Accidentally Compromising the Duke (15 page)

He nodded sharply and walked away with the painting. She composed herself and then faced the girls. “My goodness, you girls certainly did your sums in a quick fashion. I have not yet taken my morning stroll, would you care to join me?”

“Stroll?” Rosa asked with a frown.

Adel nodded. “I feel a need for fresh air and exercise before I start my day. I normally took very long walks back home in Somerset. Today is glorious, and we must take advantage.”

Both girls smiled back cautiously.

“We have history lessons in a few minutes. We must return to the schoolroom,” Rosa said, yearning on her face.

“Well…I am sure Mr. Davenport would not mind if I took over this lesson.”

Their faces brightened and right away she knew she made the right decision.

“Come along.”

Her heart squeezed when they scampered to hold one of her hands each. As she near the door, their staid butler Mr. Jenkins held it open.

“Please inform Mrs. Fields we would like a picnic basket prepared quickly and delivered to us on the lawn,” Adel said to him.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

They exited and soon they were walking across the lawn, inhaling the cold crisp air into their lungs.

“We are never outside this early.”

“Surely not.” It was already past two in the afternoon. Adel would have taken her walk much earlier if she’d not overslept and then conferred with the dowager duchess.

“After breaking our fast, we will go to the school room,” Rosa said. “We come outside after all our lessons, but we do not take
long
walks.”

“Well we shall certainly fix that, won’t we?”

Sarah’s eyes rounded, and she nodded eagerly. It felt natural as they strolled along the vast expanse of the estate to simply chatter and laugh, as if she had been in their lives for weeks instead of a couple of days.

They came upon a pond with several stone benches and they sat.

“Our mamma is in heaven,” Sarah suddenly whispered.

Adel smiled gently. “So is mine.”

They gasped.

“Do you think they are friends?”

“Most certainly.”

Sarah’s faced scrunched. “Grandma said heaven is not real, but Mamma is certainly at peace,” she parroted.

Two footmen arrived with blankets and a basket. They laid them nearby and set out the food, before melting away. Adel and the girls wasted no time tumbling onto the blankets.

“I do not think we can stay with you for luncheon…Mr. Davenport expects us back before three.”

Adel winked. “I am sure Mr. Davenport will understand if I take today to learn my new daughters.”

Sarah and Rosa fairly glowed, and it finally sank in how starved they had been for attention. How was this possible with the dowager duchess still living at Rosette Park?

After biting into an apple, Adel spoke, “Not everyone believes there is a heaven, but I am certain of it.”

“Have you been there?” Rosa asked, munching on grapes.

“No, but just because I have not, does not mean it is nonexistent. I choose to believe my mamma is there…happy, laughing as we speak and making friends with your mamma.”

Relief filled Sarah’s expression and she nodded.

“What was your mamma like?” Rosa asked almost shyly. “My mamma loved to sing and play the pianoforte.”

Adel stretched her legs out, and propped her weight on her elbows. “Those are such wonderful skills. My mother was very unconventional and when she sung, our dogs barked in protest.”

The girls giggled and Adel grinned. “And Mamma sang every morning, with the most atrocious accent.”

“Was she French?” Rosalie whispered.

Adel winked. “American.”

The girls’ eyes widened and they glanced at her consideringly.

“Mrs. Galloway told us the Americans are savages.”

Adel frowned. “And pray tell who is Mrs. Galloway?”

“Our governess. Father fired her when she smacked Sarah,” Rosa said.

“We put frogs in her bed…and she smacked us,” Sarah said giggling.

Adel was happy to see they were not scarred from the experience. “And why would you girls do such a ghastly thing?”

“We did not like her,” they said together.

“She was very mean,” Sarah said, her lower lip trembling.

“Come here, my darling,” Adel said, then “
oomped
” at the force Sarah flung herself into her lap.

“Today is not a day for bad memories. We are going to eat, have some lessons, and have fun.”

Rosa shifted closer to Adel’s side, but did not hug her.

“Now the first lesson…let me tell you of the red Indians and…dare I say it? They are called savages by some.”

They gasped and Adel settled into what would be a glorious afternoon.

