The Heart of a Duke (42 page)

Alison clasped her hands in her lap in that
adorably shy way of hers. He’d tried to show her his feelings for
days, but either he was terrible at showing them, or she was
terrible at understanding what he was showing. Probably a little of
both. He’d considered grabbing her and kissing her more than once,
but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“
Yes, the competition does sound
fascinating.” Alison smiled, tossing her hands in the air and
letting them drop onto her lap. “But I’d much prefer an
intellectual competition. Something where a man could show his
knowledge and wit. To me, that is more important than any other
feat.”

Langley bounded over a hedge then urged his
horse faster toward a spot where two chairs had been positioned,
side-by-side.

“
It is?” Jonathan asked, trying to
decipher if she truly meant it.

She nodded, her smile soft. “Of
course.”

Her affection was palpable. The
more time he spent with her, the more he could feel her attraction
as well as he’d always felt his own, but that did not mean she
would consent to marry him if she had the chance to become a
duchess. She valued wit and intellect more than most other things,
but would she value them more than such a title? Most ordinary
women wouldn’t. Yet for all that she was, Alison was
not
an ordinary
woman.

He might just win her.

The group began applauding and Jonathan
returned his attention to the man who had apparently made his jump
successfully. Alison clapped along with the others as the stallion
returned to the stable master’s care, and Jonathan walked to the
front of the group. Langley took a seat beside Alison and she
smiled at him. With fisted hands, Jonathan moved around the table
the footmen were placing before the group. He refused to be
concerned, even with Langley leaning in to speak to Alison. He’d
chosen an experiment that meant something to him. It was the first
one he’d ever discovered, as a boy in school. It had shown him the
magic of science, and now he would share it with Alison.

Chapter Six

“
You’re a very skilled rider, Your
Grace.” Alison fought to keep her eyes from moving to Jonathan’s
back as he worked at the table, which had been moved very near to
the guests.

“
I’ve been riding most of my
life.” The Duke of Langley nodded stiffly. He’d become more
comfortable over the course of his visit, and even broken many of
the beliefs she held about him, but he still couldn’t seem to
relax. The duke pushed a hand through his hair and gazed at Vallie
and Lord Ravenswood. Their presence probably didn’t help to make
him feel comfortable.

Alison frowned and looked up toward the sun,
which had just passed the noon position, but it didn’t give her a
better response, so she said, “Yes, well, you’re very
skilled.”

Why couldn’t
she
seem to relax around the duke?
He was agreeable enough. He’d never been
entirely
cruel that she had seen.
Arrogant and entitled, certainly, but not cruel. Still, his
severity was discomforting. She always felt as though she weren’t
meeting his expectations. In truth, it wasn’t all together his
fault. She seldom relaxed around anyone she didn’t know well, and
if that person were male, it could take years. Even with Jonathan,
it had taken her two visits to feel comfortable speaking with him
at all, and she’d only been able to openly speak of her love of
science during this visit, despite the fact that he’d apparently
seen her understanding when
he
had spoken of it. Had he seen other things she’d
tried to hide—such as how desperately she’d wanted that kiss when
he had been teaching her fencing? The thought made her turn to
Jonathan, who stood behind the table now.

Papa stepped up. “And what have you chosen to
do for us?”

“
I’ve chosen a scientific
entertainment for you today.” Jonathan spoke to the crowd, but his
eyes were on her. A shiver ran through her.

“
Do you have a chill?” the duke
asked. “I can have a footman fetch you a cloak.”

Alison swallowed and shook her head. “No,
thank you. I’m warm enough.”

As a matter of fact, she was over-warm,
despite the nip to the air.

Jonathan’s gaze held hers. Suddenly it seemed
as if the rest of the group had gone, taking the world with them
and leaving only him in the center of the green grass with her. His
words were for her alone.

“
Some objects have a sort of
energy all their own, a power if you will.” He tore bits of paper
as he spoke, creating a small pile. “One might not think anything
of it in passing, yet these simple objects have the ability to
attract when in contact with the right object. With a little
patience, one can look at the world anew.”

She caught her breath and it swelled in her
chest. He’d remembered her words. She hadn’t even believed he’d
been listening.

Jonathan grasped the stick of sealing wax,
rubbing it vigorously between his palms. “One can see these amazing
items for the astounding, and far from mundane, objects they
are.”

After a moment of rubbing, he held it to the
bits of paper piled on the table. As it neared, the papers jumped
up to adhere to the stick. The crowd gasped in unison and stole her
silent moment alone with him. Along with the bright day and the
crowded garden, came an intense sense of loss.

“
Brilliantly done, my friend.”
Papa clapped Jonathan on the back, but Jonathan’s eyes didn’t leave
hers for another instant.

Then he blinked and looked away, and Alison
wondered if he felt a similar sensation.

She realized the duke was speaking to
her.

“
. . . after I broke him, I rode
him exclusively for more than a year.”

“
That is most fascinating,” Alison
said, hoping it was the correct response. “What color was
she?”

“
Midnight is a solid black
stallion.” The duke lifted an eyebrow and she fought to keep from
cringing. Apparently he must have said that already.

