Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

“ O h my goodness! Your son, my Lady—quite striking, is he not?” The giggling voice of Lady Caroline Arundel was already irritating Keith.

He sighed, doing his very best not to look annoyed or exasperated that he was here at all. Clearly, he failed, for as he and his mother walked into the breakfast room, his mother elbowed him in the ribs.

He looked at her with laughing eyes, only to find her glaring at him.

It means a lot to her that I’m here. Aye, I know that.

He nodded ever so slightly, showing he would at least attempt to be on his best behavior.

“I am so glad you could meet my eldest son at last, Caroline,” his mother said. “It has been too long since I last saw you.”

“Too long, but what are years to good friends?” Lady Arundel asked as she patted Elizabeth’s arm. “Now that you are a little… freer…” She clearly chose the word with great care, shooting Keith an uneasy glance. “… I hope I shall see much more of you.”

“Indeed, you shall.” Elizabeth took her hand warmly.

Keith looked away, trying not to intrude on their moment.

He knew very well that his mother had not been free for almost her entire adult life. It was a fact that hung over him like a shadow. She was free of the worst now, but Keith wanted to set her free of worry as well. That meant putting her mind at rest about many things, including their financial situation.

He knew deep down that one of the things she cared for most in the world was the English home she had longed to return to for so many years.

Keith was familiar with the world of a rough Scottish laird, but this world of the ton was something else now that he had been made a duke.

Yet, this world of stiff collars, where men drank brandy and spoke of what they read in the newspaper every day, was not remotely interesting to Keith. He’d grown up a trained soldier and warrior, ready to defend his clan. He drank whisky, not port, and he talked about real life, not whether a lady had made a particularly fine lace hem to her gown.

“Come, come, Your Grace,” Lady Arundel said, fluffing up the loose locks of her graying her. She ushered him closer to the breakfast table, her ruddy cheeks gleaming as she smiled. “Let me introduce you to my friends here. I am sure they will soon be your friends as well.”

“Are ye really so sure?” Keith muttered.

He earned another sharp elbow from his mother, though fortunately, Lady Arundel merely took his words as some jest and giggled like a lady much younger than her years.

“Here we have Lady Alicia Newton.” She gestured to a particularly willowy young woman with bright blue eyes.

Lady Alicia put down her teacup at once and smiled ridiculously at him.

“Here is Lord Crampton, and the Earl of Newgate.”

Keith inclined his head to each gentleman in turn, painfully aware that Lord Crampton was fussing with his cravat and the Earl of Newgate was more bothered about the state of a brooch in his lapel.

I am not sure these are my sort of people.

Keith glanced away, looking for any sign of the young woman he had met the night before.

That spirited lass he’d found in the water had been plaguing his mind all night. Her brave dip in the lake was hardly what he had expected. She went against everything he had come to expect of proper ladies of the ton. Most of those women fussed about the state of their hair or their jewelry. Such thoughts had clearly been far from the mind of the lady he met last night.

“Ah, and here are the Duke and Duchess of Barlow.”

As Lady Arundel introduced a couple who walked into the room, Keith jerked his head twice to look at the Duchess.

For one mad minute, he thought the Duchess of Barlow was the lady he had seen in the water, though he quickly dismissed the thought. She didn’t have red hair, and he had been certain the lady last night had red hair, despite the darkness. He had nearly pressed his face into those tresses as he rescued her from the lake. This woman was also rather too petite to be his mysterious lady.

“Good day,” Keith said woodenly, bowing to the pair of them.

“Good day.” The Duke of Barlow sounded just as stiff, bowing too.

When he stood straight, Keith took a second glance at him, noting the way he was looking around, clearly eager for his morning coffee, for his eyes quickly landed on the nearest jug.

“Oh, look.” Lady Arundel laughed as she looked between the two men. “Don’t they both look delighted to be here?”

The way she talked about them as if they were children irked Keith all the more, but his mother laughed it off.

He caught the Duke of Barlow’s eye. From the wry expression on his face, the Duke clearly felt the same resentment.

As the Duchess of Barlow took her seat, the Duke pulled out her chair for her, using it as an opportunity to talk to Keith without Lady Arundel overhearing them.

“I wish I could say you get used to overzealous ladies in time. I’m afraid I never have.”

Keith shared an amused smile with him as the Duke of Barlow took his seat and reached for the coffee he was clearly craving.

“Whyever didn’t we meet you last night?” the Duchess of Barlow asked as she helped herself to breakfast.

“We—”

“They arrived late,” Lady Arundel said as Keith helped his mother to a chair. Clearly, Lady Arundel thought it was her place as host to speak for him. “They were held up on their journey as they came from the north. I am delighted to see my old friend again.”

She took her place at the head of the table and laid a hand affectionately over Elizabeth’s. “Well, it looks like we have a few more people to wait for before we complete our introductions. Ah, here comes one now. Lady Celia? Lady Celia, come, meet our latest arrival.”

Keith turned to face the door. He stood as still as stone as his eyes landed on the lady.

It’s her.

Just as he remembered her from last night, she stood before him, all curves, though this time she was fully clothed in a fine Pomona green gown. Unlike others in the room, who wore pastel colors, she had chosen a much bolder color. Her red hair was even brighter than he had judged it to be the night before, and now it was fastened into curls at the back of her head, though a few hung down loosely in rebellion.

“My Lady.” He bowed to her.

The moment he spoke, he saw realization dawn on her face.

To her credit, she didn’t blush, though her lips parted. For a second, she said nothing—she just stared at him as he stood straight. He took the opportunity to examine every inch of her face.

She was a truly beautiful woman, though perhaps in an unorthodox way, with rather big eyes. Her face was not as symmetrical as other ladies’, but her full lips stretched wide in a smile that was quite captivating. Her slender nose gave way to cheeks made bold by strong cheekbones.

