Page 45 of Distracting the Duke

Clara sat forward. Shooting? That sounded rather fun. Although she wouldn’t be happy if she actually killed anything. “I believe I might.”

Ulvercombe looked taken aback, as if he thought none of the ladies would step forward. That it would be incredibly risky to teach a woman how to shoot.

Lord Snettisham grinned over at her. “I’ll wager I’m a better teacher than anyone else here…begging your pardon, Ulvercombe. If any of you ladies wish to learn, I’m your man.” He looked about expectantly, his eye lingering on Ellie for rather longer than it should have.

Curse it. Here was a complication she’d not envisaged. Lord Snettisham mustn’t be allowed to come between Ellie and Ulvercombe.

Unless…

Perhaps it might do the duke good to have his jealousy aroused. He was so used to being in control, to getting his way in all things, it was about time he was shown that not everyone would dance to his tune.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Marcus was enjoying a brandy in the smoking room with Snetty. The salt smell of the sea wafted through an open window, but Marcus was in no mood to appreciate it. “Damn it, Snetty!” he said. “That woman has got under my skin.”

“Rather bad timing, Your Grace, when you’re supposed to be courting Miss Soper. I thought you’d learned your lesson about Lady Tinniswood. You haven’t seen her since the stripping off incident in your bedchamber, I presume?”

He ran a finger around the inside of his collar. The memory still heated his blood. “Actually, I have. We got caught in the rain.”

Snetty appeared scandalized. “Alone?”

“Nothing happened!” Marcus pressed his lips together. “Well, nothing significant.” He flicked his watch fob between his fingers, watching the play of sunlight on the polished surface.

“Liar,” said Snetty. “You’re not looking me in the eye, and I declare your cheeks are as red as a girl’s.”

“I’ve just caught the sun a little,” he said defensively. “But yes, I confess, I kissed her again.”

“Have you no self-control? Your appetites are as excessive as the notorious second duke’s. Thankfully, not in the same direction.”

“Nonsense. I have perfect self-control. I just choose not to exercise it all the time.”

“Then you must make Lady Tinniswood either your mistress or your wife. I daresay it doesn’t signify which.”

“Of course it does!” He scowled at his friend. “One is tied to a wife for life, but a mistress can be pensioned off whenever one likes. Anyway, a mistress is an unnecessary expense when coitus can be had for the asking. Not that I generally have to ask. But with Lady Tinniswood, I would probably have to beg.”

Snetty gave him a quizzical look. “She doesn’t like you? Even though she kissed you?”

“She’s attracted to me,” Marcus replied, hoping to God he’d read the signs right. “But she pulls no punches when we argue. She’s a hard woman. Her first husband made her so. He treated her badly.”

“Does she kiss well, at least?” inquired Snetty, with a knowing grin.

“Her kissing is superlative.”

“Mistress, then,” his friend pronounced, sipping his brandy. “You can’t take to wife someone who dislikes you and argues with you all the time. You would have to keep away from each other, and you’d still be left with the task of finding a mistress to keep you in a good mood.”

Ulvercombe dropped the fob and glared at his friend. “I know you’re highly amused by all this, but I’m in a dreadful coil. I ought to marry Miss Soper—logic decrees it—but I can’t get Clara out of my head.”

Snetty tilted his head in puzzlement. “Why? What’s so special about her?”

“There’s passion at the core of her, passion buried deep because her wretched husband hurt and frightened her. It just needs the right man to tease it out, to make her happy instead of closed off and embittered.”

“And you’re that man,” Snetty drawled.

“There’s more,” Marcus said thoughtfully. “She has secrets I need to prize out of her. I’m certain she’ll feel much better once they’re out in the open and not eating her up from inside.”

Snetty frowned. “She seems perfectly good-humored to me.”

“Everyone seems jolly to you, Snetty. But I see beneath the surface of most people—it’s why my businesses and estates have prospered, despite having such a poor start.”