The Perfect Duke Read online

  “Wait for her to get up here,” Nick whispered. “Don’t yell out to her. People will hear you.”

  Augusta quickly curbed her enthusiasm. “Am I being too obvious?”

  Cress put her hand on Augusta’s shoulder. “We’re all glad she’s here. Nick is right, though. We should be subtle. It wouldn’t be good to show anyone how much we need Miss Webb.”

  “She’s a nice lady,” Nick added. “I think everyone will get along with her.”

  “I’m sure we will,” Cress replied.

  They moved aside as Tara approached the door with a reticule in her hand. She glanced from one person to the other, and Nick gestured for them to take a step further back. The poor thing looked overwhelmed by the way they were all hovering around her. But he couldn’t blame his mother and sisters for doing so since he had a difficult time avoiding the urge to hug her simply for showing up.

  Tara entered the entryway, and the coachman came in behind her. She turned to Nick. “Do you have your things packed?”

  With a nod, Nick went over to the valise not too far from the door. It’d been well used over the years, but it was the best one he had. He didn’t want to embarrass her by packing his clothes and grooming supplies in a valise that was falling apart.

  “Take that to the carriage,” she instructed the coachman. She waited until the coachman left with it before directing her attention to Nick. “I got my money, but it took me longer than I expected. This is a small sum of it.”

  Tara glanced at the three ladies, who were listening to her as if she had just come in and saved them from certain doom. And really, she had. Nick would always be indebted to her for sacrificing everything for them.

  “I thought it best to leave this with you while Nick and I are gone,” Tara told Nick’s mother as she handed the reticule to her. “It should be enough to see to your needs until we return.”

  Since Tara looked expectantly at his mother, his mother opened it up. His sisters peered over his mother’s shoulders and gasped. Curious, Nick also looked into it. His eyes widened. Tara had been generous. He hadn’t expected her to leave his mother and sisters with that much money. He was definitely going to have to do everything possible to make her happy.

  “Thank you,” his mother said and gave Tara a long hug.

  His sisters also expressed their thanks, and though they seemed like they wanted to hug her as well, they couldn’t squeeze in to do so.

  “You’re welcome,” Tara replied. “Nick and I should go. My brother came home earlier than I expected last night, so he’s probably already awake. Once he finds out I’m not there, he’s likely to come looking for me.”

  In that case, time was of the essence. He didn’t want to risk her brother finding them and stopping them. “You two can hug Tara when we get back,” he told Augusta and Cress as they made a move to hug her.

  He said goodbye to his family, allowing them to hug him since they insisted on it, but he made it quick since Tara seemed anxious. Others probably missed it, but he caught the way she was fidgeting from one foot to another and glancing down the street that led to her brother’s townhouse.

  “When you two return, we’ll have to do something special,” Nick’s mother said.

  “Yes, we’ll have to play some games,” Augusta added, her face lit up in excitement.

  “We know a few good ones,” Cress added.

  “We’ll get to all of that after our return,” Nick said. “Right now, we must go.” Before they could keep Tara there any longer, he escorted Tara down the steps. “I should have warned you that my mother and sisters adore you. Ever since they met you, they’ve been talking of little else but what they can do to make you comfortable when we return.”

  She smiled. “They’re very sweet.”

  They reached the carriage, and he waited for her to get in before he sat next to her. He experienced a thrill at knowing they would soon be married, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was saving him from debtor’s prison. It suddenly occurred to him that he would be at liberty to touch and kiss her, something he found intriguing.

  All he’d ever done was touch a lady while he danced with her or escorted her somewhere. It was nice to know he was going to have the freedom to do more. He was especially looking forward to trying the things Lord Edon’s book had mentioned. He supposed that was why the book was so popular. Though he wasn’t a member of White’s, he’d heard of it. Gentlemen had whispered about how the book had done wonders for their love life at the balls, and these conversations had piqued his interest to find out more about making love to a lady, mostly because he’d never done it. Being a virgin wasn’t information he was going to volunteer, so he didn’t ask those gentlemen questions in order to satisfy his curiosity. He’d just smiled and nodded as if he knew what they’d been talking about.

  He’d held off on getting the book until he knew he’d be marrying Miss Webb. There was no point in researching a topic until he needed to. He didn’t want to waste his time reading the book only to find out he’d end up in debtor’s prison. And now that he’d read the book, he was glad he’d waited. It was one thing to wonder about a lady’s body and the details of making love to her. It was another to know and not be able to do anything about it.

  The carriage moved forward, and Miss Webb glanced out the window. She let out a sigh of relief and settled back in the seat. “I think we just might make it. I don’t see any sign of my brother or one of the servants.”

  On impulse, he looked out the window. As she said, there was no one pursuing them.

  “I’m sorry I came late,” she continued. “It took me longer to buy a carriage than I expected. The horses were easy enough and so was hiring the coachman, but the gentleman who built the carriage was reluctant to sell it to a lady.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m twenty-one, and the money is mine. I can do whatever I want with it. I don’t know why it bothered him. A sale is a sale, whether it comes from a gentleman or a lady.”

