Love Lessons with the Duke

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “We’re friends of Regina’s,” Helena explained to help disperse the uneasy silence.

  “Are you?” Though he asked her the question, his gaze remained on Chloe.

  “Yes,” Helena said. She waited to see if he would tell Chloe anything, but he only stood there, looking as if he was trying to think of something but was unable to.

  Chloe cleared her throat and glanced at Helena. “I suppose we should go.”

  Had Chloe not been married, Helena would have suggested they stay longer so she and Lord Reddington could get better acquainted. But since she was married, Helena wished him a good day and followed her out of the townhouse.

  It was on the tip of her tongue to ask Chloe if she remembered the evening Camden said Lord Reddington had an interested in her. Her steps even slowed as they reached the sidewalk. She chanced a look back and saw Lord Reddington was watching Chloe from the window in the drawing room. She was shocked by his devotion to her. She and Chloe’s parents made a grave mistake in overlooking him.

  “Helena?”

  Helena turned back to Chloe.

  “Is everything all right?” Chloe asked.

  She hesitated, wondering if there was any point in apologizing to her friend for rushing her into a marriage with Lord Hawkins. If she guessed right, Lord Reddington would have been a much better husband, one who would have loved her the way she deserved. But what good would it do to mention this? There was no going back and changing anything. And who knew if Chloe would only feel worse knowing she could have had someone who loved her but never would? Helena wouldn’t want to know if it was her.

  “Helena?”

  With a sigh, Helena turned her back on Lord Reddington. Forcing a smile at her friend, she said, “I thought I forgot to tell Regina something, but I didn’t. Are you ready to go to the dress shop?”

  Chloe nodded and returned her smile. “I’ve been looking forward to this all day.”

  “I have, too.”

  Together, the friends headed for the market.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Camden opened the missive from his mother. She expressed her relief but worried that he hadn’t sounded happy. He hadn’t revealed his misgivings when he wrote the missive, but she knew him too well. Something in the way he wrote the letter must have told her the truth.

  Well, now he could reassure her that everything was all right. In fact, they were better than all right. They’d never been better. He went to the drawing room and penned the letter. She and his aunt would be relieved, he knew. Before he left for London, he’d been afraid of coming here. So many people and rules and expectations… It was overwhelming. But now that he had a place he belonged, he didn’t feel the apprehension he did before.

  He could honestly tell his mother and aunt he wanted to stay until the Season was over. By then, Helena would be done with her lessons for the year and could go to the estate with him. He had no doubt his mother and aunt would love his wife, and he had a feeling Helena would enjoy their company as well.

  All of this he put in the missive then sealed it to send out. He was ready to ring for the butler when he came in the doorway, announcing he had a visitor.

  Surprised since he had no friends, Camden instructed him to let the visitor in. He was even more surprised when he realized it was a gentleman he didn’t know.

  “Mr. Jasper, Your Grace,” the butler introduced. “Should I bring in the brandy?”

  Camden glanced at the gentleman whose lips formed a tight line. Something told him this wasn’t going to be a pleasant visit, and for the life of him, he couldn’t think of what he might have said or done to upset him.

  “Um,” Camden shifted, “not now. Maybe later.” Probably not at all. Given the way Mr. Jasper was looking at him, he thought it best to get the conversation over with as soon as possible. “Perhaps you should close the doors?” With any luck, Mr. Jasper would keep his voice low so the servants wouldn’t overhear him.

  The butler bowed then left the room, shutting the doors softly behind him.

  Camden released his breath. He was never good at confrontations. Finally, he ventured, “I’m sorry, but you have me at a disadvantage. Do we know each other?”

  “No, but we know the same irritating gentleman who is going to ruin my sister’s life unless you help me stop it,” Mr. Jasper said.

  Mr. Jasper had a sister? Camden thought over all the ladies he’d met. Then he remembered Helena had a client by the name Miss Jasper, and if Camden remembered correctly, he did share a dance with her at the first ball he went to this Season.

