The Artisan and the Duke

by Abigail Agar

  Gregory jested back to the man, “Are you listening to the same song?”

  “I fear we must not be, Your Grace,” the man’s female companion said.

  Jules shook her head and assured the woman, “I am just a poor dancer, and His Grace is being benevolent enough to humour my mistakes.”

  Before anything else could be said, the music began again, and Jules found herself pulled into a slow swaying dance with the Duke. Jules blushed most deeply as she felt herself being brought close to the man.

  The butterflies would not leave her be, and Jules just willed her heart to keep its distance from the Duke. She was not truly betrothed to him, after all. She was just playing her part.

  ***

  The next day, Jules came downstairs to find Gregory dressed for riding. “Are we off somewhere?” Jules asked hopefully. She was tired of being stuck in the house except for when Lady St Claire wanted to trot her out like a doll for the showing.

  The Duke chuckled. “If you like riding, then you will enjoy the winter at the country estate,” the man said.

  “I actually haven’t had much practice riding,” Jules said with a smile. “I was quite busy earning a wage and did not have time for such things.”

  The man nodded and agreed, “I don’t have much time for it outside of practicality these days. I used to like riding when I was a boy, though. I’m sure your sisters are learning how if I know my brother.”

  “Do you really think that?” Jules laughed at the thought of Tally getting on a horse. Georgie would probably love to learn, though.

  The Duke nodded. “Of course. It is something all children should be able to do, especially in the countryside. It is just practical.”

  “I guess,” Jules said thoughtfully. “You never did answer me,” Jules reminded the man.

  The Duke chuckled and shook his finger at her. “Here I thought you might forget,” he jested. “I am actually riding to see that barrister friend of mine, and the streets of London are not the best places to learn to ride.”

  “I see,” Jules said with a sigh.

  An expression of remorse came over the man’s face. “I promise that soon you can retire from all of this society life, and then you may enjoy all the riding that you choose,” the Duke said fervently.

  Jules scoffed, “Yes, I can go live as a maid once you are done with me.” She regretted her words as soon as she said them at the look on the man’s face. “I didn’t mean to sound so ungrateful,” Jules said hastily.

  “It hardly matters,” the Duke said as he waved off her concern. “I know that I am not your ideal mate,” he said with a shrug. “The sooner we get your friends out of jail and get things sorted away, the sooner you can get on with your life.”

  Jules wanted to take back her words, but the man clearly was not interested in her apology. He had not seemed so cold to her before. Jules frowned. “Yes,” she said quietly.

  “I do not know if I will return in time for the evening meal,” the Duke said. “Enjoy your day, Miss Kelley.” Before Jules could say another word, the Duke was gone, and she was left standing in an empty foyer.

  Jules stood there trying to reason out what had just happened until Sherry found her. The girl put her hand on Jules’ arm and enquired, “Is everything well?”

  “I don’t think it is,” Jules said softly. “I don’t know why I thought it might be.”

  Sherry pressed, “What is it that has happened, Miss?”

  Jules shook her head. “I’m not really sure,” she said, pushing away from the sadness that fought to crush her down. “Nothing is the matter,” Jules said finally. “The Duke and I just reaffirmed our working arrangement.”

  Sherry looked at her in confusion. “I don’t think I follow, Miss.”

  “You can have the Duke, Sherry. I want nothing from him,” Jules said as she turned on her heel and marched back up the stairs with Sherry right behind her.

  Sherry asked urgently, “What happened? I thought you had eyes for him. He definitely had his eyes on you.”

  “Oh, Sherry, you do not know how wrong you are,” Jules said with feeling. “That man is everything that is wrong with this society.”

  Sherry frowned as she followed Jules up the stairs and towards the woman’s room. “If you would just take a moment, then perhaps you would be a bit clearer headed, Ma’am,” Sherry said with concern.

  “Never make a deal with the Devil, Sherry, for he will always say what you want to hear,” Jules said as she refused to listen to the chambermaid.

  Sherry sighed and followed the enraged young woman into her room.

  ***

  “Do you think that perhaps, Sir Chapman will reconsider his stance?” the barrister asked Gregory with a hopeful look.

  Gregory considered his words carefully. “Maxwell has always been a man steeped in virtue. Men like that can be a benefit or a curse,” Gregory said thoughtfully.

  “You are thinking that he is being swayed?” Reginald asked astutely.

  Gregory nodded. “I have pondered long and hard as to who might be in his ear, and I know of only a handful of men that could bend Maxwell to their way of thinking,” Gregory said with a sigh.

  Gregory and Barrister Dulock sat in the man’s cramped office. It was the only place that Gregory thought private enough to talk about such things any longer. There was no telling who Maxwell was in league with, and whoever it was could definitely be behind some of the rumours that Gregory had caught wind of.

