Page 9 of No Duke of Mine

CHAPTER FOUR

“Clearly, you have a mind like a steel trap, Your Grace,” Maggie said sourly, after a long moment.

Algernon laughed and drew back, grinning at her unhappy expression. “Maggie Black, you deserved that for teasing me.”

The woman smiled back cheekily. “Algernon Sweet, Duke of Ravenswood. I’m pleased to see that the weight of your new responsibilities hasn’t robbed you of your sense of humor, such as it was.”

Algernon enveloped her in a long hug again and rocked her from side to side, caught in a wave of relief at seeing her once more. Maggie had been a good friend once, before her father had taken her away from Ravenswood when his tenure as tutor had abruptly ended. He and Maggie had shared secrets, studied forbidden subjects, and laughed together, often at his brothers’ many follies, for the whole of a year.

They had kissed, too, practicing on each other in secret. But those kisses had lacked the passion they’d just shared, of course. He’d always thought of her as a near sister then, and had missed her funny ways.

He released her slowly and looked down into her face, adjusting to the changes time had brought. Her eyes were a warm, deep brown, glowing with the kind of knowing light that an eager man might get lost in now. Her eyebrows delicately arched in question at his continued scrutiny, and he tweaked her nose as he’d always done, making her smile brighter.

He looked beyond her face to her glossy black hair, tied neatly at the back of her head today. Gone were the unruly curls she had forever tried to tame after running about the estate, following him and his younger brothers.

Now that she’d grown older, she possessed more curves, poise, and elegance than the bookish girl of whom he’d been so fond. A woman like Maggie would no longer be running off into fields with him, or risking getting into trouble with her father by sneaking out of bed to meet him in the dead of night.

But then he remembered where they were, her father, and her unknown marital status. For all he knew, she could have a husband waiting nearby.

That thought sobered him, and he drew back to a respectable distance. He glanced around, but thankfully, they were alone. He wet his lips, still nervous. “Maggie, is your husband with you? And I should dearly love to renew my acquaintance with your father, as well,” he blurted out quickly.

Maggie lowered her gaze. “I never married, and my father is…somewhere…near London.”

He was taken aback that she had not married, until her last words struck a wrong chord. “Somewhere? Don’t you know where your father is?”

“Not precisely. That is why I am on my way to find him,” Maggie confessed, and then shrugged. “I have not had a letter from Papa in some time, and I am growing concerned that something may have befallen him.”

Algernon sat on the edge of the table so they were of more equal height, barely believing that Maggie was a spinster. “How did you become separated from Mr. Black?”

“I haven’t traveled with him in years. Not since…” She hesitated. “Well, the reason isn’t important.”

Algernon remembered her father being a pompous old windbag. Forever suppressing Maggie’s natural curiosity while toadying up to Algernon’s late father. Mr. Black had not approved of his daughter’s close friendship with his employer’s eldest son, and had locked her in her attic room more than once.

Fortunately, Algernon was able to acquire the housekeeper’s key, and they all kept that a secret from their elders.

“So your father and you fell out, and seriously this time.”

“I chose to make my own life,” she announced, bristling. “My father continued as he preferred, as well.”

Algernon sensed a vast deal left unsaid about her father. He knew better than to push, though. Maggie would tell him, or not, in her own sweet time. “So your father continues to teach?”

“Oh, yes. He devoted his life to serving the finest minds in all of Britain and helping them achieve greatness.”

Algernon’s breath caught at the bitterness in her tone. “Did he never help you do the same?”

She stared at him briefly, and then laughed. “No. Of course not. I’m only a woman, and not worth taking pride in. But he’s often written to tell me about the fine young men he was leading to their grand future.”

“You beat me in every test, despite being two years younger!” Algernon burst to his feet, infuriated by her father’s lack of attention on her behalf. He gripped her shoulders and squeezed. “The finest mind he ever tutored was yours.”

“He would never admit that a daughter could surpass his own precious students, and risk his career,” Maggie said, her voice dripping with contempt. But then she shook off whatever ill temper gripped her. “Are you traveling to London or going home to Ravenswood?”

He sat back down so they were of similar height once more. “I’m on my way to London, or was until the weather got in my way.”

“The nerve!” She moved to sit beside him, leaning against the table too. “I never had the opportunity to visit London.”

“That is a great tragedy,” he mused, shifting sideways until he nudged her. “There are many fine bookshops there that you would enjoy. Perhaps you’ll visit them with your father when you find him.”

“I doubt I shall ever see London’s bookshops. My purpose is only to discover how my father fares.”