Ruin Me Please (12 page)

“I noticed that you don’t have a si
ngle rose in your garden?”  His narrowed gaze
su
r
veyed the colorful array
that surrounded him. 
“Do you not like them?”

“I like them well enough.”  She glanced around with pride.
“
But roses are not allowed in these walls.  T
his is my wildflower gar
den.  We
have a formal garden
that includes roses
b
e
hind the conservatory.  A Parterre, but I prefer the wildness inside here
.”  H
er
eyes glowed with
pride
.

“It is an attractive
garden
.
”  He
repeated the sentiment, taking
one last glance around.
“
We
have a large rose gar
den at Allingham Park with over
seventy-five
varieties of roses.” 
He walked
t
o
war
ds the ivy-covered wall.  “E
nchanting
.” 

She watched as he slowly circled the garden
smelling a few
of the flowers along the wall. He turned, smiling
softly
then continued his quiet survey of hi
s surroundings.
“In fact, when I first stepped through the arch I believed you to be a fairy.”

Poppy opened her mouth to respond
when another
voice called,
“Pop
py,
I know you’re out here.” 
Her eyes
widened
and her face turned a bright shade of red when she r
ea
l
ized she was staring
.
 
She whirled
away
calling, “
Come Georgie.
”
Leaning down
she
scoop
ed him up
. 
“
Coming,
Piper.” 
Without waiting, she
strode towards the voice
moving around him to cross u
nder the arch
way
, then she turned to face him.  “You migh
t as well meet my sister
.”

“Delightful,” he sounded distantly amused, chuckling when the d
isembodied voice called
again
, “Do you know who has arrived?”  The voice contin
ued, “A brute of a
horse was just st
a
bled
..
.
”

Declan watched as the girls
eyes wide
ned
and
she whispered t
hrough her teeth, “Who is that?”  Color r
ose in her cheeks, and she appeared
flustered to be caught gawking him.

Speaking loud enough for him to hear,
“The Duke of Hawksley has arrived.” 
Poppy glanced
over her shoulder,
gestur
ing his
way,
as he stood framed by the
low arch
.

Piper’s mouth formed a
perfect ‘O’
.

Declan
ducked under the archway and
straitened to his impressive height
before bowing
elegantly
. 

“Your Grace
,
this is my twin sister
, Piper.” 

Piper curtsied
with a knowing smile
,
“
Your G
race
.” 

“Twins?”  His brow
furrowed his eyes moving back and forth
between the two. 
There were strong fa
mily similarities,
of course,
but they
looked nothing like one would expect of twin
s
.

“Don’t worry.
” Piper
chuckled at the
perplexed
look in his eyes. 
She linked
her arm through his
.
“
W
e get that
reaction
all the time.
  I look like the Peregrine side of the family and Poppy looks like
the Wakefield side.
” 

“Indeed.” 
Although they
were not identical twins
, they
both had the same piercing blue eyes
as Ashford
. 

“You must be famished
,
Your G
race
.  L
et
us
show you to the b
reakfast room
,”
Piper
i
n
vited
.  “I
’
m sure Parker is already
breaking his fast.” 

Poppy’s brows
furrowed as she searched
desperately for something clever t
o talk about. 

“I don’t r
ecall if Parker mentioned
where your home is located.” 
Poppy glanced down and took
a hold of his other
arm.  Her touch
light, yet he felt it to his bones.

“My
family’s
ancestral pile
is in the wilds of Berkshire
,
”
h
e advised.  “
In fact it is quite close,
onl
y a few hours ride from he
re.  N
ot far at all.  Have you every traveled to Ber
k
shire?”  He asked
slant
ing
a
look out of the corner of his eye.

“No, I have
n’t
traveled through Berkshire
. 
B
ut it does seem perplexing that you and Parker are such good friends and we have lived so close
,
yet we have never met before
,
”
Poppy said.  “
From my understanding,
Berkshire is definitely not very far away.
  Parker stated that it is only a few hours ride.
”

“P
rior to a few years ago, I mainly resided in my family’s London townh
ome
.  That is where Ash and I generally met.  A few times on break he stayed with my family
at Allingham
Park.”