  “Is your sister Miss Jasper?” Camden asked then quickly realized how stupid the question sounded. This was her brother, after all! “Forgive me. I’m not a graceful talker. Of course, she is. But, who is the gentleman who’s going to ruin her life?”

  “Lord Toplyn.”

  Noting the bitterness in Mr. Jasper’s tone, his eyes grew wide. “Lord Toplyn?”

  He crossed his arms. “That fool has taken it upon himself to imitate you. Since you kissed Lady Seyton to secure a wife, he did the same thing to my sister. And you want to know the worst part?”

  Not really. But Camden knew he didn’t have a choice, so he kept his mouth shut.

  “The worst part is, he doesn’t care that he’s ruining her life,” her brother said. “He refuses to let her out of the marriage. The only thing he wants is her money. He doesn’t care anything for her.”

  Given what Camden knew about Toplyn, this didn’t come as a shock. It seemed that Toplyn would do anything to get what he wanted. But even so, Camden didn’t know what any of this had to do with him. “What do you want me to do about it?”

  “He said he knows you. You’re the reason he needed my sister’s money.”

  “Only because he was foolish enough to wager I wouldn’t get a wife by the end of the month. I never told him to make such a bet.”

  “But you wouldn’t have gotten a wife had it not been for kissing Lady Seyton in front of everyone at Lord Roderick’s ball.”

  “I didn’t do that because of Lord Toplyn. I did it because…” Camden stopped himself before he said anything else. This was none of Mr. Jasper’s business.

  “It doesn’t matter why you did it. The fact that you did means Lord Toplyn had to kiss my sister.”

  “I can’t go back in time and stop him.”

  “No, but you can talk to him.”

  “That won’t do any good. The scandal’s been done.”

  “I no longer care about the consequences of the scandal,” Mr. Jasper said, a flicker of pain crossing his features. “While I’m not happy about it, there’s no changing it. My father has already given him the money he needed.” He walked up to Camden and pointed to him. “Now, I want you to go to Lord Toplyn and demand he release her from the marriage. The banns have only been read twice. There’s still time to stop it.”

  “What makes you think he’ll listen to me?”

  “Because you’re the reason he ruined my sister’s reputation in the first place.”

  “I didn’t tell him to kiss her. I didn’t tell him to kiss anyone. What he did, he did of his own free will.”

  “He wouldn’t have done it if it hadn’t been for you!”

  Camden’s gaze lowered the gentleman’s clenched fists, and he took a step back. “I’m sorry this has happened to your sister, but Lord Toplyn won’t listen to me. He thinks I’m a simpleton.”

  “My sister can’t stop crying because of him. He’s going to destroy her!”

  Camden took another step back. Her brother was upset—and rightly so—but he was letting his anger get the best of him. And it likely didn’t help that he’d been letting his anger build up over the past couple weeks.

  “I can understand why you’re upset,” Camden said, keeping his voice as calm and steady as he could, just as he’d done when his brother’s creditors came to him demanding payment. It’d worked then. It’d given him an extra Season to try to figure out a way to pay them befo
re they took the estate and left his mother and aunt without a home. “But maybe things won’t be as bad as they seem.”

  “They’re going to be worse. He’ll destroy her.”

  Camden frowned. The technique wasn’t working like it had last time. Trying for another angle, he said, “Lord Toplyn is annoying. He isn’t the best choice. I can see that. But I don’t think he’s all bad. There’s got to be some redeeming quality in him.”

  Mr. Jasper stared at him in disbelief for several moments then asked, “Would you trust him with your wife?”

  “What?”

  “Perhaps you’d be willing to step aside and let him marry your wife. Then my dear sister would be free of him.”

  Unable to believe what he was hearing, Camden laughed. “Don’t be absurd. My wife is already married.”

  The doors opened, and Camden’s gaze went to Helena.