  “You are taking a very personal interest in the fate of these tradesmen,” Barrister Dulock remarked.

  Gregory sighed and said simply, “I am no patron of injustice.”

  “I think no man truly is,” Dulock replied, “but that does not mean that fairness pervades everything. After all, people only see things from their level. I think things look a good deal different from on high as they do from the grit of London’s streets.”

  Rumours about his family aside, Gregory was determined to keep his promise to Miss Kelley. “Just do what you can, Reginald. I will do what I can to uncover why it is so important to Maxwell’s benefactors that these men take the blame for that fire,” Gregory said with resignation as he stood up to take his leave of the man.

  Reginald stood up as well and clasped the hand that Gregory held out to him. “I bid you safety, Your Grace, in your endeavours,” the man said solemnly.

  The path of going against Gregory’s fellows was a precarious one, but it was one that he had already been pushed onto, so he felt obliged to see it to the end. “Thank you,” Gregory said simply as he turned and exited the building.

  The sky outside was ominously full of grey clouds that threatened to burst at any moment and drench the streets in the rain. Gregory thought that rather fitting to how he felt. He had no idea how to approach Miss Kelley after the words that had been said.

  He knew that he had spoken rashly, but her words had echoed with him. If that was truly how she felt, then he might as well let her out of the engagement now. They had no obligation to each other at this point. Still, he hesitated.

  Gregory swung up onto the saddle of his horse and rode towards his family home lost in thought. There was nothing to be done but go home and face the mess he had made earlier. Perhaps if he apologized, Miss Kelley might calm towards him. Gregory snapped the reins, and his horse sped up.

  ***

  Jules sat down and pondered what she should do. She still had the welfare of her mother and sisters to think about. There was little to be done but to soothe the man’s ego. After all, he had said himself that marrying him was still just an option. He just wanted her to free him from some of the social obligations that he had been wrapped up in for so long.

  The doorman greeting the Duke brought Jules out of her thoughts. She had been waiting just up the stairs, and she took a deep breath as she smoothed down her dress. She walked down the steps and was greeted by the sight of the Duke drenched from the rain.

  The servant was helping the Duke
out of his overly wet coat, revealing the fact that his button-up shirt was clinging to the man’s every muscle.

  Jules made a small gasp that attracted both men’s attention at the same time. “Miss Kelley,” the Duke said almost apologetically. “Forgive my appearance. I am afraid that the rain has sought to drown me.”

  “You do not have to apologize for the rain, Your Grace,” Jules said as her eyes lingered on the hint of the man’s firm chest. “I was just coming to find you,” she said, clearing her throat. “I wanted to apologize for my behaviour earlier.”

  The Duke looked completely taken aback by her announcement. “You do?” He eyed her curiously. “I was under the impression that I might have to perform some sort of dramatic action to gain your favour again.”

  “That would be amusing, but it is wholly unnecessary,” Jules said. She fidgeted with the banister for a moment before she said, “I should let you go change.”

  The Duke looked at his attire and agreed with a nod. “It might be best to continue this when I am properly clothed, yes,” he said in amusement.

  Jules nodded before she dashed back up the stairs as quickly as her dress would allow. The Duke and the doorman exchanged a glance before the Duke just shook his head and went to his rooms to change.

  ***

  Jules burst through the bedroom door and flung herself onto her bed. She did not know whether she should laugh or cry. She seemed incapable of using her wits when the man was around, but she had done the right thing to apologize. Jules took a deep breath and thought back to the way the Duke had looked in his soaked shirt.

  There were many things that Jules could apologize for in her life, but she felt the most scandalized by the way her heart sped up at the mere thought of the man’s chest and strong arms. “I think my corset is on too tightly,” Jules said to herself. She rolled over and sighed at her reflection. “What am I going to do with you?”

  Her reflection looked back at her with hints of colour still on her cheeks. Jules shook her head. “You are wanton and should be ashamed of yourself,” Jules told her reflection, but she smiled even as she said it. She had spent so long pretending to be one of the men that these feelings had caught her completely out of her element.

  She sat up and went to the doors in her room that opened onto a balcony. Truth be told, Jules was a bit wary of heights, but she stepped through the doors and out into the rain. It felt cool and lovely on her skin. It chilled the steam in her blood and calmed the beating of her heart.

  There was euphoria in just feeling and letting go. Jules closed her eyes and let herself whisper out into the rain the secret that she would never tell anyone, least of all the Duke, “I love him.”

  ***

  The next morning, before Jules had a chance to do more than get out of bed, Sherry was in her room bustling about. “Wake up, Miss,” Sherry said with quiet urgency.

  “Hmm?” Jules rubbed her eyes and yawned. “What are you doing here so early?”

  Sherry said, “Someone’s coming to visit. The kitchen staff thinks it might be the Duke’s uncle. He’s a horrible man, so you must be on your best behaviour around him.”

