One Fine Duke

by Lenora Bell

  Mina’s heart pinched. “How sad.”

  “Then he died,” said Grizzy without betraying any emotion. “He was hunting tigers in Africa and one of the beasts had his revenge. They couldn’t even ship Albert back for me to bury. Do you know what they sent me?” Her hands shook as she continued her work. “His heart, preserved in a box. That’s what’s buried under his headstone. A heart. A heart that never belonged to me.”

  The acrid scent of fixative filled Mina’s nostrils. She got up, walked to the window, and opened it. “You should let some air in. It’s not healthful to inhale those fumes.”

  “None of this is healthful,” said Grizzy with a little laugh. “But it’s my own small way of finding delight. These creatures that I preserve, their lives were cut short by the cycle of nature. I give them a lasting life.”

  She held a butterfly up to the light coming in from the window. “Some of them I give to museums. Others I keep in my home. My stuffed creatures do the things I never could do. My little hedgehogs get married, have children, go on grand tours of the Continent.”

  “So that’s why you make clothing for them. I always wondered about that.”

  “I never traveled out of England. I should have insisted on accompanying Albert on his expeditions. Or I should have embarked on an adventure of my own. I never had a day of trouble in my life.” Grizzy caught her eye. “Be bold and brave, Wilhelmina. Fight for what you believe in. I don’t want you to regret the roads not taken, as I do.”

  “My mother gave me the same advice before . . .” She dashed away a tear from her cheek. “Before she died.”

  “And now you’re leaving. Off with your duke to Cornwall.”

  “I swear to you that I will come back to London soon and you will get stronger and we will have an adventure together. I’ll take you somewhere. Wherever you like.”

  “Nonsense. I’m too old. It’s too late for me.”

  “You’re a strong woman. You were broken and you rebuilt yourself. You’ll do it again and we’ll have our adventure.”

  Grizzy ducked her chin, hiding a smile behind her hair. “Yes, my dear. Perhaps we will. And in the meantime, my duke hedgehog will wed his duchess vole. Her veil will be decorated with these butterflies.”

  “I’m sure the wedding will be a grand occasion.”

  “Off with you, girl. You have a duke to dazzle.”

  “It’s not like that. It’s more of a convenient arrangement.”

  Grizzy waved her brush in the air dismissively. “Oh you can deny it all you want but you can’t fool me. Every young lady desires a duke.”

  Mina rose and bent to kiss her great-aunt’s cheek. She realized, with a lump in her throat, that she was going to miss Grizzy.

  She had been a stern taskmaster, but now Mina understood her better. She’d only been trying to give Mina better opportunities than she’d been given.

  And she was right about Drew.

  Mina did desire him, but giving in to desire and chasing her destiny were two very separate things. The information Mina was learning about Drew wouldn’t come together to form some big, earthshaking discovery about life and love.

  She was dangerously close to falling in love with him. She realized that now. But he wasn’t some puzzle for her to solve. If she took him apart and put him back together, his heart wouldn’t be more open to her.

  And their futures would still run in opposite directions.

  When Mina returned, the preparations for the journey were nearly complete. Drew was supervising the placement of the luggage. She watched him from the parlor window, avoiding the moment when they would have to speak to each other.

  After what had happened last night, she didn’t know how she would be able to meet his gaze.

  She’d be thinking about what he’d done with his tongue. The burst of pleasure that still reverberated through her body. The secret pulse between her thighs.

  The twist of emotion in her heart.

  He knew everything about her now and it was a relief to have the weight of those secrets lifted from her shoulders. But there was a new heaviness. A sense that she was losing a battle with her heart. That what they’d done had woven them together even more tightly, linked their hearts together into a chain.

  A beautiful chain, but a chain nonetheless.

  Crankshaw appeared at the door wearing his smart black coat and knife-creased white trousers. “Miss Penny, a word if you please?”

  “Yes, Crankshaw? What is it?”

  He joined her at the window. “I found a red silk gown in the garden shed, Miss Penny, and I thought it might suit you. I took the liberty of having it pressed, folded, and added to your traveling trunk.”

  “Er, thank you, Crankshaw.”

  “And, Miss Penny . . . I wanted to let you know that whatever mission you and His Grace are embarking upon, I’ll be here cheering for you. Of course, I know nothing of Lord Rafe’s dabbling in intrigues, or French smugglers.”

  Mina started. “Crankshaw. Did Lord Rafe confide in you?”

  His face was a blank mask. “About what, Miss Penny?”

  “You know . . . about”—she lowered her voice—“his clandestine activities.”

  “I’ve no idea what you’re referring to, Miss Penny. My lips are sealed. I also took the liberty of including a kit with bandages, antiseptics, a bottle of whisky, and everything useful in the unlikely event of injury. Though I’m sure your journey will go off without even the slightest hitch.”

  She searched his face. There was a twinkle deep in his blue eyes.

  “Crankshaw,” she said. “You’re the very soul of discretion. And I’m glad we have you in our corner.”

  “Why thank you, Miss Penny. I’m also pulling for an announcement of nuptials in the very near future. We do so want a little heir to coddle. Now, if you will excuse me, I have my duties.”

