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Mina patted the silk reticule sitting on a side table. “Right here.”
“Do you mean to tell me you have a firearm in your reticule? What if it should discharge accidentally and harm a footman?” asked Grizzy.
“Mina’s an expert markswoman,” replied Sir Malcolm with a touch of pride. “She must be ready to defend herself should a gentleman make unwelcome advances. A pistol tends to cool the ardor.”
“No gentleman will dare take liberties under my piercing gaze,” promised Grizzy.
First order of business: evade Grizzy’s piercing gaze.
“I expect you’ll find that Thorndon is already predisposed to court Wilhelmina,” said Sir Malcolm. “I wrote him a letter describing her excellent managerial skills, her facility with a ledger, and her suitableness for a solitary life in the countryside. I told him that she was delicate in stature, yet strong as a horse.”
“I’ll be sure to neigh loudly and nuzzle his palm for apple slices while we dance,” said Mina tartly.
“Really, Wilhelmina,” said Grizzy. “What’s wrong with you? You should be grateful to your uncle. He’s trying to make you a duchess.”
He was trying to protect her, lock her away someplace safe, silent, and hidden away.
She was so tired of hiding. She longed to be more than her uncle’s secretary. She was going to make her own mark on the world, instead of making entries in his ledgers. The world had no idea what she was capable of.
“Thorndon is the very pinnacle of English manhood,” said Sir Malcolm. “Dignified, statesmanlike, admirable, and, above all else, honorable. He’ll keep you out of trouble and out of harm’s way.”
Trouble was her reason for being here. Trouble, adventure, revenge...freedom.
Everything she’d been denied her whole life.
“He’s a remarkably fine figure of a man,” said Sir Malcolm, continuing the plaguing topic of the Duke of Thorndon. “He towers over me and I’m not small. His features are noble and his eyes are an unusual shade of amber—rather like honey.”
“Sounds likeyouwant to marry him,” said Mina.
“Don’t be impertinent, Wilhelmina,” Grizzy scolded.
“Study the dossier carefully,” Sir Malcolm instructed. “Memorize portions of Thorndon’s excellent treatise on the rotation of turnips and clover to produce hospitable soils and quote them back to him while you dance.”
Turnip rotation.Good Lord. Mina would rather poke out her eyes with a pitchfork than memorize agricultural treatises. She was here foradventure.
“Marry Thorndon and your future will be assured,” said Grizzy. “You’ll be a duchess.”
“In a crumbling haunted house on the moors,” said Mina.
“A small price to pay,” replied Grizzy. “I’m sure that Thorndon would allow you to travel to Town after you give him an heir and a spare.”
Frustration sizzled through Mina’s mind like a fuse ignited by a spark.
No man was going toallowher to do anything, ever again.
She was going to seize control of her life. Shape her own destiny.
A destiny that most certainly did not involve being imprisoned on the moorlands as a brooding duke’s broodmare.
Chapter2
“There he is, Wilhelmina,” Grizzy whispered, staring reverently across the crowded ballroom. “The Duke of Thorndon.”
Holy Hell, he’s handsome, thought Mina.
Jaw-dropping-on-the-floor handsome. Drool-on-your-lace-fichu handsome.
Distract-her-from-her-plan-with-his brother handsome.
