The Duke of Morewether’s Secret (13 page)

“Gentlemen.” The auctioneer climbed to the dais and the auction commenced.

Christian nodded his bid. Harrington immediately upped it.

“How long are you going to keep up this farce?” Christian asked his brother-in-law.

“Until I win the horse for Miss Ashbrook.” Harrington raised his hand again for the top bid.

Christian nodded to the auctioneer and the top bid went back to him. “You’re not going to win. She’s not going to win.”

“We’ll see,” Harrington waved two fingers at the auctioneer.

Damn it.
“All you’re doing at this point is raising the price of my horse.”

“Not your horse yet,” Dalton said, acting like he was being helpful.

Christian glared at Dalton and turned back to Harrington. “Why are you doing this to me?”

Harrington raised some other bidder. Christ, now he wasn’t even paying attention.
What was the bid up to anyway?

“I’m not doing anything
to you
, Morewether.” Harrington slapped him on the back like he’d made a good billiards shot or something.

“The hell you’re not.”

“I’m helping you,” Harrington told him.
What in Hades? Is he speaking in riddles now?

“What are you, the Sphinx?” Christian asked. Harrington didn’t answer. He was too busy raising his hand to up the bid again. “Put your damn hand down.”

Harrington gave him a smug smile and waggled his fingers at the auctioneer.

“I’m going to have to kill you, aren’t I?”

“You know what?” Dalton asked drawing a harassed look from Christian. “I really like Miss Ashbrook.”

“I do too,” Christian said, but it wasn’t a revelation or anything. He’d long known he liked her. “What does that have to do with anything?” Christian raised the bid with a fierce nod of his head.

“I think you do like her. A lot,” Dalton continued. “What do you like best about her?”

“Are you insane? I’m in a fight to the death here,” Christian yelled at his friend drawing curious looks from bystanders. He signaled to the auctioneer again.

“Humor me for a minute,” Dalton suggested. “What do you like best about her?”

Christian didn’t even need to devote his whole brain to the question. “She’s beautiful.”

“Indeed.”

“She’s absurdly smart. She adores horses.” Christian summoned a picture of the lady in question. “My family and friends love her.”

“Yes,” Dalton agreed. “Anything else?”

Christian closed his eyes for a second. He loved how she kept him on his toes. He loved how she kissed. He loved how she didn’t take any of his nonsense. He even loved how she made him feel slightly off center — something he’d never, ever experienced before.

He loved best how she made him want to be better, smarter, more.

“Pay attention, Morewether, I’m winning.” Harrington snapped him out of his revelry.

“Signal a bid,” Dalton urged and Christian blindly obeyed. “Do you like her a lot?”

Christian blinked at Dalton for what seemed an eternity. Finally he nodded.

“Bid again,” Dalton told him and he did so without thinking. “There is only one way I can see you coming out ahead here.”

“How?”

“You need to realize how much you like her, or if there’s more,” Dalton said with emphasis, “give her the horse, and you’ll come out with the bigger prize.”

Give her the horse? Christian closed his eyes again and Thea appeared before him, strong and beautiful. He imagined her response if he gave her Alberton Star. Merely imagining the scenario made him happy. He thought he understood.

Give her the horse.

Christian turned to Harrington. “I’ll give her the horse.”

“Superb. I can’t wait to tell her she won,” Harrington said, and raised the bid again.

“No,” Christian told him. “I want to give her the horse. Let me win, and I’ll give him to her.” Harrington narrowed his eyes at him. “I’ll give him to her,” he promised.

Harrington looked to Dalton who apparently gave his approval. “It worked.”

What worked? Had he just been tricked into something?

“You promise?” Harrington asked like they hadn’t been best friends since they were children.

“I give you my word.” Christian nodded to the auctioneer and won the bid, again.

“Going once,” the auctioneer announced. Harrington looked at him long and hard.

“I swear,” Christian said again.

“He will,” Dalton told Harrington with a nod.

“Going twice.”

Harrington tossed up his hands. “All right. We’re out.”

“Sold,” the auctioneer announced, “To the Duke of Morewether.”