“Oh
.
  Well I suppose that is as good of an explanation as any
.  Parker did tell me that you often got into scrapes in London
.
”
She
grinned
up at him
. 
“Would you care to elaborate?  Pa
r
ker r
e
fuses to release any details of your escapades.”

“I
will defer to Parker’s wisdom and remain
silent.” 
He placed his hand over hers
.  The intimacy of the act caused Poppy to shiver
.

She pouted prettily. 
“I love
London, the excitement and the pace, h
owever
, nothing
compares to being in the country for me.” 

Poppy’s eyes closed in pleasure as she took a deep breath
.
  “Smell the
air
.  Y
ou will ne
v
er have this in London.  The sweetness of honeysuckle calls to me when the warm winds blow.  One of my favorite
smells
.
”  She tugged his arm turning him slightly to the right.  “
Do you see
the clusters of yellow flowers
flushed with purple and red?  We have allowed it to grow wild and free at Rosebriar.  The fragrance soothes me immensely on a summer evening.  I love to sit at my wi
n
dow at night looking at the stars and smelling the sweetness of summer
.
” 

“Your enthusiasm pai
nts such a delightful picture, L
ady Poppy.”

Piper walked silently watching their interaction with a hidden smile.
  She recognized the look in Poppy’s eyes.  S
he was attracted to the duke, so much for her matchmaking plans for Chloe and Freya
.

Poppy opened her eyes and blushed
.  “Forgive me.” S
he
grinned
.
“
I forget myself som
e
times. 
I am told quite often by our
companion, Miss Harris, th
at I talk entirely too much.”  S
he shrugged charmingly and u
n
concerned. 

“No apologies necessary.”  Declan looked deep into her eyes.  “It is quite
refreshing to come across an honest response
instead of
well-rehearsed
replies
,
”
h
e
stated
a genuine smile spreading across his face
.

The door opened as if on command by one of the
ever-efficient
footman.  Dobbins
bowed,
greeting the
twins
and their new arrival.  “Good morning Lady Poppy
, Lady Piper
.  I trust you had a pleasant walk this morning?”  Dobbin
s g
estured
, another footman came forward scooping up Georgie and
removing
him to Poppy’s chamber. 

“As always
, Dobbins
, it was very
inspiring
.”  She gestured towards their
guest
.
“
May I
present
His Grace
,
the Duke of Hawksley.  He must have gotten lost for he found himself in my ga
r
den
.
”
Piper
fluttered
her hands busily. 
“
The
d
uke’s carriage and valet should arrive soon
,” she said w
ith a cheerful smile on her face
.
“Is my brother in the breakfast room at pr
e
sent?” 

“Yes, my l
ady
,” Dobbins
inclined his head. 

“Spendid
, thank you, Dobbins
.”

“Thank you, my l
ady.” 

Declan
glanced at Dobbins with an inquisitive
brow
, the casual exchange not the norm between most members of the ton
. 

Dobbins shrugged with a slight grin, bowing
.
“
Your G
race
.” 

Declan took a moment to glance
around the foyer,
admiring
the opulence of his
friend
’s
home.  Black and white checked marble tiles covered the entrance.  Grand pillars stan
d
ing as if holding up the heavy ceiling.  A large marble fireplace stood off to one side to help ward off the chill when the weather was cooler.  Mahogany paneled walls followed down the hall
, d
ark and masculine.  Fo
l
lowing Poppy, he
observed
as she pointed out the rooms as they passed.

Poppy
pointed gracefully.
“On the left is the drawing room. 
Across the hall is
the l
i
brary.” 

“Do you mind?”

“Of course not.”

He opened the door and
poked his head in.  He had always believed that he had an e
x
cellent library.  Obviously, reading was a strong family past time with the Peregrines as well.  Dark wood shelves were floor to ceiling on three walls.  Wooden rolling ladders lay against the shelves waiting for someone to choose one of the thousands of leather bound books.  There were two separate seating areas.  Deep leather couches and chairs sat in cozy ci
r
cles on either side of the large stone fireplace.  A large sheepskin rug covered the floor in front of the fire cr
e
ating a warm and
inviting area to lose oneself
.  Half shelves lined the fourth wall.  A black wrought
iron spiral staircase swirled upward to
an alcove with deep leather seats avai
l
able for someone to escape while discovering new and exciting adventures.