The Black Duke's Prize (21 page)

Lord Neville followed. and hugged her tightly as
well. "I'm so sorry, child," he said. "I never thought Simon
Ralston would kidnap his own niece."

"It's all right," she answered, knowing
that he had done what he thought was best for her. "If Nicholas hadn't
come to buy Crestley, someone else would have, and my uncle still would have
needed to bring me here. And everything has worked out." She glanced up
at Nicholas.

At that her godfather turned to Sommesby. "You
told me you would find her," he said, reaching out his hand. "What's
happened with Ralston?"

Nicholas promptly shook the older man's hand.
"He has been persuaded to visit America. Permanently."

Lord Neville nodded. "And the deed?"

"Nicholas owns Crestley now," Katherine
answered, unable to keep the mournful tone out of her voice.

"My name is on the deed," the duke
amended. "Katherine is mistress of Crestley Hall."

The next day Nicholas brought Mr. Gladstone into
the morning room, where Katherine and Lady Alison sat chatting. "Excuse
me, ladies," he said, "but Gladstone and I would like a word with
Katherine."

"Of course, Nick," Lady Alison answered,
rising with a smile. "I'd best see what Neville is up to," she said,
and exited the room.

Katherine gestured at the couch opposite her, and
the two men sat. "What is it?" she asked,curious.

"I am placing Gladstone at your
disposal," Nicholas said, and the secretary nodded. "As you know, he
is quite resourceful. He has had twenty years of experience with Sommesby and
the other Varon estates, so tell him what you desire, and he will find a way to
do it." With a smile Nicholas rose and headed for the door.

Until that moment she hadn't been aware that he
owned more than the huge estate at Sommesby, and again she was struck by how
powerful the Black Duke must be. "You aren't going to stay?" she
asked, looking after him.

He shook his head. "I don't intend to
interfere," he answered. "If you desperately need my opinion,
however, I shall be in the stables with Jack, chasing rats."

She spent two hours with Gladstone. It was odd to
realize that she could do with Crestley Hall whatever she wished, from
improvements to restoration to complete reconstruction of the stables.
Gladstone indeed knew his business, and after he seemed to realize she would
welcome his opinion, he gave it to her in precise and honest terms.

By morning the repairs had begun. Katherine rose
early and went downstairs to be greeted at the door by Timms, standing at the
ready as though he had never been gone. ''Timms!'' she exclaimed, delighted,
and he gave her a nod and a smile.

"It's good to see that you've come back to set
everything to rights, Miss Kate," he said, pulling open the door for her.

Outside she found Nicholas already up and walking
along the drive with several workmen from the village. He looked up and greeted
her with a smile. "Good morning, Miss Ralston." He excused himself
from the villagers and strolled over to her side.

"Good morning, Your Grace," she answered.

''How do you feel this morning?"

"Much better," she answered. ''The
stiffness is almost gone:"

He nodded. "Jack's gone into town to post your
letter to Lyman and Chesterpot, the garden supply company. Roses?"

She nodded. "I want the garden to be back the
way it was."

"Your parents would be pleased, I think."

She smiled a little tearfully. ''Thank you."

He touched her cheek with his fingers. "Cheer
up, Kate. Jack and I have decimated the stable's rat population for you, at
great hazard to ourselves, and I'll send to Sommesby for your horses as soon as
you wish it."

"My heroes," she said with a chuckle, and
he raised an eyebrow.

"Such a cynic, you are."

"It's a "habit I've picked up from
you," she responded with a grin. She stayed outside for most of the
morning while more villagers arrived to begin pulling out the dead growth
around the manor and filling in the potholes in the drive.

When she went back inside and sat down to a light
lunch with Lady Alison, her godmother finally asked her what had transpired at
Crestley before her arrival. "But who bandaged your wrists and treated
your other bruises?" her godmother asked at the finish, though from her
tone Katherine assumed she knew the answer.

"Nicholas did," she replied.

"Nick treated your wounds?" Lady Alison
repeated. For a long moment she looked closely at her goddaughter, and
Katherine steadily returned her gaze.

''There was no one else here to do it," she
said.

"Yes, and that is what I fear everyone will
realize," the baroness responded.

"What?" Katherine asked, feeling a twinge
of uneasiness at her godmother's somber tone.

''That you and the Black Duke of Sommesby were, for
all intents and purposes, alone together at Crestley for better than a
day."

"But he's been behaving like an old
sobersides," Katherine protested. "He has done nothing improper.
Nothing. And neither have I."

Lady Alison reached over and gripped her goddaughter's
fingers. "I believe you, Kate. But I'm not the one who matters. It is the
rest of the
ton
who will judge."

"If they believe that anything has happened,
then they are a great gab of muttonheads, and I don't care what they might
think." With that, she rose and left the room.

So her godmother thought that she had been ruined.
If that was the case, and society would no longer accept her, then she would
simply remain at Crestley Hall, though the notion of staying there, alone and
without Nicholas to talk to her and to make her laugh, wasn't nearly as
appealing as it had been two months earlier. But there still were several days
before they all planned to return to London. Perhaps they could figure
something out in time. They had been successful with their schemes thus far.

