Читать книгу A Duke In Need Of A Wife - Энни Берроуз, ANNIE BURROWS - Страница 13

Oliver clenched his teeth, went down the steps, across the pavement and climbed back into the driver’s seat.

Dammit, the girl had done it again. Diverted him from his original plan. He’d known exactly what he’d wanted to say while tooling her round the lanes and along the seafront this afternoon. It shouldn’t have taken more than ten minutes. But somehow the time had slipped through his fingers like water and before he knew it he was drawing up outside her lodgings having barely touched on any of the items on his agenda. An agenda which he’d drawn up, he reflected as he flicked the whip to set his horses in motion, as a means of passing the time profitably during an outing he’d never meant to take in the first place.

He reached the end of Theakstone Crescent and turned left to take the road up the hill away from the bay, eyeing the neat rows of lodging houses with mixed feelings. Normally he felt a good deal of family pride at the visible proof of the way his grandfather had transformed the fortunes of the people living in what had merely been a mean little fishing village by developing Burslem Bay into a seaside resort. But today, there was also an undercurrent of disquiet. If his grandfather hadn’t wanted more for his guests to do at his nearby hunting box, when there was nothing left on the moors to shoot, Oliver might never have met Miss Underwood. She didn’t mix in the same social circles, even if her grandfather was an earl.

Which was probably why she had no idea how to behave, when presented to a duke. No other female would have handed him a dog, as though he was a mere footman. Or prattled on about the first thing that came into her head as though he was just anybody.

Although, to be fair, she had apologised once or twice when she felt she’d crossed a line. She appeared to know that she ought not to be so familiar with him, but simply couldn’t help herself.

He thought about that for several hundred yards.

And then recalled the slightly anxious way Miss Underwood had glanced up at the front window, as if she could sense somebody watching her.

His brows drew down as he went back further still, to the aunt’s reaction to his decree Miss Underwood was to go out driving with him, alone but for a groom. He’d been too annoyed when he’d deposited her on her front step to notice it, but now that he was going over the scene again, he could see that she’d been bracing herself for a scold.

He supposed he should have gone in with Miss Underwood, and... He drew in a sharp breath. Wasted even more of his afternoon on her behalf? No, it was as well he hadn’t felt the urge to shield her at the time.

It was bad enough that she made him act out of character as far as she had done. He held to that opinion until he was clear of the town. But once he’d reached the open moorland which surrounded Burslem House and there was no traffic upon which to focus his mind, he slowed his horses to a sedate trot, to give himself more time to work out what, precisely, it was about Miss Underwood that made him act so unlike himself, every single time they met.

It wasn’t as if she exerted herself, especially, as far as he could tell. She didn’t pout, or preen, or simper, or flutter her eyelashes at him, like the eligible debutantes with whom he’d been mingling during the Season. She didn’t hang on his every word, but spoke to him in a frank and open manner that was...actually, it was rather refreshing, in a way, to come across a female who didn’t appear to have any idea how to flirt.

Or no wish to flirt, as far as he could tell.

Or at least, not with him.

Her mind clearly kept wandering far from him. He’d almost been able to see the thoughts flitting across her face.

And he hadn’t liked it. Any other woman would have been hanging on to his every word. Making the most of the situation to...to sink her claws into him. Because every other female of his acquaintance knew he was on the hunt for a bride this Season.

Her slight air of distraction, of being untouchable, had made him want to do something to make her take notice of him. That was why he’d invited her to drive out with him again, he saw now. He wasn’t falling under some sort of subtle female spell. She’d simply roused a very basic male urge to hunt, to conquer, that was all it was.

His mouth relaxed from its grim line as he drove through the stone pillars marking the start of the drive up to Burslem House. Because he’d finally understood why he’d invited her to drive out with him again. He wasn’t going soft. On the contrary, her apparent lack of interest had piqued him; she seemed so unattainable that he was rising to the challenge she represented.

