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“We did,” Michael replied with a giggle.
Will still hadn’t become accustomed to the lower register of Michael’s voice. At fourteen, Michael was a gangly jumble of half boy and half man.
“Many of your elder siblings have idolized the idea of what England is truly like,” Will whispered.
“I haven’t.”
“No, you haven’t. But James, Ellie, and Lucy certainly do. That is why I insisted that all of you come with me. You need to see the England I remember. The poverty, the class system, the fact that people don’t get ahead here without a title…like your father, and mine.”
“But you have a title, Will.”
Will sighed and rubbed his stepbrother’s hair. “And if I didn’t, I would be nothing here, which is why I cannot stay.”
Michael nodded. “Good night, Will.”
He walked back downstairs, reached for the door-knob, and stopped. Had Kenneth said the second door on the left, or on the right? Will was so beyond tired he couldn’t remember. He opened the door to the left and a light, feminine gasp sounded from near the fireplace. She turned around and glared at him.
“What are you doing in my bedchamber?”
The small fire behind her displayed the shadows of her modest curves, and the glow flamed her long hair into beams of crimson. Her heart-shaped face, while covered in freckles, was completed with a pert nose and lips that were not too full and not too thin. Perfection. Her green eyes looked like emeralds shimmering in the dim light.
He truly hadn’t taken an account of her beauty this evening when he’d been too preoccupied with other things. Or perhaps her irritable behavior had been the only thing he noticed.
“Your Grace?” she squeaked.
“I apologize, Elizabeth. I was looking for my room.”
“It’s across the hall. The duke’s bedchamber is a full suite.” She crossed her arms over her chest as if to hide the fullness of her breasts. Instead, it only seemed to plump them.
Desire flared but he attempted to tamp it down as quickly as it had fired. He was not attracted to the shrew. No matter how her lush body seemed to call to him. His heart had settled on Abigail.
Not that his body seemed to note that fact. His erection pressed against the cotton of his drawers, desperate for release from its cloth prison.
“Your Grace!”
He swallowed hard, attempting to gain a measure of control of his sudden yearning. “Good night, Elizabeth.”
He forced his feet to move toward the door, when all he really wanted was to step closer to her.
Elizabeth sipped her chocolate and then broke off a bite of toast. He had seen her in her nightclothes last night. She’d felt the heat of his gaze, hotter than the fire behind her, burning into her. While she’d tried her best to cover her erect nipples from his view, she doubted her success. His gaze appeared to settle on her breasts.
And she’d liked it.
For the first time in her entire life, she felt something odd and strangely appealing when a man looked at her. Not a man, a ruffian. He smelled foul, like a man who hadn’t bathed in weeks. Of course, he probably hadn’t the chance to clean much on the ship.
She was ill, that was surely the cause of this sudden departure from her normal manner. All this worrying over finding her mother’s hidden diary had caused her to lose her senses. Most notably her sense of smell, if she found that barbarian attractive, she thought with disdain. Hopefully, he would have enough intelligence to bathe this morning.
Now with all the children in the house, she had no idea how to complete her search. Two of the last five rooms she had left to investigate were the children’s rooms. She’d also wanted to check the ducal bedchamber once more. With William in there, she would never be able to search the room again. She had to find a way to get in that room. It made the most sense that the diary was in there. The only option was to wait until he left the house some time.
At least, he hadn’t mentioned her leaving the house now that he was installed here. But she had to find out what William’s intentions truly were, because even though she wasn’t the duke’s true daughter, the family name mattered to her.
She could never let him ruin the family name.
She pushed away the rest of her chocolate and toast, then strode from her room, determined to confront him. After searching various rooms, she found him in the study, huddled over the old desk.
He glanced up quickly and mumbled, “Good morning.”
Elizabeth gripped the leather chair in front of her. He had bathed and shaved. At least now she didn’t have to doubt her sanity. The man was beyond handsome. While his dark brown hair was still too long for the current style, his clean-shaven face showed a strong jaw and a chin with a slight dent in it. Even his nose was beautiful. Long and just a little crooked, as if it had been broken once.