  “I was beginning to think you had changed your mind,” he admitted. “I thought you might not show up.”

  “I’m a person of my word. If I say I’m going to do something, I have every intention of doing it.”

  He studied her, intrigued by her strong will. In his experience, a lot of people had trouble taking a stand for something unless there were others who were in agreement with them. But she had argued to buy the carriage without someone there to help her, and she had done it because she had told him she would marry him.

  Unable to stop himself, he took her hand and kissed it. “Thank you for going through all of that trouble for me and my family.”

  Her face grew a pretty shade of pink, making him aware that even if she was strong, she also had a vulnerable side.

  “I promise you that I’ll be good to you,” he vowed.

  He knew she took her vows seriously, and he did so as well. He didn’t think she could ever respect someone who didn’t follow through with their word. A person’s integrity was important to her. And after finding out his father had left him and his family in a sensitive position, Nick could appreciate that.

  “When I pledge myself to you at Gretna Green, I’ll honor everything in the wedding vows,” he continued. “You’ll be the only lady I’ll ever have, and I’ll cherish you for as long as we’ll live.”

  A deeper shade of red rose up in her cheeks, and he caught the flicker of shyness in her eyes as she glanced away from him. This caught him by surprise. She didn’t strike him as the shy type. But he was just realizing how shy and vulnerable she really was underneath the bravado she had shown him when she told him she’d be marrying him regardless of what her brother wanted.

  Perhaps they weren’t so different after all. He wasn’t really all that sure about the things he was doing. He still had a lot to learn. There was so much he didn’t know. His father had taught him some rules when it came to engaging with people in a large group. That stuff came easy.

  But when it came to a personal relati
onship where he was expected to interact with people on a one-on-one basis, that’s when things fell apart. He had lost complete control over the situation with Tara’s brother. Her brother had brought up things he’d never prepared for, so he’d been left to flounder around like a fish out of water. Other situations had popped up during the past two years as he sought to establish himself in London, but none were as bad as that. Even now, he didn’t know what he could have done to get control of the conversation he’d had with her brother. He wasn’t nearly as confident as most people assumed he was. Tara, it seemed handled people a lot better.

  He released her hand and smiled. “I admire you.”

  She made eye contact with him again. “You do?”

  He nodded. “It’s not everyone who can do what they want regardless of what others think.”

  “Well, the person who was selling the carriage should have been glad I was willing to buy it. This is a nice carriage, but no one else was interested in it. I’ve seen this carriage for sale since the beginning of the year.”

  Noting the determined look on her face, he chuckled. “You don’t have to convince me. I agree with you. There’s no point in making something if you deny someone the right to purchase it.”

  She returned his smile. “It’s not easy being a lady. So many people expect you to let gentlemen do everything for you. Sometimes I think it’s because they assume ladies are too stupid to figure things out on their own.”

  “No one could accuse you of being stupid. From the moment we met, I knew you were intelligent.”

  “You did?”

  “Miss Wilmington was talking about having a ball right away to help restore the good standing of Ladies of Grace, and you argued that it’d be best to wait for a couple of weeks. That way, it would give people time to forget what Lady Eloise had done.”

  She seemed pleased that he remembered her saying that. “I’m hoping that within a couple of weeks, people will have something else to talk about. In London, it doesn’t seem that people dwell on one piece of gossip for long.”

  “They don’t. There’s always something new. That’s why I thought your idea was a good one. Thankfully, Miss Wilmington was willing to go along with it.”

  “You didn’t think she would?”

  “I wasn’t sure. She seemed impatient to get the group back to what it used to be. You were right. You can’t overcome an adversity right away. It takes time. Besides, I think the Ton would have found it either pathetic or amusing that the group was trying so hard to get its approval. Doing things your way is much better. This way, the process will be more natural.”

  One thing he’d learned from being with her brother was how dangerous it was to show one’s desperation. Her brother had figured out he’d needed to marry Tara, and her brother had used that knowledge in order to taunt him. Showing restraint definitely worked to a person’s advantage. He should have taken a lesson from Tara that day when she warned Miss Wilmington not to seem too eager for the Ton’s approval.

  For all he knew, that was why Miss Wilmington had decided to marry Sir Tristan Blakemoor. He had a definite connection to the Ton, via his relationship with Lord and Lady Cadwalader. Being with him would improve her social standing more quickly. Not that Nick minded the arrangement. As it turned out, he would get to marry Tara, and he was looking forward to it. He liked her much more than he’d liked Miss Wilmington. In fact, he liked her more than any other lady he’d come across. It was just a shame she had such a miserable brother.

  Tara glanced out the carriage window. Nick did the same, and he was surprised to see that they were already outside of London. It seemed as if they had just left his townhouse. He suspected the trip was going to go fast since being with her made him lose track of time.

  She turned back to him and grinned. “It looks like we’ll be able to pull this off after all.”

  “Are you enjoying the fact that you got the best of your brother?”

  “A little. Do you think that makes me a bad person?”