“Good day to you, Sir.” She stepped toward him, curtseying quickly and dutifully.

He couldn’t resist. Maybe he had spoken the truth the night before when he claimed he hadn’t really seen anything when he had rescued her from the water, but he had certainly felt everything. Now, he felt a longing to touch her again.

As she came near him, he took her hand and lifted it to his lips, kissing the back of it. He didn’t miss the way she pressed her lips together at the jolt of electricity that passed between them.

She remembers the touches we shared last night.

He supposed in English society, such touches were scandalous. They had been bold, almost completely naked with one another. A wild idea came to his mind, and he imagined what it would have been like if he and Lady Celia had crossed every boundary last night.

The thought that she might have lain on that shingle with him, embracing him, her legs wrapped around his hips as he pleasured her was completely intoxicating. The thought of that voice, too, moaning his name… it hit something deep inside of him.

“A pleasure to meet you, Sir,” she added stiffly.

He slowly released her hand, watching her every movement as he did.

“I told ye,” he whispered as he walked past her, “it’s ‘Yer Grace’ to ye.”

“Oh, silly me!” Lady Arundel cried. “I forgot to introduce you properly. Lady Celia, this is Keith Lennox, the Duke of Hardbridge.”

Lady Celia recovered from the shock rather quickly. She sat down in the chair beside him. Her eyes darted to him briefly, before she looked away, as if this news did not affect her.

Is she stunned that a man as rough as me in appearance is a duke? She would not be the first. Or, is she stunned that a duke saw her so undone last night?

Either way, he enjoyed just how unsettled she had been for that brief moment. It was all the more pleasurable when they both reached for the coffee pot at the same time.

When their fingers brushed, she drew her hand back quickly. Unlike many other women who might have avoided his gaze at that moment, she looked at him challengingly.

Aye, that’s the spirit I saw in her last night.

“Lady Celia, I must speak with you now that I have you here,” Lady Arundel said with delight. “For Lady Alicia is not the only single lady I have as my guest this week.”

Lady Alicia blushed and looked down demurely at her lap, half her face hidden by a curtain of blonde curls that had fallen out from her updo.

“Other ladies will be down soon from their rest, and it seems I must ask for your help in seeing them married.” Lady Arundel thrust a finger excitedly toward Lady Celia.

“My help?” Lady Celia said with no pretense of innocence. “I think my matchmaking days are over, thank you.” She glanced at her sister, the Duchess of Barlow, who was doing her best to hide a giggle behind her cup.

“From what I hear,” Lady Arundel said around a mouthful of honeyed toast, “four ladies married dukes because of your… your…”

“Encouragement?” the Duchess of Barlow offered with a smile.

At her side, the Duke of Barlow shook his head, stifling his own laugh. “You mean, her interference,” he suggested.

“I’d think you would be happy with my interference, Your Grace.” Lady Celia sat taller in her chair. “Would you be married to my sister or have your lovely son without my interference? ”

The Duke of Barlow affected an angry look, but when his wife laid a hand on his arm, something astonishing happened. His demeanor changed completely, and he shared a smile with his wife that Keith felt rather uncomfortable witnessing.

He looked away, aware that as he fidgeted restlessly in his seat, his arm accidentally brushed against Lady Celia’s. She noticed it too, for she shuffled a little away to avoid touching him again.

“Now, tell me, are the rumors true?” Lady Arundel asked excitedly, pushing plates of food toward Keith as she spoke to Celia.

Keith had little interest in all the ostentatious food served up for breakfast, so simply helped himself to a cob.

“You arranged these four matches because of dares you gave?”

“I did.” Lady Celia nodded, sipping her coffee. “But those dares are all done now, each and every one. I have no intention of giving any others.”

The Duchess of Barlow looked rather interested in this news, staring at her sister with wide eyes, not really noticing that she was in danger of spilling her tea on the front of her dress.

“What sort of dares were these?” Lord Crampton asked from across the table, still overly concerned with the state of his cravat.

“Oh, I cannot confirm what sort of dares they were.” Lady Celia waved her hand dismissively. “I am merely content for my sister and our friends’ happiness. I’m afraid you’ll have to go about your matchmaking without any aid from me, Lady Arundel. I have hung up my cap for such a profession.”

She took a rather hefty gulp of coffee to put an end to the discussion.

Lady Arundel appeared very disappointed indeed, though she was quickly distracted as more of her guests entered the room. As she stood up and hurried to greet them, her manners as overenthusiastic as ever, Keith looked at Lady Celia.

Could it be that he had been placed next to the very woman who could get him out of a sticky situation?

He had to marry, that much was plain. Having now inherited a dukedom and a deteriorating estate, he was running out of money.

I never thought I’d marry.

He glanced at his mother, still remembering the years of misery he had seen her suffer, married to his cruel father. Witnessing such desperate sadness was the reason he had vowed never to bind himself to a woman for life.

He knew his nature. He was not an easy man. Ill-tempered, quick to judge perhaps, he would make a woman as miserable as his mother had been.

“All that has to change now.”

His mother’s words from three days ago came back to him. When they had become aware of the dire financial situation of the dukedom, their hands had been tied.

“Without a woman’s dowry, how are we supposed to restore this estate to what it should be?”

It mattered to his mother. Now that she was free from the bonds of her marriage, she wished to return to her home and make it what it had once been.

Keith glanced at Lady Celia again. Being attracted to her was a distraction, but she could still serve her purpose.

Clearly, she was aware of his look, for she glanced sideways at him.

“Ye can keep the shirt, by the way,” he whispered, for her ears only.

“I cannot.”

“I require something else in return for not letting ye drown.” He leaned toward her an inch more. “Meet me in the garden in ten minutes.”