  He was ready to warn Mr. Jasper, who hadn’t seen her, that she was present, when the gentleman said, “That would be easy to resolve. We’ll have a duel. Then when your wife is a widow, she can marry him. Since you say he’s not as bad as I think, it should do your heart good to know she’ll be under his care.”

  “What’s this about a duel?” Helena asked.

  Mr. Jasper jerked as he turned to face her. “This doesn’t concern you.”

  “Of course, it does,” she said, approaching Camden, though she kept her gaze on Mr. Jasper. “You just said you planned to make me a widow.”

  “I was making a point.”

  “Not a good one,” she snapped. “If something happens to my husband, I won’t be marrying anyone else.”

  “It’s not a lady’s place to interfere when two gentlemen are talking unless she’s been invited into the conversation, and you haven’t been invited. I suggest you leave.”

  “Don’t tell my wife what to do,” Camden spoke up, the last of his apprehension leaving. He could tolerate many things, but he wouldn’t have someone talking to Helena that way.

  Without a glance at Mr. Jasper, Helena pulled Camden to the side of the room and lowered her voice. “There will be no duel.”

  “Of course not,” he assured her. “He’s not serious about having one.”

  “Then what is he talking about?”

  “He’s trying to prove a point. His sister will be marrying Lord Toplyn because Lord Toplyn decided to kiss her in front of a lot of people. He’s upset because his sister won’t stop crying about it, and he’s letting his emotions override good judgment.”

  She glanced at Mr. Jasper, who let out a long, frustrated sigh, then turned back to Camden. “So you’re not going to have a duel?”

  “No.”

  “But don’t gentlemen run off to duels to protect their pride? The mere suggestion of there being a duel can be serious, Camden. And the servants probably heard him mention it.”

  “I can’t help what the servants heard.”

  “But if word got out,” she shot him a meaningful look, “or if Mr. Jasper tells others he challenged you to one and you refused, it could hurt your reputation.”

  “I thought you didn’t want me to go into a duel.”

  “I don’t, but some gentlemen,” she took a deep breath and lowered her gaze, “don’t care what a lady wants. They feel honor bound to follow through with it to protect their pride.”

  “What good does pride do when someone dies? My brother killed himself because he was too ashamed to tell me or our mother about his debts. I lost my only friend, and she lost a son. I’m not going to run off to a duel, no matter what anyone thinks. If people want to talk, let them.”

  When her gaze met his, tears were in her eyes, and she hugged him. Her body trembled slightly. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought she was crying.

  Mr. Jasper let out a loud groan and rolled his eyes. “Never mind, Your Grace,” he told Camden. “I’ll try to find another way to get rid of Lord Toplyn.”

  After he left, Helena released Camden and wiped her eyes. Camden pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. “I’m not sure what to do. Do I let you cry, or should I try to cheer you up so you’ll stop?”

  She laughed even as she dabbed more tears away. “They’re real tears.”

  “I know they are.”

  “He might have thought they were fake.” She gestured toward the spot where Mr. Jasper had been standing.

  “Who cares what he thought?”

  Granted, Mr. Jasper seemed to have a weakness for crying ladies, but Camden didn’t think Mr. Jasper left because she was crying. More likely, he came to his senses and realized there really wasn’t anything Camden could do to stop Lord Toplyn from marrying his sister.

  “I didn’t want to lose you. I was so relieved you listened to me that the tears just came,” Helena said.

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, pleased by the depth of her love for him. But he decided he’d rather have her smiling and laughing instead of crying so he said, “I didn’t listen to you about Miss Beacham, and it turns out Mr. Robinson lied in order to win the bet with Lord Toplyn. I learned my lesson.”

  As he hoped, she chuckled, and she was no longer crying at all.

  “What you think is important to me,” Camden continued. “And it’s nice to know I’d be missed if I wasn’t here.”