Chapter Fifteen

Edmond strode toward the wide pond at the eastern side of Rosette Park, Maximus at his heels as usual. The night wrapped around Edmond in a cool caress, a welcome respite from the sweltering heat earlier. Dinner had passed in a blur, with minimal conversation between him and Adeline.

Amusement wafted through him. She had spent a good portion of it glaring at him, and it was not that he willingly ignored her, he was just too tempted to partake in all she had to offer. Her smiles, her wit and conversations, and the kisses she was hell bent on tempting him toward.

Vexing woman.

He’d been content to allow her and his mother to lead the evening, but had excused himself from joining them in the parlor for reading. That had been over an hour ago. He’d spent the time visiting his girls in their bedchamber and had read to them before kissing them goodnight.

Maximus’s heavy body bounced him, and Edmond ran his hand through his thick coat. After a few minutes he reached the cypress tree overlooking the pond and sat on the stone bench, Maximus sprawling at his feet.

There was a rustle of sound and he twisted and spied his duchess walking down the grassy knoll from the opposite direction. He frowned, not sure if he hadn’t somehow conjured her. What was she about? Edmond observed in fascination as she ran down the embankment and halted at the water’s edge. She tipped her head to the night sky, and a smile curved her lips.

His skin prickled in response to her presence. He fleetingly wondered if he were to bed her and get the deed over with, would he be so aware of her. She started to strip. He slammed his eyes shut and opened once more and his duchess was still removing the pale high waist yellow gown she had worn to dinner. It pooled at her feet in a whispering sigh. A few seconds later she stood in her white chemise, the gentle blowing breeze conforming the material to her body. Rounded hips and buttock, high pointed breasts, and well-curved thighs were revealed in stark silhouette.

Christ
.

She dipped a toe into the water, and with a soft yelp retreated. Then she grinned, backed up, and launched toward the water. Edmond watched in stunned disbelief as she jumped into the lake. Despite it being summer, the water would be cold, and larks like this he would expect of himself in his younger days, or from his brother Jackson, not from a young lady.

Seconds later she surfaced and a shout of laughter escaped her, throaty yet incredibly feminine. He stepped forward, and she spun in the water with sleek grace toward the sound, an expression of shock settling on her lovely features.

She peered into the dark toward the cypress tree. “Is someone there?”

A quiet wistfulness filled Edmond. He didn’t want to frighten her away…he wanted her to stay. Instead of fighting the desire, he stepped closer. Then the dratted dog lurched forward and bounded to her.

Her eyes widened, but she swam toward the embankment and hauled herself from the pond. His cock jumped and hardened at the sight of such beguiling sensuality. The punch of desire made Edmond lightheaded, and he bloody stumbled. The wet chemise pasted to her form left little to his imagination. From where he stood, he fancied he could see the dark duskiness of her nipples that stabbed against the wet material, and the dark curls at the apex of her thighs. Her skin glowed like smooth ivory under the moonlight, her raven hair a rousing contrast.

Bloody hell, he couldn’t tear his eyes from her.

Her elegant fingers stroked Maximus’ fur, and his great brute of a dog, fairly melted in a puddle at her feet. Her laughter, husky and lyrical floated on their air. “You are just a big puppy, aren’t you?” she crooned.

Edmond scowled. She was turning his dog into…into… He snapped his teeth together when the word eluded. But he did envy his damn dog its position.

“Where is your master?”

As if he understood, Maximus’s head lolled toward Edmond’s direction and a great
woof
rumbled from the beast. She lifted her head and peered toward the shadows of the cypress trees.

“Are you there, Edmond?”

“Yes,” he said, after an awkward silence and moved from the shadows, sauntering toward her.

Her face lit with a smile of welcome. She shivered. “This is one of my more ill-advised ideas. It did not occur to me to bring a coat or blankets. I simply saw the brightness of the moon, and admired how the light shimmered on the surface of the pond and followed the impulse,” she ended, with a charming chuckle.

He stepped forward, shrugged from his coat, and held it out to her.

She smiled uncertainly. “It will be soaked.”

“It does not signify.”

She was staring at him with a frown creasing her delicate brows. “I am happy to return inside. I believe I may have intruded on you here.”

“Please do not leave on my account, the lake is large enough.”

