Callie Hutton (11 page)

“And if I did?”

“Then how is it you came to
fall
from your horse?”

Merry’s jaw muscles worked. The nerve of this woman! “Not that it’s any of your
concern
, but my horse unexpectedly reared and threw me.”

“Right into His Grace’s arms?”

Stunned into speechless
ness
, Merry
didn’t move a muscle as the governess
hissed.

“You can forget what you’re thinking. The
D
uke
of Penrose will never stoop so low as to marry a
foreigner
. And from America, no less.” She paced in front of the bed
, slapping her fist into her hand
. “If he were to select a wife
not a member of the
haut ton,
he would
surely
cho
o
se me. I’m English. My father was a member of the gentry.”

Recovering her voice, Merry said, “How
exceedingly
pleasant
for you.”

“Don’t condescend to me. I see the way you look at His Grace, and he may be attracted to you
. But be assured, a
quick tumble in his bed is all he is interested in.”

“
Please leave me
.”

“I will. As soon as I finish.” She came to stand directly over Merry, her face in a
vicious
snarl. “You may have cajoled Her Grace into hiring you as a companion
so you don’t have to leave
, but you’ll never get your hands on her son. He is a
duke
, and you are a nobody.”

“Thank you for your kind words. Now
I wish to be left
in peace.”

Miss Jennings patted her hair, and tugged on the
sleeves
of her
gown
. Turning on her heel, she headed to the door. She
gripped
the door
latch
and viewed Merry over her shoulder. “Just remember what I said. If anyone
in this house
is to be the
next
Duchess of Penrose, it will be me.”

Merry blew out the breath she held. Miss Jennings was more than welcome to the
duke
. His arrogance was something she would never put up with.

Then she touched her lips with her fingertips
.
R
emembering…

Chapter Seven

Penrose blew on his hands,
bitingly
cold
,
even though he wore gloves. He glanced out the window at the darkening sky. Definitely snow in the air.

The crested c
oach
stopped in front of the
Hall
, and
the butler
had the front door open before Penrose alighted from the conveyance. He gathered up his satchel, full of papers he’d acquired on his five day trip to Lord Smithfield’s estate. Twice a year he and Lords Smithfield and Eastlake
met
at one of their homes to discuss bills they wished to sponsor in
the Lords
, and
to
compare notes on
estate matters
.

When the
duke
dom
had been
unexpectedly thrust
upon
him at a young age, the
men who had been his father’s peers
provided a steady hand in
the old
duke
’s
place.
After years of running his own estate, Penrose now made as many helpful suggestions as the others.

As he strode to the front door, his thoughts, as
had
many times during his time away, drifted to
ward
Merry. He chuckled when he remembered
the morning he’d left, and
how enraged she’d become when he
’d
sent word that she had his permission to leave her bed
after her injury. She’d
tore down the stairs and
let him know she had every intention of being up and about and certainly did not need his permission
to do so
.
With all that fire and wrath, he wanted nothing more than to drag her to him and conquer her mouth
as
he w
ished
to
do to
her body.
 

“Good afternoon, Your Grace.
” His butler, Jones, bowed. “It l
ooks like we’re in for
a bit of
nasty weather.”
He
helped Penrose off with his greatcoat.

“Yes it does. Where is my mother?”
The woman he really wanted to see would most likely be with her.

“I believe she and Miss Chambers are working in the dining room.”

Already
an
air of festivity surrounded him. Girls from the village
,
who only came during the holidays to help out
,
were busy
decorating the Hall. Someone had gathered greens, and th
eir scent brought him to where his mother and Merry
−
sitting on the floor
−
chatted and laughed.

“Penrose, you’re home!” Mother rose from her chair alon
gside Merry and embraced him. He
returned her hug
, glancing over her shoulder at the vixen sitting in a most unladylike manner on the floor. His eyebrows rose
.

Merry regarded him, a slight smile on her lips. Her slender fingers brushed back the wisps of
blond
hair that had fallen on her forehead.
A
smudge of
dirt
dusted
her cheek, and
she
wore an old
gown
with a soiled
apron over it. She never looked more beautiful to him. His groin tightened, and once again
the sight of her p
itched
him
into the whirlwind of
emotions brought on by Miss Merry
Chambers.
   

“Miss Chambers.” He released his mother and nodded in Merry’s direction.

“Your Grace.” She moved to rise, and he extended his hand to help her. Despite his cool and logical mind, the jolt he felt
was
real. Merry jerked her hand back as if she felt it, too.

