a few minutes until we arrive.”

  “Thank you,” Oliver replied, as the coachman closed the door. He would be glad to see Darnerton. He had much to fill him in on, including the meeting with Lord Kenley, the incident with Jamie, and if time allowed, he might tell him about Miss Ainsley.

  The carriage began to move, and Oliver settled into his seat. After his exchange with Miss Ainsley in his office, he was more attracted to her than ever before. The way she stood up to him made him wild and thinking about it now made his loins begin to stir. Even seeing her apologize, and seeing the desperation in her eyes, was attractive to him. Almost as if she were begging him for something. He pictured her on her knees, begging him for her job…begging him not to terminate her employment.

  The thought of that was giving him an erection. He definitely had to stop thinking about it, as he would be meeting Darnerton soon. Fortunately, those thoughts and a couple of deep breaths seemed to calm him down.

  Oliver glanced out the window and watched the people pass. Single men, groups of women, families…all walking down the street. They then passed a well-dressed man with a younger lad. Perhaps I should bring Jamie here and show him London.

  They also passed several peddlers, shops, and inns. London was a bustling city, and Jamie would absolutely love it, he thought. The carriage began to slow, but Oliver didn’t know, at first, if it was because they were at the club or if there were just a number of carriages on the road.

  A moment later, the carriage stopped completely, and Oliver felt it lurch as the coachman stepped down. He opened the door, and Oliver stepped out, and the grand, elegant gentleman’s club was before him.

  “I won’t be but a couple of hours,” Oliver said to the coachman. “I would like to be home tonight.”

  “Of course, Your Grace. I will be waiting for you, and as always, I will deliver you home, safely.”

  “Thank you,” Oliver turned and started walking towards the club, where the doorman stepped forward and welcomed him, ushering him through the door.

  * * *

  Priscilla was trembling. Her mouth was dry, and she just kept looking at the words on the paper over and over again.

  “…I will get someone in there who will.”

  This was getting serious, and Priscilla didn’t know what to do. She quickly glanced over at Lord Seton, who was still hunched over his school work. She didn’t want him to notice that she was rattled.

  She took a deep breath and planted a fake smile on her face before turning around.

  “Do you need any assistance, My Lord?”

  “No, Miss Ainsley. This is a lot easier than I thought.”

  “Wonderful. When you are done, we will start our French lesson.”

  Lord Seton nodded and continued scribbling on his slate. Priscilla turned back towards the desk and tried to decide what she should do about the letter. On one hand, it was in her best interest to follow the instructions, but on the other hand…

  “Miss Ainsley, I’m finished.”

  Priscilla jumped at Lord Seton’s words, but almost immediately composed herself.

  “Excellent,” she said, as she slid the letter into a drawer. “Are you ready for your next lesson?”

  * * *

  The gentleman’s club was dark and fairly quiet, though there were people milling about and sitting at small tables in the main dining room. Oliver smiled as he saw Darnerton nod, and then made his way to the table.

  “Amazing to see you, my friend,” Darnerton said, as he stood to shake Oliver’s hand. “I have only been waiting a couple of minutes.”

  “Wonderful. I was hoping you were not waiting long. Shall we sit?”

  The gentlemen sat across from each other and a waiter brought a carafe of wine with two filled glasses.

  “I took the liberty of ordering wine,” Darnerton said, taking a glass. “It’s a French Claret.”

  “It’s delicious…complex.”

  “Indeed. I have had this before, and I thought you might enjoy it.”

  “Are you well, Darnerton?”

  “I am. And you?”

  “I’m well. Though I have some things I would like to talk to you about if you don’t mind. As my oldest, dearest friend, I could use your advice.”

  Darnerton raised his eyebrows in response as he sipped on his wine. “I’m intrigued now.”

  Oliver chuckled. “It’s amusing to me that you ordered a French Claret, because the first thing I want to talk about is Lord Kenley.”

  “Why would Claret lead to Lord Kenley?”