  “If he’s so horrible, then why is he coming to visit?” Jules asked as she grumpily got out of bed and began washing up.

  Sherry said with a shake of her head, “Probably due to the announcement of the Duke’s engagement.”

  “Great,” Jules said flatly. She had little to no urge to put up with more family members of The Duke of Thornton.

  Sherry ushered Jules from the washbowl over to the vanity where she began to powder Jules’ face despite her protests. “Be still now,” Sherry said to the defiant woman.

  Sullenly, Jules did as she was prompted, but she stared without amusement at her reflection the whole time. Her dreams had been a blur of blond hair and grey eyes.

  She stopped her thoughts before she made herself blush in front of the chambermaid. As much as she liked Sherry, Jules had no inclination to admit to her unabashed dreams of the Duke the night before.

  By the time Sherry finished, Jules had realized she was starving, and as soon as the maid was satisfied with how Jules looked in her silver dress, Jules made her way down to the kitchen. Along the way, she saw the Duke just exiting his own set of rooms.

  “Good morning, Miss Kelley,” the Duke said with a bow to Jules.

  Jules squashed down the ridiculous rush of giddiness that the man’s charming way brought out of her. “Good morning, Your Grace,” she said as neutrally as possible.

  If the man noticed her suffering, then he did not let on. He simply fell into step beside her. “I do so loathe when Uncle comes to visit,” the Duke said conversationally. “He deliberately comes early enough to disrupt the household, hoping to catch us all at our worst.”

  “Why would he do that?” Jules asked incredulously.

  The Duke leaned over and whispered to Jules with a grin, “Because he wanted to succeed my father, never mind that that is not at all how it works.”

  “He had to be prepared for that,” Jules said with a shake of her head. “After all, succession is always the eldest son when it comes to titles. Is it not?”

  The Duke nodded and said, “It is indeed. The title will transfer again on my death to my eldest son.”

  The thought of children made warmth rise to Jules’ cheeks. She turned her head away from the Duke so he would not see. She fanned herself to help the colour go away. “It’s very warm this morning, isn’t it?”

  The Duke pondered the question. He eyed her curiously then smiled in that infuriating way that he had. “I can’t say it is too warm. Are you too warm, Miss Kelley?”

  “I’m fine,” Jules assured the Duke.

  The man, however, seemed to have caught onto her plight and had no intention of letting her out of it gracefully. “It is odd that you seemed fine before the mention of children. I should have thought that you of all people would like children. You seem very attached to your sisters, after all.”

  “I like children as well as anyone,” Jules said through gritted teeth.

  The man’s blond hair slid across his shoulders as he leaned his head to the side to eye her curiously. That was when Jules noticed that his hair was not pulled back as it normally was. She eyed the blond strands. “Miss Kelley, are you listening to me?”

  Jules blinked. “What did you say?”

  “I was enquiring if the problem was specifically to do with having children with me?” The Duke eyed her expectantly.

  To give herself a moment, Jules cleared her throat and furrowed her eyebrows as if really considering what the man had said. “Maybe it is,” Jules said. Then she gave up and asked, “Why is your hair down?”

  The Duke laughed jovially. “We are talking about the fact that you find me so repulsive that you cannot bear the thought of having children with me, and you are concerned with my hair?”

  “I never said you were repulsive,” Jules said defensively then sighed at the merriment in the man’s eyes. “Go on and soothe your ego, Your Grace, but I know all too well what men of your stature consider sport.”

  The man frowned. “What would that be?”

  “I have seen you out on the streets, Your Grace,” Jules reminded the man. She put her hands on her hips. “I am from the streets of London. I have seen what men do when they visit the slums. There are plenty of unfortunate women who are more than happy to accommodate them.”

  The change in the Duke was instantaneous. Jules wondered for a moment if the man might grab her as he came to a sudden stop at her words. “I know you do not think well of my peers,” the Duke ground out, “but if you think that true of me, then perhaps this ruse should stop here.”

  Jules felt her stomach drop. She refused to back down. She had been defensive and lashed out at the man, but he had also been at fault. “If that is what you wish, Your Grace, then who am I to stop you?” Jules said to the man firmly.

  They stood there a moment before the Duke grabbed her a
rms and pulled her close to him. Jules gasped. Surely the man did not intend to harm her here in the hallway. The next moment, the man released her before he turned and walked away.

  Jules leaned against the wall and stared after the Duke, bewildered by his words and actions. Although the man had done her no real harm, the look in his eyes had left her shaken. She might die of a heart attack before she made sense out of The Duke of Thornton, Jules feared.

  Chapter 7

  As much as Gregory hated his uncle, he felt his presence keenly unbearable in light of what had transpired between himself and Miss Kelley. He had meant the young woman no harm when he grabbed her.