“
Oh.” She swallowed and glanced
back at Jonathan, who hesitated. After a moment of staring at her
and the duke, he straightened his shoulders and strode directly to
the seat on Alison’s other side. He sat and the duke stiffened
beside her. Alison swallowed as her father introduced another
lord.

She didn’t want to lean in any direction and
make the men fight. What an odd thought. She’d spent her last
season firmly against the wall. Now she had two men giving her
attention. The only trouble was, the man she could share her true
self with would never offer and the man who might offer would never
really understand her.

The real tragedy was she wouldn’t even be able
to choose between them, because by the end of the party, her father
would choose the duke and Jonathan would still be seeking his
commendations.

Jonathan stood from the breakfast table while
footmen cleared the final course.

The earl, dressed in a dark green hunting
jacket, spoke to his guests. “Now that my daughter’s birthday has
arrived, and since we are swiftly approaching the end of our party,
I felt it my duty to outdo everything that I have done before. So,
my friends, I have decided that the final day of entertainment
shall be an all day event.”

Murmurs came from around the table, but no one
was surprised. The servants had been gossiping about the plans for
the last day for nearly a week; even Jonathan had heard about
it.

As the attendants ambled outside, Jonathan
drew his paper from his pocket and glanced at the scribbled notes.
For the past few days, he’d been trying to decipher an answer, but
the more he read over his thoughts, the more they began to sound
like nonsense. A singular thing had filled more and more of his
waking hours, a singular thing with a perpetual smile, twinkling
eyes, and endearing nervous energy.

What was wrong with him? At least he knew the
answer to that particular conundrum. He’d been too distracted to
pay attention. Even skipping the morning walk to find his answer,
which had allowed Langley time alone with Alison, and yet it had
come to nothing. He still didn’t have an invention or discovery to
make him worthy of her.

He pressed a hand to his forehead. Perhaps he
should begin researching in a different vein. He could explore
magnetic power and any possible correlation it might have to
electrical energy. There had to be some way to prove himself worthy
of her, but if it took much longer, Langley might take her from him
forever.

He’d appreciated Alison’s mind, her sweet
disposition, and her ample curves since the day they had met. For
all that and more, he’d entertained the idea of marrying her for
some time now. However, until Langley began to show interest, and
Jonathan began to fear he’d lose her, his desire had never been so
immediate. Then again, he’d never had to face the prospect of
losing her before. He had to do something now, or he would lose
this fight for the one woman he could really enjoy
marrying.

He tried to focus on his half-sheet, but a
puff of some light material caught his eye, and he glanced up to
see a frowning lady coming straight toward him. Vallie, as he’d
heard Alison refer to her. But she was Countess of Ravenswood now,
if he recalled correctly. Jonathan stepped back, still holding the
paper up as he often did to avoid needless conversation.

The countess stopped in the doorway, eyeing
him with a set jaw, as if trying to decide something. Jonathan
stared at his paper, but watched her from the corner of his eye.
Something about her reminded him of Alison—some quality of
insecurity lying deep within a pool of inner strength and
determination.

As if his unspoken thoughts had reminded her
of that pool, she stuck out her chin and said, “What precisely do
you think you are doing?”

Jonathan looked around, certain there must be
someone else nearby. “I’m sorry, Lady Ravenswood, are you speaking
to me?”

“
Of course I’m speaking to you.”
She placed her hands on her hips, lifting an eyebrow. “And for
Alison’s sake, I believe you owe us both an answer.”

He blinked. “Was there a question?”

“
Yes.” She frowned. “What do you
think you’re doing? Lady Alison is outside at this very moment with
the Duke of Langley and you’re in here staring at that scrap of
paper you’ve been carrying everywhere.”

A prickle of anger heated his neck, not at
what she was saying, but at the thought of Langley with Alison. The
man was being persistent. “Oh? And why should that concern me, my
lady?”

Her mouth rounded into a gentle “o”. “Well,
you obviously care for her. I see how you look at her. And she
cares for you too. Far more than she ever could for a man like
Langley.”

His chest expanded with some unnamed
sensation. His obvious affections weren’t as nerve wracking as the
idea Alison might actually prefer him. Could he dare to believe
that their conversations over the years, and especially in the last
few days when they had become far more honest, had meant as much to
her as they had to him?

“
Listen to me. Charlotte said
their father has insisted Alison choose a husband during this party
or he will choose one for her.”

“
Why would he do that? She’s only
just turned twenty; she isn’t even in the vicinity of the shelf let
alone sitting upon it.”

“
I’m not sure why, but Alison is a
sweet lady and she deserves the best life may afford her. Still,
she wants to make her family happy, and she’s going to do whatever
it takes to do that.”

Hooding his eyes, he asked, “And marrying the
duke will make her family happy?”

“
I don’t know, nor do I care, what
will make her family happy. I care about what will make my friend
happy. If you don’t find a way past whatever it is that is holding
you back, the duke is going to steal her away, and she will be
miserable for the rest of her life.”

She would have all his vast wealth to study
her experiments. Surely that would make her happy. He imagined her
standing in some massive estate with those unusual spectacles on,
showing the duke some specimen or other and frowned. Even the
thought made him clench up and he suddenly wanted to storm to the
duke’s side and engage in some unusually physical retribution. “But
I thought the goal of every debutante was to ensnare a duke. Why
wouldn’t you want that for her?”