The Duke's Undoing (Three Rogues and Their Ladies) (28 page)

“Shades of the late earl, eh, Elise?”

Elise tugged at the duke’s arm, pulling him down the steps into his garden. When they were out of earshot of the viscount, she finally said, “Peter, we both have a past, although, mine is not nearly as lurid as yours. The viscount is a cad, worse than you know. But Lady Marianne is the outside of enough!”

“You are right.” He looked longingly at the stone bench they were approaching. “Nevertheless, my love, if you do not wish to have your very lovely dress ruined, I would advise against that bench. You have lit a fire in me, and I must call a retreat, or I will have you calling
me
a cad!”

She grinned and allowed him to return her to the ballroom. After enjoying a most satisfying supper of lobster patties, salmon in aspic, vegetables dressed with dill sauce, chicken wings, and tiny cherry tartlets, the duke rose from the table, and taking Elise with him, went to the lottery table. To his great satisfaction, not one sheet of vellum remained. Lady Clarice handed him his top hat, full of slips of paper containing the candidates for the prize. With the hat in one hand, and Elise’s hand over his other arm, he again ascended the dais.

This time, he did not need to clap. Everyone was agog to see who would win the thousand guinea lottery. He introduced the drawing with a short speech.

“The very first time I saw my fiancée was at her soup kitchen in the East End. She was dressed in a hideous gown with her hair pulled straight back in a knot, ladling soup into the bowls belonging to wounded soldiers. I guarantee that even in those circumstances, dressed and groomed as she was, I began to lose my heart. Having been a soldier myself, I was very moved by her desire to help the wounded of no means, and their families, to have at least one hot, nutritious meal per day.

“There is a saying, however, that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish, he can feed himself for a lifetime. With this in mind, I organized this lottery to bring to your attention these same wounded soldiers, who wish to be employed so that they may provide that hot meal for their families themselves. Thank you for your generosity in taking this service upon yourselves.

“Now, Elise, darling, would you please draw a name from this hat?”

She did so. When she read the name, her hand flew to her mouth. Looking up at him, he saw her eyes widen. She gave him the paper.

Suppressing a sigh, he read, “Viscount Chessingden.”

OUR HEROINE VISITS HER FUTURE HOME

Two weeks after the ball at Shearings, a cortege set out from Blossom House for the duke’s estate near Buxton in the Peak District of Derbyshire, where the company was to reside until the wedding in December. Lady Clarice’s well-sprung traveling carriage took the lead, carrying Elise, her aunt, and Lady Susannah, accompanied (to the duke’s evident dismay) by both Queen Elizabeth and Henry Five. The duke rode alongside the carriage on his stallion, Jupiter. Behind this carriage rode Richards, Kitty, his grace’s cook, Covey, and the servants’ luggage in the rather ancient Ruisdell equippage. Behind this was Lady Clarice’s old brougham, which carried all the luggage for the ladies and the duke. Besides himself, the duke had hired two outriders for the two-day journey.

It was a lovely, crisp October morning, but Elise was anxious. She hoped to make a good impression on Ruisdell’s formidable aunt, who lived in Ruisdell Palace and who would be living close by in the Dower House after she was married to the duke. In addition, the duke’s younger brother, Lord Roger Northcott, who managed the estate, his wife, and twin sons now made their home in the Palace. They were not likely to welcome the bride who could give birth to progeny that would not only cut them out of the succession but, more immediately, oust them into the more rundown property on the edge of the estate near Taddington. It was evident to Elise that no one had expected the roguish duke to marry, least of all said roguish duke.

She was glad of the consoling presence of her aunt, Sukey, and even the pets. “I always thought that when I married, I might have at least half a chance of finally gaining a loving family,” she said. “But I am bound to be seen as an interloper.”

“I will always be your family, love,” her aunt said. “Derbyshire is not that far from London. I daresay, with a fast post chaise and four, I could be with you in a day and a half, should you need me.”