  She turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’d miss you terribly, Camden. Everything is much better because you’re my husband. Don’t tell anyone this, but I’m glad Mr. Robinson convinced you Miss Beacham was going to trick you into marriage. If he hadn’t, we wouldn’t be together.”

  “Your secret is safe with me,” he whispered.

  Then, despite the fact that the doors to the drawing room were open, he lowered his head and gave her a lingering kiss. If the servants happened to see them, they just might say he and Helena were one of London’s luckiest couples, for theirs was a love match. And he’d have to say, they’d be right.

  Coming in March or April 2015

  Ruined by the Earl

  In order to secure his future, Logan Breckman, the Earl of Toplyn, has to create a scandal with a wealthy lady. Granted, this will most likely upset the lady in question, but he really has no choice.

  And the fortunate—or rather, unfortunate—lady just happens to be Miss Melissa Jasper who is hoping to marry another earl. But with one kiss, her entire future is ruined. Not only has Lord Toplyn prevented her from marrying the gentleman she wants, but he also refuses to release her from the obligation of marrying him as well. And if he thinks she’ll forgive him, he has another thing coming. He’s ruined her life. Now, she vows to do everything she can to ruin his.

  ***

  Coming in April or May 2015

  The Earl’s Stolen Bride

  Orlando Emmett, the Earl of Reddington, fell in love with Miss Chloe Boyle a year ago. But she married Lord Hawkins before he had a chance to propose. Then news of Lord Hawkins’ untimely death arrives, and Orlando sees his second chance. This time, he’ll risk everything to be with her, regardless of how much scandal he creates.

  Regencies Already Available!

  Marriage by Scandal Series:

  The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife: Lord Roderick needs an heir, and the only way he’s going to get one is by finding a suitable young lady to marry. But one wrong move on his part has just betrothed him to a lady he believes has tricked him into a scandal.

  A Most Unsuitable Earl: Lord Edon has done everything he can to avoid marriage, including building a reputation as London’s most notorious rake. His scheming mother, however, is so determined that he’ll find a good lady to marry, she’ll stop at nothing to find him one. And the lady she finally picks happens to be London’s most notorious wallflower, the ever-so-boring Lady Catherine.

  His Reluctant Lady: From the moment Mister Robinson meets Lady Richfield, he knows they are destined to be together. But it may take the threat of a scandal to convince the reluctant widow that marriage can be the most s
ensually and emotionally satisfying experience she’ll ever have.

  The Earl’s Scandalous Wife: Lord Clement, who others refer to as “the earl who can’t find a wife,” is about to find that scandals aren’t so bad when a lady kisses him at a ball.

  A Standalone Regency Novel that is also Currently Available:

  Her Counterfeit Husband: When her abusive husband dies, the Duchess of Watkins plots a way to hide his death so his brother doesn’t get the title. Fate steps in and she comes upon a gentleman who looks just like her husband, and more than that, he doesn’t remember who he is. Has she just come across the best solution to her problem, or has she just made things much, much worse?

  Marriage by Deceit Series:

  (Series Not Completed Yet)

  The Earl’s Secret Bargain: Lord Davenport and Lord Pennella have just made a bet for the hand of Miss Regina Giles. The gentleman she chooses wins the loser’s estate.

  Love Lessons With The Duke: The Duke of Ashbourne asks Lady Seyton to help him secure a bride in one month, but soon he realizes he's in love with her and will do anything it takes to marry her, even if it involves a scandal.

  Other Romances Written by Ruth Ann Nordin

  (Chronological Order)

  Regencies

  Marriage by Scandal

  The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife

  A Most Unsuitable Earl

  His Reluctant Lady

  The Earl’s Scandalous Wife

  Marriage by Deceit

  The Earl’s Secret Bargain

  Love Lessons With The Duke

  Standalone Regencies

  Her Counterfeit Husband

  Historical Westerns

  Nebraska Historical Romance Books

  Her Heart’s Desire