  He shook his head. “No. I think it means you’ll be glad you don’t have to keep living under the same roof with him.”

  “You’re right. I will. I’m tired of him dictating what I do and when I do it.”

  He wanted to ask if that was why she was marrying him. Was she doing it to prove a point? To tell her brother he wasn’t going to tell her what to do anymore? But that was silly. It couldn’t be the reason. She had agreed to marry him before he talked to her brother, and she had been sure her brother would approve of the match.

  Feeling better, he relaxed. He didn’t know why the thought should bother him that she might have married him as a way to rebel against her brother, and honestly, he didn’t want to dwell on it. The fact of the matter was, she was willing to marry him and save him and his family from financial ruin. He should be glad for it. He was glad for it. And it should be enough. He hadn’t made a pretense of marrying her for love, so why should she? This was a mutual agreement to benefit them both. As long as he remembered that, everything would be just fine.

  “Do you want to play a game?” Tara asked.

  Intrigued, he focused on her. “What kind of game?”

  “We each have to come up with a word that starts with the next letter of the alphabet, but it has to relate to the word the first person said. For example, if I say ‘apple’, then you will say ‘banana’. Then I have to come up with a word that starts with the letter ‘c’ that is a food. This doesn’t have to be food. We can pick anything. It can be things at the theatre or a ball. Or it can involve a holiday. Or anything else you want.”

  “It sounds like fun. How will one of us win?”

  “Whoever can’t come up with a new word in thirty seconds loses.”

  He smiled. “All right. Let’s play.”

  “Do you want to go first or shall I?”

  “You go first. I’ll start the next one.”

  Looking excited to be playing the game, she thought for a moment then said, “We’ll do animals. I’ll start with ‘ape’.”

  “Baboon.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “I meant we could do different animals.”

  “I did do a different animal. An ape is not a baboon. It’s a different kind of monkey.”

  “When we get to ‘m’, are you going to say ‘monkey’?”

  “I was thinking of using mouse, but will I still be allowed to do that if it’s my turn when that letter comes up?”

  She chuckled. “If it happens to be your turn, then yes.”

  “And if it’s yours? Will you steal that word?” he asked, unable to resist teasing her.

  “What would you do if I did?”

  He didn’t know if she was flirting with him or not. She was giving him a coy look, but it didn’t seem to be in her nature to flirt. Up to now, she’d been serious every time they had talked. But at the moment, she was shooting him a very lovely smile and her eyes were twinkling as if she was up to mischief.

  So, hedging his bets, he said, “If you cheat, I’ll kiss you.”

  “Is that supposed to be a punishment?”

  “Not for me. I figure if you take one of my words, the least I can do is get something pleasurable for it.”

  He thought he detected a hint of excitement in the way she laughed. “That’s fair,” she said. “Now, since it’s my turn…” She tapped her fingers on her lap. “Crow.”

  “Duck.”

  She laughed again. “That’s a bird.”

  “I know that.”

  “But I just picked a bird. Why did you do the same?”

  “‘Duck’ was the first thing that popped in my head. I happen to like duck. It’s a good meal.”

  “I suppose if I had said ‘chimpanzee’, you would have picked another type of monkey?”

  “No. I probably would have picked something like ‘donkey’, but I admit that when you said ‘crow’, my thoughts went to birds. When you stated the rules, you didn’t say anything about not being able to use
the same type of animals. If it upsets you that I did that, then you might as well say that’s one of the rules before we start the game.”

  “I’m not upset. I’m just surprised.”

  He chuckled. “I know you’re not really upset. You’re laughing too hard to be upset. But it’s not fair for you to make rules and then give me a difficult time when I don’t say an animal you like.”

  “You’re right. It’s not. And I’m sorry. Next time, I should specify that we ought to do different animals.”

  “If you want to make the game a real challenge, then you should require all animals being monkeys. I can’t think of a single monkey that starts with the letter ‘d’. You could have won this game in two rounds.”

  “I could have, but I can’t think of a monkey that starts with a ‘d’, either.”

  “Would that have mattered since you had the letter ‘a’ to start?”

  “No, I suppose not, but it’s not all that fun when a game ends so soon. We should at least get to the letter ‘q’. That would make things really hard.”

  “So what you’re saying is that since I said ‘baboon’ and ‘duck’, I did what you wanted. I extended the game.”

  Her eyes widened and then she shook her head in amusement. “You are a very clever person. That was an excellent argument.”

  “Thank you,” he said, happy she extended such a compliment to him. “And you’re welcome. I was glad I could keep the game going.”

  She giggled. “I can see this is going to be a fun trip.” She straightened up in her seat. “Since we’re now at the letter ‘e’, I pick ‘eagle’.” When he shot her a pointed look, she said, “What? If you can pick another bird, why can’t I?”

  “You can as long as you’re fine with me picking ‘falcon’ for the letter ‘f’.”

  “I’m surprised you’d pick that when ‘fox’ would be more appropriate. Don’t you ever go fox hunting?”

  “I did one time.”

  “And?”

  “It was all right. I think it was more of my father’s thing. He enjoyed it a lot.”