“Thank you.” She took the proffered coat and hurriedly bundled herself into it.

“Oh, the warmth is wonderful.” She dealt him a considering glance. “Are you chilled?”

“The air is tolerable.”

Then silence. Her presence was strangely soothing, and he realized it was her quality of stillness. She was simply gazing about, appreciating the land under the banner of moonlight. He grimaced. Maryann would have been chattering nonstop, and he would have listened to tales of their neighbors and latest fashion with an indulgent ear.

“Maximus is a beautiful dog.”

What was he to say to that? Edmond grunted noncommittally.

“Has he any siblings?”

Edmond blinked. “Who?”

“Maximus.”

“No, I found him.”

She stirred and faced him, looking dwarfed and ridiculously appealing in his coat. “Where?”

He sighed, she was determined to draw him into conversation, and he found he wanted…hell, he wanted to converse. Sometimes it was damned lonely to always be in his own head. “There was a storm a few years ago, and the bridge in the village collapsed with a few carriages. I was there helping to rescue people from the waters when I spied him drifting past on a fallen log. I took him home with me. He was a pup then.”

She smiled. “It is hard to imagine such a great brute to be a pup. He is so wonderful I am amazed no one claimed him.”

“He was starved and flea ridden. I doubted anyone would have come.”

She stuffed her hand in the pocket of his coat, and with a frown withdrew his flask.

“Ah, liquid courage,” she said wryly.

“It is whiskey.”

She rolled the word on her tongue. “That night at the Gladstone’s I was so nervous I drank three full glasses of sherry.”

He remembered the sweet tartness on her tongue. Suddenly he was intensely curious about her. “What possessed you to act with such boldness?”

She gave him a considering glance, then a wide smile appeared on her lips. “I think someone is curious about me.”

He blinked.

She unscrewed the flask and took a swallow, then spluttered and coughed until her eyes watered. “Damnation!”

Edmond couldn’t help but smile at the loud unladylike curse. “No one told you to drink it.”

“I thought it would have warmed me like the sherry.” She grinned. “And it did.”

Then she held out the flask to him as if they were drinking companions. The night was taking on a surreal feel. Yet he gripped it, and took a swallow, welcoming the warmth that settled in his stomach and spread through his veins.

“The Earl of Vale kissed me when I did not want him to,” she said abruptly. “It was a soiree at his house in Hertfordshire, held by his sister. Lady Margaret insisted we all attend, and Lord Vale startled me in the gardens and tore my dress, and left bruises on my arms and lips.”

The cold rage that stirred in Edmond’s gut startled him. He shifted through everything he knew of the man, and made the resolve then that Vale would understand the error he’d made in touching his duchess. It hardly mattered Edmond had not known her then.

“He of course offered for me, and instead of Papa saying no, they thought his offer would restore my honor.” She scoffed. “
My honor
…when he had been the one to act in such a frightful and disgusting manner. I knew I could never marry such a man, and Mr. Atwood had offered for me several times. I simply thought being in his room would force Papa to see sense. I never expected to end up in your bed,” she said with a delighted smile.

Why she seemed so pleased he had no idea, for her folly took her from a man she had affections for.

He grunted noncommittally, but resolved in his heart that Lord Vale would be made to see the error of his debauched behavior toward Adeline. Edmond held the flask back to her and she pursed her lips.

“I already tasted it once, and I am sure you were appalled at my unladylike manner.”

“I do not believe taking a few sips of whiskey to be only a gentleman pursuit.”

Her mouth stretched and he was unwillingly fascinated by that crooked smile.

“How enlightened. I daresay I thought I would have been upbraided.”

“I was never one to fall in line with society’s expectation.”

“Very unusual, I thought all dukes were staid.”

“I don’t give a damn what’s proper,” he clipped.

She grinned and grabbed the flask, taking another swig of the whiskey and then shuddering at its potency. “The stars are beautiful,” she said on a sigh. “Do you know that many people simply never tilt their head back and marvel at the wonders of the universe? I’ve had three seasons and on some occasion manage to ask several ladies and gentlemen their opinion. They were very affronted I was not speaking on the latest
on-dit
. In fact, I think they found me odd.”