“Well, Peter has never spent time here since his parents were alive. I cannot picture him being happy with long stays in the country. He told me that he intends to take up his seat in the House of Lords and become far more active in politics. Perhaps we will not be here for much of the year.”

“You are to be a duchess, my dear, and don’t forget it. It is not likely that you will meet with another woman in the kingdom as cruel and unfeeling as Elspeth. You can stand up to his grace’s aunt and any other relations. I imagine you can stand up to anyone.”

Elise took heart from these words. Looking out the window of the carriage, all she could see for miles was thickly forested landscape.

“To tell the truth, Aunt, I am having difficulty believing I will actually be married this time. That I will become the Duchess of Ruisdell. I have been engaged too many times to believe that something will not go wrong at the last minute. I long with all my heart to be married to Peter, but I just cannot picture it.”

“Completely understandable,” Sukey said. “No doubt you think you shall end up like me.”

“Actually, Sukey, that would not be such a bad thing, and I can picture it more easily than the idea of my being Peter’s duchess! I mean,
me
, a duchess?”

“You have not been able to spend much time with his grace since the ball. You’ve been at the modiste most days being fitted for your trousseau, as well as buying up all your linens and flitting from engagement tea to engagement tea ,” her aunt said. “I expect you are just tired.”

Towards the end of the afternoon, the duke knocked on the glass of their carriage. Rolling it down, Elise heard him say, “We’re pulling into Northampton. We’ll spend the night here.”

Elise was relieved. Perhaps she and Peter could steal some time together. Looking down at the star sapphire on her hand that was now, in actuality, her engagement ring, she longed to have his arms around her, to feel his heart beat next to her throat as she laid her head against his broad, hard chest.
How am I to last until December before I can have all of him?

When a prosperous looking inn appeared, the carriage came to a halt, and Peter helped her down. “Your Grace,” she said, twinkling up at him. “It has been a long day!”

After he had helped her companions to alight, he said, “I think you’ll like this inn. Actually there is a nice little spinney not too far away where we can walk and stretch our limbs.

“Alone?” she asked.

“Alone,” he confirmed.

Of course, no sooner were they alone and out of sight of the others than the duke stopped and took Elise into his arms. As she felt the length of him warming her, even through her Merino pelisse, he said, “You are going to love Ruisdell Palace. I am very anxious to show it to you.”

Then he commenced kissing her—first her forehead at the edge of her hairline, then her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and the corner of her mouth. He did not stop there, but unbuttoning her pelisse he kissed her neck, tickling her with his tongue, and then proceeded to kiss her collarbones, and finally her breastbone down to where it disappeared into her bodice. Arching her back, she moved sinuously against him. She was tempting him shamelessly, but she had never been able to get the picture of Marianne’s bared bosom out of her mind. Her own was not nearly so magnificent.

“Little doxy,” he whispered, his breath labored. “Why do you tempt me so?”

“Peter,” she murmured, “I need to know that you want me. That you want me as much as you wanted Marianne. As much as all the women who have gone before me.”

“Dear love, I want you more. Love adds a dimension that has never been there before. I don’t care how big your glorious breasts are, only that they are yours. They are luscious to me, as are your tiny waist, the curve of your perfect hips, and your long, long legs. You do not know what your body does to me.” His voice was close to a growl. “I have stayed away from you these last weeks as much as I could bear to. I do not want to despoil you, Elise.”

“Is it very wicked of me to want to be despoiled?”

He paused with his hand resting above her bodice, his fingers just stroking the lace that edged it.

“We must go back to the inn,” he said with a tender smile. “It is my duty to protect you from yourself and from me. Do not let me forget that I have reformed.”

Elise’s first sight of Ruisdell Palace was not to be forgotten. The carriage climbed between two peaks, bringing them to a high summit. From there she looked down to a placid lake, out of which a fountain shot at least twenty feet into the air. Behind this was the ivory stone palace. From this height, she could see its Eformation. Knowing something about architecture, Sukey said, “Look! You can see the Dutch influence in the dormer windows and the bell tower atop the main house.”