16

T
he Duke of Sommesby knew that by now Katherine was
ruined. Polite society shrank from any scandal, whoever actually happened to be
at fault. Even if some paragon of virtue such as the Viscount of Sheresford or
Captain Reginald Hillary had come after her, there would have been little
chance to repair the damage. With the Black Duke as rescuer, there was no hope
at all.

If he had needed a reason to marry her other than
the fact that he was desperately in love with her, her unexpected removal to
Crestley had provided him with one. He had begun that venture thinking only
that he was purchasing a piece of property for a friend. He had had no idea
that the prize, the true prize, would be a beautiful black haired madcap with
a quick tongue and a quicker wit. She was worth any price, any inconvenience,
including having her shoot him, although he wished to avoid that happening
again if possible.

On the morning of their fifth day at Crestley he
rose early, as he usually did when he was in the country, and headed downstairs
to the breakfast room to find Neville and Alison. "Good morning," he
said with a smile.

"Good morning," Neville returned.
"Your color is much better. I think the country air agrees with you."

"I think it's just that being shot disagrees
with me," he replied with a grin as he took a seat. "Is Katherine
awake yet?"

Alison nodded. "Yes. She and Jack have gone
down to the village to look into the purchase of lumber to rebuild the
stables."

"Do you intend to return to London soon?"
Neville asked as he passed a basket of hot biscuits. The cook Gladstone had
found was a treasure.

Nicholas nodded. "I think it best if we all
did. A united front, as it were."

"Nick," Alison said abruptly, setting
down her tea, "we know you have behaved properly toward Kate, and I know
she thinks she will be able to handle any rejection from society, but I don't
think she realizes what that really means. I think it will hurt her a great
deal."

Nicholas nodded, agreeing. He remembered how alone
Katherine had seemed when she first arrived in town, something he had sensed
when he saw her empty dance card at the Albey ball. He tilted his head at her
godparents, both now looking at him hopefully. "I intend to take care of
things," he said by way of answer, and then leaned forward. "How do
you know I have been behaving properly? I almost never do."

The baroness smiled. "Kate said you'd been
acting like an old sobersides."

In his entire life no one had ever accused him of
such a thing, and he stared at Alison, stunned into silence. Finally he gave a
shout of laughter. "Oh, good God." He chuckled. "I shall have to
remedy that immediately." He rose and excused himself from the table.

While he waited for Katherine to return, he went to
find Gladstone. He closeted himself with his secretary for several hours, for
between Crestley Hall, being shot, and the distraction of Katherine, he had
recently fallen somewhat behind with matters regarding his own properties. Gladstone
brought him up to date, and then informed him of several of the innovations
that Katherine was planning, including a new irrigation system that his
secretary had been
trying unsuccessfully to talk Nicholas into
installing at Sommesby for years.

Afterward he went outside to find that Katherine had returned and was
pacing around the outside of the stable, eyeing it critically. As she turned
around to greet him, Nicholas stepped forward and wiped a streak of dirt off
her nose with his thumb. "I wish I could write poetry," he murmured,
''because saying that you are beautiful simply does you no justice."

Her eyes twinkling, she turned away to head back to the manor. "I
think you might be more of a poet than you confess."

Grinning, he followed her. "I thought I was an old sobersides. The
two hardly seem compatible."

She stopped and turned to face him, flushing. "Lady Alison told
you I said that?"

He nodded. "Very unflattering." She continued to look
embarrassed, so he glanced away toward the field. "Are you certain you
want to try a whole new irrigation system on something the size of
Crestley?" he asked. "You'll be using up good planting ground."

She was silent for a moment. "I thought you weren't going to interfere,"
she finally said.

"Suggesting isn't interfering," he countered, taking a step
toward her and wondering how in the world he was going to get around to the
subject of asking her to marry him.

She turned away and started back toward the house.

"You said that Gladstone was at my disposal."

"So I did." She was getting angry about something, and

whatever she was implying, he didn't like it.

"You didn't tell me he would be acting as your spy."
"He's not my spy."

Kate turned around again, hands on her hips. "You said he had a
talent for such things."

He frowned. "Yes, I did. But I didn't send him to spy on you, for
Lucifer's sake."

''Then how is it that you know everything I'm planning here? And why do
you think you know more about Crestley Hall than I do?"

She had gotten it all wrong, and now he was angry as well. "I
don't. And that's not fair, Kate."

"Oh?" she snapped, folding her arms across her chest "And
why not?"

"You'll take my money, but not my opinion?"

She didn't back down. "If that's part of your bargain, then I'll
take neither. You said Crestley was still mine. I can manage quite well,
without your money and without your assistance. I certainly don't need you to
feed me and clothe me, or to tell me which of
my-my-projects
you approve
of."

"That's enough, Kate," he said warningly.

''What, will you withhold the deed until I've made improvements that
meet your approval?" she retorted. "You're worse than Uncle Simon,
trying to ruin what belongs to me and telling me it's for my own good."