  “I’ll get to it. First, I want to let you know that things are a bit tight with the distillery, thanks to a series of unfortunate events. We have lost a lot of inventory due to carelessness, and I have been forced to bottle one of the barrels that my father and uncle distilled.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Dowding.”

  “Oh, it’s nothing too serious,” Oliver replied, waving it off. “I just don’t want to let it get too serious.”

  “I understand that, but what I don’t understand is what all of this has to do with Lord Kenley.”

  “Well, he asked me to come to his house for another business proposition.”

  “And you accepted the invitation?”

  “I did, and it was…interesting. He has a contraption that is similar to a large lift, but this version is a lot smaller. It is powered by steam, and he says that it could help save money at the distillery since it can lift barrels with ease. He made a good point. I could certainly save money on labor costs, for example.”

  “This is a machine?”

  “It is a lift, so yes, it is a type of machine. He said large versions of the lift are being used in the factories, but he has gotten his hands on a smaller version, which would be ideal for the distillery.”

  “I trust that you believe this to be true?”

  “I do.”

  “And you trust that Lord Kenley has your best interests in mind?”

  “Of course not,” Oliver said with a laugh. “The question is
this: how much is he going to benefit by me buying this device? You know how it is to work with Lord Kenley. He doesn’t just make a simple deal. There is always a reason for all that he does.”

  “That is so true,” Darnerton agreed. He leaned forward in his chair towards Oliver. “What is your instinct?”

  “I think he wants something from me.”

  * * *

  Jamie was sitting in the library with Miss Slade. Both of them were holding books in their hands and looked as if they were reading, but Jamie had other things on his mind.

  He was trying to plan his next prank, and he had a target—the head coachman—but he wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. He thought, perhaps, he could do something with one of the carriages, but he wasn’t sure how it was decided which carriage would be used. Jamie knew that there was more than one carriage on the property, and he couldn’t stand to think that one of his pranks would hit its mark without him being able to watch.

  Jamie was taking his advice from Miss Ainsley very seriously and continuing to remain a young gentleman at all times. In fact, several members of the staff had commented on his sudden maturity.

  “My Lord?”

  Jamie looked up from the book and at Miss Slade.

  “I’m afraid it’s getting a bit late. You should probably get to a stopping point in your book so we can head to your bed chamber.”

  “Yes, Miss Slade.”

  Jamie leaned back in his chair. He was hoping for more time to plan tonight, but there was certainly no arguing with Miss Slade. Perhaps tomorrow, he would talk to Miss Ainsley about his plan. Who knows? She might be interested in the prank, too.

  * * *

  Priscilla laid in bed, eyes wide open, unable to sleep. The thoughts around the letter in her desk drawer were bringing a lot of apprehension to her, and it was getting tough to ignore much longer.

  The best thing for everyone involved would be to just do what he was asking. If she was careful, no one would be the wiser, and all of them could move on from this.

  Yes, she had agreed to do this deed, but that was before she came here, before she started to become interested in the Duke.

  Now, those feelings were getting in the way of something that she had never struggled to do before, and she didn’t know how to handle that.

  Right now, however, she knew she needed to sleep.

  * * *

  “It’s getting late, Darnerton,” Oliver said jollily. “I should be heading back to the house.”

  “It’s a long ride. Perhaps just stay here in London tonight?”

  “No, no. But, before I go, I have one more thing I want to talk to you about.”

  “Oh, please continue,” Darnerton said, sipping on some whisky.

  “My governess…well, Jamie’s governess. Miss Ainsley.”

  “Oh no. Is she going to resign?”

  “I hope not. She has no reason to, as far as I know. In fact, she and Jamie get along very well.”

  “Really? That’s terrific.”

  “Yes. I’m quite pleased about it, in fact.”

  “So, what do you have to say about her?”

  “I think I have interest in her. Romantic interest.”

  “In the governess?” Oliver could tell by Darnerton’s exasperated response that he was surprised.