Christian exhaled a long breath.
Thank God. I think.

Harrington shook Christian’s hand and gave a hearty laugh. “I’m glad it’s not my purse.”

Wait, how much did this horse just cost?

Chapter Twelve

Christian had given his lovers many presents over the years. There were the I Had A Lovely Time Knocking You Last Weekend presents and the Now You’re Bothering Me, Goodbye necklaces and I’m Sorry I Made You Angry, But I’m Not Bored With You Yet bracelets and the Yes, But I Like Your Cousin Better ear bobs.

He couldn’t recall any of the previous gifts giving him stomach cramps before. He thought he’d understood what Harrington and Dalton had been trying for, but this was untried territory for him.

Was the infamous lover finally in love?

It seemed more likely he was getting hives.

Alberton Star clopped along beside him down St. James.

“She better really, really love you,” Christian told the horse whose only response was to toss his head and snort. “I’m not jesting. You’d better charm her and look very handsome.”

This got him a brown equine gaze and a long slow blink Christian translated as,
Don’t worry, I’ve got everything under control.

“God, I hope you do.”

Her townhouse loomed in front of him, rising from the street as a brick and mortar torture device. Christian exhaled a deep breath in a steady whoosh.

He climbed the several steps to her front door, extending both arms to their full length — one holding Alberton Star’s tether and the other to lift the knocker on the great oak door. The footman appeared almost instantly.

“Is your mistress at home?” The footman nodded in the affirmative and made quite a show of not acknowledging the stallion who bit a chunk out of the manicured hedge. “Tell her the Duke of Morewether is here.”

Christian concentrated on breathing until the door swung open once again, and he was robbed of his breath by the beautiful smile that lit Thea’s face.

“I was expecting Lord Harrington,” she told him as she hopped down the steps.

“I’m much better looking than my brother-in-law.”

Thea raised her eyebrows. “The horse certainly is.”

“I won him,” he told her and waited for her reaction. She didn’t reveal much, just a twitch of a scowl and the beginnings of a frown which spoiled the earlier smile.

“Well, you must know how disappointed I am,” she confessed. Her hands fluttered at her sides as if she wanted to touch the horse but thought better of it. “I’d expected Harrington to take me at my word that I had no spending limit.”

“Oh, he did.” Christian thought about the bank draft he’d have to sign later and inwardly groaned. “I had to convince him of my good intentions before he gave up.”

Thea’s jaw dropped. “He gave up? That leaves me quite perturbed.”

“You shouldn’t. I’m quite certain he and Dalton worked together to drive the price up to torture me.”

Thea crossed her arms over her chest and appeared no less irritated. “So you came here to gloat, then.”

“No,” Christian extended his hand to her. She stared at it for a heartbeat before she grudgingly gave him her hand. He tugged her closer. “I am not here to gloat. I’m here for introductions.”

Thea more deeply furrowed her brow. Even a wrinkled forehead was adorable on her. Christian did realize how nauseating that thought was, but he didn’t care.

“Miss Althea Ashbrook, may I present Alberton Star.” He handed her the tether.

“You’ve bought yourself a gorgeous stud horse, Christian.” She finally stroked the horse’s nose and sighed. Alberton Star clearly understood the plan because he leaned into her hand and snuffled.

“He’s my gift to you.”

Thea’s eyes flew to meet his gaze. “What?”

“He’s yours.”

“Why would you do that?” She looked back to the horse, her gaze softening as she rubbed his velvet nose.

“I’m still working on that,” he confessed. Their conversation had lowered to intimate tones now that Christian had closed the gap between them. The sleeve of his jacket brushed against her arm and the hem of her skirt touched his boot. No one passing on the walk would have heard their conversation. “I wanted to get you a present.”

“He’s so … so … I can’t accept him,” she said on a wistful sigh.

“Of course you can and you will. You are Althea the Greek. You don’t participate in any of London’s rules unless they suit you.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

She clucked her tongue at him. “That’s not true.”

“Of course it is, but London seems to adore you anyway.”

“When do I do this flouting?”

