“Your grace is an excellent distraction,” she drawled.
“My grace aims to please.”
She thought it was probably true.Yet more than that, she knew she had moved him in return.There had been surprise as well as passion in his kiss.And that made her smile her way back to her chamber, to Lily, and to sleep.
***
LORD CARILY’S RAGEwas all mixed up with frustrated desire and humiliation.And all in front of that puny whelp who, by rights or even common civility, should have the grace to be dead.And yet she walked off on the duke’s arm as though he were some kind of prize!
What had that sickly puppy to offer a woman, compared with a charming, virile man like Carily?Nothing!And one could carry this game of “hard-to-get” too far, as he would show her tomorrow, along with his magnanimity.Meanwhile, there was nothing to fear from the little Duke of Death who would leave her at her door to dream of him, Carily.
All the same, he drank the remains of his brandy with some savagery and poured himself another large one, and then another.
He woke with some confusion, sprawled across his bed.A shaft of sunlight was blasting through the open shutter directly onto him, blinding him and making him sweat while the birds chirruped incessantly outside.His throat and mouth were parched, his head beating an annoying tattoo.It took several moments before he realized some of the knocking was on his bedchamber door.
His valet, damn the fool!Couldn’t he just bring the damned tea without making such a fiendish racket?He snarled at the door, then sat up, clutching his head and ready to make the valet’s morning as miserable as his own.
He peered at the figure who entered bearing a small tray.He was not valet-shaped.Carily peered closer.
“Isbourne?” he said in disbelief.
“The very same,” said the Duke of Death affably.“I met your man at the door and persuaded to give up his tea tray so that we might have a chat.”He deposited the tray on the bed beside Carily, looked about him, and placed a chair carefully before he sat in it and crossed his legs.
The little bastard was elegance personified, freshly shaved and clean, his morning dress perfection.Carily regarded him resentfully and poured himself tea with a hand that shook.He had really reached his alcohol limit before coming to bed.He shouldn’t have had all that brandy in his room.He must have passed out, and now he felt dreadful.He didn’t smell too pleasant either and he actually blushed at the sight he must present to this well turned out and cool young man.
“Too much brandy,” he muttered and took a sizeable gulp of tea.It was no longer hot but he didn’t care.“What can I do for your grace at this time of the morning?”It was meant to sound sophisticated and civil, but came out as merely bitter.
“Attend me, and believe me when I tell you I speak for Lady Sark.You are not to trouble her again by trying to speak to her, let alone by forcing yourself into her company.Should the opportunity arise, you will not invite her to dance or sit beside her.In short, you must stay away from her.”
Total astonishment caused Carily’s jaw to drop, reducing him to utter silence.For at least half a minute he could think of nothing to say to refute such insufferable arrogance.And then at last, it struck him and he began to laugh, to the imminent danger of his wildly sloshing tea.
“My dear fellow...!This ain’t the marriage mart and you simply don’t count with her.You cannot truly imagine you stand a chance with her, just because you are a duke?”
The duke didn’t even uncross his legs.“No,” he agreed.“But I am a gentleman, and so should you be.”
“What did you say?”
“I am saying you must comply with Lady Sark’s wishes.Your behaviour last night was most certainly not that of a gentleman.What did you mean to do?Knock her unconscious or compel her via the vowels you won from her brother?”
Carily jerked, as though he would jump to his feet and verbally blister the runt.But something very like shame seeped in with Isbourne’s contemptuous words.
“Lady Sark deserves to be treated like the lady she is.”The duke rose to his feet in one fluid, almost beautiful movement.“I do you the courtesy of believing you will now do so.If you don’t, believe me, there will be consequences.She has many more friends than you do, and you are already here on sufferance.Good morning, my lord.”
He strolled out of the room, leaving the door wide open.By the time Carily noticed, rose, and closed it, he was still utterly stunned.