“It is very fine,” Elise said. “And big. It quite takes my breath away.”

Indoors, the servants stood in a double line to greet their prospective duchess. A red carpet had been laid in the main hall, which deprived her of all words. She gazed at the Italian fresco upon a marble cupola, held aloft by Ionic columns, crowned with a marble frieze.

Elise was feeling very small by the time she met Peter’s aunt, a formidable woman in black, whose face looked like that of a witch in a bad fairy tale. The hook of her large Roman nose was so pronounced that it nearly touched her upper lip. She had a large black mole on her cheek that transfixed Elise.

“This slip of a girl to be your duchess?” she asked with incredulity. “She has no presence.”

Peter snapped. “She has more charity in her little finger than you have in your whole body. My tenants will worship her, as I do.”

Elise, meanwhile, executed a curtsey.

Her fiancé said, “This woman is my aunt, Lady Eunice Northcott. Aunt Eunice, my fiancée, Miss Elise Edwards, her aunt, Lady Clarice Edwards, and their dear friend, Lady Susannah Braithwaite. The cat is known as Queen Elizabeth, and in that basket, Lady Susannah carries her remarkably ugly tortoise, Henry Five. Beware. He snaps.”

Lady Eunice passed right over Elise and her aunt, grasping Sukey’s free hand in hers. “Surely you must be the famous intimate of the Devonshires! Your tortoise is very welcome here.”

“I am glad to hear it,” Sukey said. “He was a gift from Devonshire, as a matter of fact.”

“Will you be visiting Chatsworth, while you are in Derbyshire?”

“I expect we all will,” Sukey said. Flashing Elise a fond look, she lied, “Elise is a particular favorite of Harry-O, you know.”

Harry-O was Lady Harriet, Devonshire’s daughter. Elise had met her only once when she came to visit the soup canteen. But she knew that Sukey had called on Lady Harriet to substitute for her when she was in Yorkshire. She stood a little taller at Sukey’s lie. Lady Eunice’s groveling behavior corrected Elise’s personal compass. She was where she belonged. Lady Eunice was the usurper. She had lived in this house that did not belong to her in any sense, making Peter’s life miserable on the times when he visited. Elise was going to make the duke blissfully happy in this cold marble palace.

Her aunt whispered, “Begin as you mean to go on.”

Raising her chin, Elise said, “We are all a little tired from our journey, Lady Eunice. “We would appreciate being taken to our rooms as soon as may be.”

Ruisdell looked down into her face and grinned.

The woman turned back to her nephew’s fiancée. “I have put you all in the central wing,” she said coolly. “I did not think it proper for me to vacate my apartment next to Peter’s until your marriage has taken place.”

“Tonight I will sleep in the guest room you have prepared,” Elise said. “But tomorrow, I will instruct the housekeeper to move you into whatever other room you like, until your departure for the Dower House. I mean to take up residence in the duchess’s suite. Peter is properly behaved and will not take advantage of the situation.”

The old woman’s eyes grew round and her face red. Elise feared she might actually have apoplexy on the spot. “Peter!” Lady Eunice turned to her nephew. “Will you let this baggage treat me thus?”

Ruisdell turned smoothly to his aunt and said, his voice hard, “You will apologize to my fiancée at once! She is not baggage; she is my beloved. You never occupied the position of duchess in this palace. Therefore, your occupation of the suite these many years has been a great imposture. You will either act in accordance with Elise’s will, or I will see that you are moved into the Dower House—which, I must remind you, you will only be occupying by virtue of my largesse. You are certainly not the dowager duchess, nor have you ever been.”

“There is something very havey cavey about this!” Lady Eunice protested. “Such a short engagement! Is Miss Edwards increasing?”

“Now you owe both of us an apology!”

The servants were all looking at one another, and communicating in low whispers. Elise hoped that they disliked this usurper as much as she did.

“I am sorry, I am sure,” Lady Eunice said with undiminished hauteur.