  Oliver nodded and took a sip of his drink. “Yes, in the governess. Do you think it’s very inappropriate?”

  Darnerton was silent for a moment, and then said, “I don’t think it’s very inappropriate, but it’s certainly not common. Does she have interest in you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “My advice is to find that out first. You don’t want to move forward with this until you are sure of that. If you do find that she is also interested in you, then I would slowly explore the possibility. Just keep in mind that not everyone would be accepting of this. Most younger people won’t see a problem with it, of course, but others…well, you just don’t know.”

  “Yes,” Oliver said softly. “I have thought of that. I think your advice is good. I will do that.”

  Oliver stood and continued. “I will also take your advice on Lord Kenley and watch him closely. Thank you so much for meeting with me, Darnerton. Please, give my best to your family.”

  * * *

  Things looked a bit brighter thanks to the light of day. Priscilla had a restless night, but she had made a decision about what to do, and she wouldn’t go back on that now.

  Lord Seton would be meeting her in the school room, soon, and she wanted to write a response to the letter quickly…

  “It will be done…”

  She folded the paper, slipped it into a drawer, and closed it just as she heard the knock at the door signaling Lord Seton’s arrival.

  “Come in!”

  “Good morning, Miss Ainsley,” Lord Seton said, happily. “I have an idea!”

  Priscilla could tell that her pupil was in a great mood, one that didn’t quite match her own, but perhaps he would help her to feel more cheerful.

  “Please share it, My Lord.”

  “I have been thinking. I was reading a book about horses and carriages, and I realized that I don’t know how things work in the stable. I was hoping that would be something that we could have a special lesson on.”

  “Oh. I don’t see why not, though we would have to get permission from your father and the head coachman.”

  “Of course,” Lord Seton replied, beaming.

  “What is the book?”

  “What?”

  “The book. You said you were reading a book about horses and carriages.”

  “Oh…I…um…I can’t remember. It was good, though,” he said quickly. “I’m sure you can find it in the library if you are interested in reading it.”

  She smiled at him and shook her head slightly. He was obviously trying to pull something over on her, but luckily, she was great at reading people.

  “I will look for it, My Lord. But, for now, I think it best that we focus on our lessons. Later, we will talk to your father and the coachman about planning a visit to the stable.”

  * * *

  Oliver was exhausted. He didn’t get back to the house until very late in the evening, so he didn’t get a lot of sleep. Now, he was struggling to focus on his work, so he had asked for Wright to join him to see how things went last night when he was gone.

  His conversation with Darnerton was fresh on his mind, though, especially the part about Miss Ainsley. He would have to determine what she felt for him, and he believed he had to do it sooner rather than later.

  Oliver also had to think about what he would ultimately do with Lord Kenley. He really wanted to try out the new lift, but he also didn’t want to fall into a trap. He didn’t really believe that Lord Kenley would pull him into any type of scheme, but he also knew that the Earl would gain some type of advantage from this transaction. He also, of course, didn’t know how he was going to get the money necessary to purchase the lift.

  “Your Grace?”

  Wright leaned in Oliver’s office. “You asked to see me?”

  “Yes, please, Wright. Do come in.”

  Oliver moved from the desk to the table, where Wright joined him.

  “Did you have a pleasant evening, Your Grace?”

  “I did. It’s always a pleasure to see Lord Darnerton.”

  “I can imagine. You have been friends for many years.”

  “Indeed, we have. How was your evening? Was all well here at home?”

  “All was well, Your Grace. Lord Seton was extremely well-behaved, and just a pleasure to be with. He seemed to enjoy dinner, though I daresay he was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t filled with sweets and puddings.”

  Oliver laughed. “To be honest, Wright, I have a similar feeling each night.”

  Wright chuckled and continued. “Following dinner, he and Miss Slade went to the library, where it seems they remained the rest of the evening.”

  “Wonderful. Was all well with th
e distillery?”

  “Yes, Your Grace. There have been no incidents nor issues for several days.”