  He bowed and left swiftly before she could protest about the heir part.

  Sir Malcolm, Beatrice, Grizzy, and now Crankshaw. Everyone wanted her to wed the duke.

  What they didn’t understand was that wedding was out of the question. As was bedding.

  At least that’s what she told herself as she fixed a decorous, determined smile upon her face and marched out of the parlor.

  No more hiding.

  They had a rescue mission to mount.

  “Isn’t this exciting?” Beatrice said as Mina joined her beside the carriage. “I can’t believe he’s allowing me to go with you to Thornhill. You made it happen, didn’t you?” She caught Mina’s hands in hers. “Thank you.”

  “Is your mother joining us on the journey?”

  “She has a charity auction to organize. She’ll join us at Thornhill a few days later. I can’t believe she’s allowing you to accompany Drew with only myself as chaperone. She must be truly taken with you.”

  “Or truly desperate for grandchildren.”

  The duchess walked down the front steps. “I still don’t see why you must cut your Season so short, Beatrice.”

  “Mama, I’m a wallflower, you know that. No one will miss me.”

  “I’ll miss you.” Her mother sniffed.

  “I do hope your decision is made swiftly, Miss Penny.” The duchess caught Mina’s eye with a decidedly frosty expression.

  What had Drew told her? Mina nodded noncommittally.

  “Ladies, it’s a fine day for traveling,” said Drew, appearing from behind his sturdy workhorse of a carriage. No gilded insignia or high-sprung wheels for him.

  He wasn’t flash . . . he was substance.

  Substantial. Solid. Made of strong, durable material.

  He was dressed for traveling in tall, worn black leather boots, buckskin trousers that hugged his muscular thighs, and a plain blue serge coat.

  He handed Beatrice into the carriage first and Mina waited as she arranged her books and pillows to her satisfaction.

  Drew’s hand rested on her lower back, a casual gesture of possessiveness that sent a silent thrill
through her body. She wanted to touch him in return but they had an audience.

  And they weren’t supposed to indulge in any more physical intimacy.

  His mother noticed the gesture and a smile spread across her round face, lighting her hazel eyes with warmth.

  “Do be careful on the road, Andrew,” the duchess said. “You have very precious cargo.”

  “I know it,” said Drew. He bent to give his mother a peck on the cheek.

  His manservant arrived with the wicker luncheon basket and Beatrice found a place for it inside the carriage.

  “The preparations are complete, Your Grace,” said Corbyn.

  “Is everything settled with Inspector Langley?” Mina asked Drew in a whisper.

  “He’s already departed in a stagecoach with four trusted officers.”

  The matched quartet of bay horses stamped their hooves, eager to leave.

  “Miss Penny.” Drew held out his hand. “Are you ready for an adventure?”

  She placed her hand inside his palm. The instant frisson of awareness chased through her body, setting her nerves tingling.

  His eyes held a flickering flame the color of sunflowers in shadow. An answering flame lit in her heart.

  “Always, Your Grace.”

  Chapter 26

  Drew massaged his neck, soaking in the tub filled with hot water. He was stiff and sore from sitting for so long. The journey on the great mail coach road from London to Falmouth had passed swiftly in a blur of long hours sitting in the carriage, hasty meals at coaching inns while the horses were being changed, and restless bouts of sleep.

  They’d stopped for the night at the White Hart in Launceston. They’d reach Thornhill by the next afternoon, leave Beatrice at the house, and be in Falmouth before sundown.

  Inspector Langley had left before them in a hired stagecoach that would travel even more swiftly. He would reach Falmouth a half day before they would.

  Drew thought about Rafe making plans to confront a ship filled with smugglers and his throat constricted. It was difficult to maintain an outward show of calm when he knew the dangers they were riding toward.

  Beatrice remained oblivious and happy. She chattered excitedly when she wasn’t reading her novels. Drew hadn’t had any time alone with Mina. He’d told her that they needed to talk, and he’d tried to find time alone with her, but she always slipped away.

  He rubbed soap under his armpits, scrubbing away the grime from the journey. She’d probably be enjoying a bath now. He’d ordered hot water for all of them, and maids to attend the ladies.

  Sitting in the carriage with Mina for hours on end and not being able to speak with her about anything deeper than superficial topics was wearing on his nerves.

  Beatrice thought they were retiring to Thornhill House because he’d agreed to let her end her Season early and proclaim spinsterhood. He’d also misled his mother into believing that Mina had expressed a desire to see Thornhill House before she agreed to marry him.

  His mother had hopes.

  He scrubbed harder with the rough-textured soap, over his chest and abdomen.

  There was a part of him that had hopes as well. Some irrational fantasy that he was bringing his bride home to Thornhill.

  That everything would magically come right in the end. That life could be simple. That Mina might fall in love with Thornhill House on sight . . . fall in love with him, despite his numbness, his coldness.

  Stupid, persistent little green blade of hope, poking up through his mind, seeking sunlight and water.

  He scrubbed until his chest was streaked with red.

  A knock sounded at the door. Corbyn with his heated towels and a hot jug of sugared brandy.

  “Enter,” he called.

  Not Corbyn. Mina.