By the time he pulled the curricle to a halt before the front steps, he was no longer frowning. Because he’d formulated a plan.

His groom jumped down and went to take the horses’ heads. His butler opened the door before he’d reached the top step. His head footman took his hat, coat and gloves, and then an under-footman opened the door to his study where a third, more junior servant was engaged in pouring him out a tankard of fresh ale. Perceval, who’d been sitting at his own desk, working through a pile of correspondence, got to his feet, ready to attend him.

Oliver took a pull of his ale and let out a sigh as his life resumed its orderly pattern, with everyone knowing their duties and performing them like clockwork.

Except...

He put down his tankard. ‘I have been having some thoughts about the house party we are to hold at Theakstone Court next week.’

Perceval blinked.

Oliver turned and walked round his desk. He didn’t like the reminder that normally, at this point, he would have been asking his secretary if there were any urgent matters that had cropped up while he was out that needed attending to before they got down to the vast amount of estate matters to which he devoted this hour of the afternoon.

He sat down, steepled his fingers under his chin and leaned back in his chair. Now that he’d decided to take a bride, he’d worked out that the most obvious way to determine which of this Season’s crop of debutantes would best fit the role would be to invite a select few to his principal seat. During the week they would stay there, he would be able to observe them more closely than he’d been able to do in town.

Because, on the face of it, there was little to choose between the handful of the most eligible, in the eyes of society. They were all well born, with perfect society manners and the usual feminine accomplishments. Which was just the trouble. He had no idea what lay behind the façade of good manners...if anything at all. At times he suspected they might all be just empty shells.

At least Miss Underwood was transparent. She said whatever popped into her head without thinking. Even when she was thinking, he could practically see her thoughts flitting across that expressive little face. Some people, he reflected, might describe her as a breath of fresh air.

‘I wish you to add another family to the guest list.’

‘At this late date?’

Oliver raised one eyebrow in affront.

‘The staff at Theakstone Court are well able to make the necessary arrangements in time. Or they should be,’ he concluded repressively.

‘Your Grace has possibly not taken into consideration the time required to contact the family in question, as well as awaiting a response from them before notifying Mrs Manderville,’ said Perceval apologetically.

‘Are you implying that anyone would be likely to turn down an invitation to spend a week at Theakstone Court?’ Most people would give their right arm to receive such an honour. ‘Especially not once I inform them of what is at stake.’

‘Then you would wish me to send the invitations to the, ah, fortunate young lady and her family at the same time as I notify Mrs Manderville to make rooms ready for her family’s arrival?’

‘That would be the most efficient course to take,’ said Oliver, wondering why his secretary had not thought of that in the first place.

‘And the, ah, young lady in question?’ Perceval went to his desk and dipped his pen in his inkwell.

‘Miss Underwood. She is eligible,’ he added, when Perceval’s pen hovered in mid-air for long enough to let a drop of ink splash on to the blotter. ‘As you yourself pointed out, she is the niece to the present Earl of Tadcaster as well as being the granddaughter of the former holder of that title.’ And more to his taste, physically, than any of the other, better-born young ladies he’d considered taking as his Duchess. She might have many flaws, but at least he wouldn’t find it a chore to produce the necessary heir, were she to become the bride in his bed.

Nor was she likely to bore him, the way the other candidates for the position already did.

What was more, he’d already discovered that she had a compassionate nature. True, all the other girls on his list had a reputation for being caring, but he hadn’t actually seen any of them rushing to the aid of an injured woman of the lower classes. Nor had they any idea what it was like to be torn from the only family they’d known and sent to live among strangers. Which would mean she would know exactly how his own little daughter felt. The daughter whose existence he’d only recently discovered.

In fact, he couldn’t imagine why he’d only just decided to consider Miss Underwood as a potential bride. The others might fill the role of Duchess more smoothly, but she was exactly the kind of woman he’d hoped to find to become a mother for Livvy.

Yes, no matter what the rest of the ton might think of his choice, in many ways she was exactly what he was looking for.