Penrose’s gaze roamed the
women’s work
area. Stacks of linens sat alongside plates, cups, saucers and chests of silver. He directed his attention to his mother. “What are you doing?  It looks to me like you’re preparing for a feast.”

The dowager smiled brightly. “Exactly, my dear. Since you’ve been gone, Miss Chambers and I have been busy getting ready for the Christmas Eve ball. And the rest of the holidays, of course.” She took h
im
by the arm and
headed
toward the doorway. “Perhaps we could all use a respite. I’ll send for refreshments.”

He turned. “Will you join us, Miss Chambers?”

“Yes, thank you, Your Grace. Please excuse me while I freshen up.”

His mother smiled fondly at Merry’s back.
“Miss Chamber’s
been working
hard.
We’ve just about finished the counting of linens and dinnerware. Merry also supervised the young girls from the village since Mrs. Bond was busy with her housekeeping duties.”
She
squeezed his arm. “Oh I do love
the holidays
, Penrose. We should
enter
t
ain
more often.”

Her excitement was contagious. He found himself smiling along with her. “
Would
you really wish to take on all this extra work several times a year?”

She waved her hand in dismissal as they entered the drawing room. “Miss Chambers is such a help,
I feel as though
I’m doing nothing at all.”

“But Miss Chambers may not be with us forever. Some young man may catch her fancy and she’ll be off planning her own parties.”
His gut clenched at his
own
words.

His mother glanced at him, a mysterious smile on her face. “Yes. Perhaps Miss Chambers will catch the eye of a young man. Or, maybe she already has.”

Penrose’s
heart sped up,
but he kept his voice cool. “What do you mean? Have there been callers
in my absence
?”

The dowager sighed. “Sometimes I wonder at your intelligence, my son.” She turned to the maid she’d
summoned and instructed her to fetch
tea and sandwiches.

They moved further into the room, settling on the settee near the warming fireplace.

“You still have not answered my question. Has Miss Chambers been receiving callers?”

“No, my dear. No one outside the family has been to see her.”

“
Brandon
?” He would never allow Merry to seriously consider his brother. As much as he loved the younger man, he had quite a bit of growing up to do before he took on a wife.

She shook her head. “Tell me about your trip. Did you
,
Smithfield
,
and Eastlake come up with new ways to torture Parliament?”

Not satisfied with his mother’s
evasive tactics,
but a
cknowledging her wish
to change the subject, he went into
more
detail about his meetings with the older men.

Tea arrived at the same time as Miss
Chambers. She’d changed into another
gown
, and had
fixed
her hair. The smudge of dirt was also gone. Too bad, he would have liked to use his thumb to run over her soft cheek to erase it.

Merry sat across from them and poured. He watched her graceful hands as she performed the duty. His mouth went dry when he pictured those fingers raking over his naked back as she lay under him. Aware of his mother sitting right next to him, he dragged his thoughts away from where they headed.

“I see you’ve done quite a bit already to prepare for the Christmas season.” He took the cup from Merry’s hand.

“Yes. We’ve been
very
busy. I just love the holidays
. A
ll the preparations never seems like work to me.”
Her eyes danced with glee.

“Did you and your father entertain a lot?”

Merry nodded. “We did. He oftentimes had students over for dinner, and we would all discuss politics or some other subject of interest.”

Penrose’s eyes widened. “You sat in on those discussions?”

Her eyes snapped. “Of course.” Then her defiant chin rose. “And why wouldn’t I?”

God
,
he loved how quickly
she went
from sweet little miss to a tig
r
ess
. “I don’t mean to disparage you, or your father. I’m merely surprised a woman would be interested in such things.”

“Oh, I suppose it would make more sense to you if I preferred to discuss
gowns
, s
lippers,
and gossip?”

He could no longer hold back his chuckle. She narrowed her eyes, and then her lips tilted, turned into a smile, and finally she laughed.

“Ah, see, Miss Chambers. We are able to laugh at ourselves, are we not?”

“And when will it be your turn?” She smiled sweetly and took a bite of a watercress sandwich
, as the dowager duchess grinned behind her cup of tea
.

*

Merry’s heart hadn’t gone back to its
normal
rhythm since Penrose first walked into the dining room.
His presence had sucked
out all the air
. He
’d
towered over her, staring down with those riveting deep brown eyes that always
caused
her
to
feel as though she’d forgotten to put on her
gown
.

Now with him sitting across from her, his large frame dwarfing the settee, s
he had a strong desire to whip out a fan to cool her heated skin.
With the blood pounding in her ears, s
he barely heard what he and Kitty discussed. This would not do. He
’d
invaded her thoughts, even while she’d slept, the entire time he was
gone
.