“You don’t take a chaperone with you even when you’re out with me. You refuse to dance at balls — rightly so. You argue archeology in front of a room full of learned gentlemen — and you’re correct. You collect obscene pottery, for God’s sake.”

Thea laughed. “It’s not. Those urns are important pieces of Greek history.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he told her with a grin, “and I’m certainly not going to argue with you about it.”

“If I did take him …”

“
When
you take him,” Christian amended.

“I really want him,” she confessed in a whisper. Alberton Star sealed the deal by resting his horsey head on her opposite shoulder in some sort of equine embrace. Thea closed her eyes and leaned into the horse for a second, then opened them and rewarded Christian with a smile that bypassed his groin and drove straight to his heart.

Christian pulled on the tether, heading towards her front door. “Capital. Let’s take him inside, shall we. That way you can thank me properly.”

“Christian,” she said his name with a laugh. “Do not take that horse inside my house.”

“Oh, right. Where do you intend to keep him, then?” Christian cast a glance about the exterior of her townhouse. “I guess we could tie him up here on the railing. No one would filch him, right?”

She quirked a knowing eyebrow. “I have a feeling you already have a plan.”

“Oh, dear, you have me. I do have a plan. Go put on your habit. I’ll wait for you here.”

A breathless fifteen minutes later, she ran back down the stairs. Thea held onto the horse’s lead on the walk to Christian’s stable where they saddled up and Christian led them on a ride out of London.

For the first time since Christian had met Althea, he was confident, sure of himself. So far, things were going exactly like his friends had told him they would.

Now for the culmination of the plan.

Thea was trying her absolute best not to let the feeling of giddiness get out of control, but it was difficult. Alberton Star trotted underneath her, his muscles bunching with restrained power. Christian rode his stallion beside her on the quiet country road looking more handsome than any man had a right to. Their conversation was comfortable, and they laughed often on the way to his horse farm where she would board her new mount. She didn’t know when she’d been happier.

It was astounding, really, that she had come to care for this man. Her first impression had been so wrong. He was not a cad. His family and friends
were
the most important people in his life. He was responsible and caring and thoughtful … And, she was beginning to think he cared for her.

Up to today, she’d been concerned only her sensibilities were at risk. As often as she’d insisted she wasn’t in England to find a husband that tired line was beginning to make a fool of her. She found herself more and more often drifting away into daydreams, and Christian was in every single one of them. She tried to deal with him and her changing impressions in every way she could imagine. She’d snubbed him, she’d insulted him, and she’d even given in and tried unsuccessfully to seduce him thinking that would get him out of her system. All to no good end. When she’d thought she was finally free, when he’d insulted her and proven his true mettle, he’d ruined everything by apologizing with utmost humility, giving her one of the most exciting days since she’d come to England, and now he’d given her the perfect gift.

And Zeus help her, she’d accepted the horse. Even though it was wrong, she’d taken that gift, and thereby responsibility for whatever debauched thing he thought of for repayment. The thing was, though, she didn’t think he had nefarious plans when he conceived of his present. He still seemed genuinely pleased at her delight in Alberton Star.

She leaned forward and patted the horse’s thick, muscular neck and ran her fingers through his mane. They were alone on the final stretch of country lane before reaching his estate having turned off from the main thoroughfare from the village some minutes before. Woods stretched out on the left, a pasture of grazing mares on the right. The only thing missing that would make the scene perfect was a beach with endless azure water stretching out before her. Thea shifted her gaze to the man riding next to her and couldn’t help admiring his masculine beauty as much as she had the countryside and the animal beneath her.

Then something very, very bad happened. Christian reached his hand across the distance between their two mounts and took her hand. And that was the moment, the minute, the very second, when Althea realized she loved him.

Oh, there’s trouble now.

“Do you really like him?” Christian asked, rather stupidly Thea thought, after several minutes of peaceful, romantic hand-holding on his part and panic and nausea on hers.

“Not really,” she said, “I would have preferred a new horse. This one’s been used.”

Christian chuckled. “Sorry. That was rather inane, wasn’t it?”