  Marching around the screen as bold as you please with her arms crossed over her chest, eyes blazing.

  He covered his genitals with a hand.

  “Oh, please,” she said tartly. “It’s not as if I’ve never seen it before.”

  “What are you doing here, Mina?”

  “You said we needed to talk.” Her hair was freshly washed and still damp, spilling over her shoulders. The skin of her neck and bosom was flushed, as if warm from her bath.

  The thought of all that warm, soft flesh began to do things to his cock. He added his other hand as covering for good measure.

  “I’m happy to have a conversation but I’d like to do it with clothing on. Corbyn will be here any second with my towel.”

  “No he won’t. I told him to take a walk. Well, I said it more politely than that, but he understood the message.” She stepped closer to the bathing tub.

  “I’d say I’m at a decided disadvantage in this interaction, wouldn’t you, Miss Penny? Can you hand me a towel?”

  “Oh. I thought maybe you were asking me to remove my clothing and join you in the tub.”

  “No,” he replied hastily.

  “During our dalliance you never once lost control. You never allowed yourself to feel anything, not really. You kept your distance even as your hands and lips tempted me to abandon all restraint.”

  She stalked closer.

  What she said was only halfway true. Ever since he’d met her she’d been hammering at the walls he’d built around his heart.

  He’d built those walls as a protection and a refuge.

  Without those walls he’d be lost in the darkness, the ground swaying beneath him.

  “You said that we needed to talk.” Her expression was fierce, her words spoken with a touch of bitterness. “In my experience, those words are always followed by restrictions. When my uncle told me that it invariably ended with him telling me that I couldn’t access certain areas of the estate, I mustn’t converse with strange gentlemen, I was never to venture past the woods. You had that same look in your eyes, Drew. The one that said you were about to restrict my freedoms. So, Your Grace, what freedoms are you about to restrict?”

  “I think you know.”

  She crossed her arms. “Say it.”

  “Very well. We can’t keep doing . . . this.” He would have waved his hand but he was currently covering his genitals.

  “This?”

  “You want a list? We can’t keep kissing, staring into each other’s eyes, making plans for the future, touching each other, watching each other undress.”

  “You forgot staring at each other’s naked bodies.”

  “Especially that.”

  “Why not?”

  “You know why not.”

  “Say it.”

  “Well, I met you at a ball where you were presumably displaying your eligibility to make a marriage match. Therefore, if I’m not to become your husband, then I’m not the one who gets to kiss you.”

  “You’re too honorable to honor a girl’s sincere request for a small adventure? Not a huge one, not the one. Just a little exploratory expedition.”

  “Mina,” he groaned. “This isn’t the direction I wanted this talk to take.”

  “I’m so tired of being told that I can’t have what I want. I can’t have adventures or freedom. We both know you’ll stop. You have this iron control that you will never breach. So let’s explore just a little bit, shall we? I’d like to test some boundaries, and there’s no one better to do that with than you.”

  She knelt down beside the tub, her gaze traveling the length of his body. “I want to explore.”

  “I thought you wanted to talk.”

  “Later. Right now I want to explore.”

  She dipped her hands into the water, testing the temperature. “Still warm. Good.”

  “Mina, I—”

  “Lean your head back,” she said, her voice soft and seductive. “And lift your arms to the sides of the tub.”

  Her hair fell across his chest in damp strands. She licked her lips and that plump lower lip glistened invitingly. He wanted to gently suck it between his teeth. Then he wanted to suck on her nipples.

  Then he’d suck on he
r . . .

  Be strong, Drew.

  “Lift your arms to the sides of the tub,” she repeated.

  That’s when he stopped fighting. Barriers be damned. He was extremely talented at building walls. He’d build new ones.

  He lifted his arms and spread them along the edges of the copper tub.

  The head of his cock popped out of the water, aiming straight for her.

  “Very good,” she whispered.

  She plunged her hand into the water and grasped his cock.

  “He’s so hard,” she said wonderingly. “He’s all mine, isn’t he?” She stroked up and down, the water easing the glide of her movements.

  “All. Yours.” Teeth gritted. Stomach clenching. Mina’s small hand wrapped around his cock was the most arousing thing he’d ever seen.

  He watched her face as she stared down, concentrating on her task, just as she’d focused on the bookshelves when she knew there was a secret room to find.

  It wouldn’t take her nearly as long to unlock him.

  He gripped the sides of the copper tub, his hips jerking.

  “I saw you touch yourself,” she said. “You like it strong and fast.”

  Her pace increased and he groaned. “Mina. That’s so good.” He lifted his head and found her lips, craving the feeling of being inside her with his tongue.

  His stomach tensed and dots danced in front of his eyelids. His orgasm crept up his thighs, and down from his belly, gathering in his bollocks.

  He’d have to let go soon.

  He lifted his hips and thrust into her hand, using the copper tub to support his weight.

  “I want to be inside you, Mina,” he growled.

  “I want that too,” she whispered. “I’m thinking about it right now.”

  He came hard, shooting his seed over her fingers, into the bathwater. Ribbons of pleasure tied in silken knots and then unfurled inside him, filling his senses and rushing his heart with warmth.