The Heart of a Duke (14 page)

The temptation of spending a few hours in the
wickedly thorough embrace of her husband had her grabbing his hand
and tugging him up the stairs. She tossed a grin over her shoulder.
"Oh, I think we shouldn't disappoint the servants. I don't want to
start off on the wrong foot, after all."

"Perhaps
you
should be off your feet
altogether."

His naughty murmur had Elle choking back a
giggle. She would attempt not to rush through the household
introductions, but she had a feeling it would be an exercise in
futility. The staff would just have to learn to rub along together,
whenever their master and mistress abruptly abandoned duty to
disappear together.

As they passed through the doorway, Jacob and
Elle were confronted with several rows of neatly dressed servants
with faces wreathed in eager smiles. She reached up automatically
to touch her locket, and remembered why she no longer wore
it.

Hopefully, this evening the gypsy locket would
grace Val's neck, infusing her with the confidence she needed.
Magic or not, the necklace had helped Elle recognize her true love.
She couldn't wait to see what it brought her friend.

Jacob's hazel gaze shined with love and humor
as he turned to introduce her to the staff.

"I'd like to introduce my darling wife, the
woman who captured my heart before I'd even realized it was in
danger. Craftier than any pirate, she didn't even fire a warning
shot across my bow."

A ripple of chuckles echoed through the hall,
and Elle swatted his arm, a smile tugging at her lips. Who knew
that under the sharp barbs and teasing digs lay the heart of a
romantic? Her new husband had fully revealed himself in the past
few weeks. She would never be fooled by his prickly guard
again.

Jacob raised her hand to his lips and her
breath tangled, then he laced his fingers through hers in a firm
grip.

"This Amazon of whom I speak is, of course—"
His gaze locked with Elle's as he spoke into the hush of the front
hall, one side of his mouth curling in a smile that made her
suddenly feel quite, quite bold— "my beloved Mrs. Eleanore
Farrish."

About Olivia
Kelly

Olivia Kelly writes all sorts of
things, in between chasing her children around their small section
of North Carolina and drinking copious amounts of Coke Zero. The
stories run the gamut from historical fiction to urban fantasy, but
they always include smooching. She has two historical romance
novellas published,
It Could Only Be
You
and the Amazon Bestseller
The Lady and the Duke
.
You can also find Olivia's work in A Summons from His Grace (from
the Regency Summons Christmas Collection). The upcoming urban
fantasy
Good Ghoul Gone Bad
will be published in Fireside Fiction Co. (June
2014), under her pseudonym D.B Starler. You can find Olivia at her
website,
http://oliviakellyauthor.weebly.com/
, or on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads and
Google+.

Samantha Grace

Chapter One

June 1810

Valera Bell touched the heart
pendant hanging around her neck and silently repeated the gypsy’s
words.
This necklace shall lead to the
heart of a duke
.

Her stomach fluttered. Well, she
was about to put the gypsy’s prophecy to the test. That is,
if
the Duke of Langley
exited the card room before her sister realized she was missing
from the ball.

A creak outside the dark sitting room where
Valera was hiding sent her scrambling to check the corridor. No one
was there, yet again.

“
This is madness,” she grumbled
and sank against the wall. The duke could be in there all
night.

She was tempted to abandon her post and scurry
back to her place among the wallflowers, but the memory of her
older sister’s cutting remark about Papa having wasted money on her
coming out made her fingers tighten on the locket.

Valera wasn’t the prettiest debutante. Nor did
she have the largest dowry. Her family wasn’t even among the most
influential in England. But she had something better.

She had magic.

And she was going to need it if she planned to
marry the most sought-after bachelor in Town and make her Papa
proud. She nibbled her bottom lip and prayed Elle had given the
locket—and her blessing to pursue her former betrothed—to the right
friend.

The muffled noises from the card room grew
louder for a moment, as if someone opened the door, then quieted
again. Valera shifted her weight to peek through the crack between
door and jamb. Two men were headed in her direction. They passed
through a pool of light from the wall sconces and her legs began to
shake.

It was Langley. His dark curls created a halo
with the light behind him, and his face became lost in
shadow.

A wave of nausea swept through her
as she realized what she needed to do to gain his attention. She
took a deep breath and grabbed the door handle with trembling
fingers.
God helps those who help
themselves.
Jerking the door open, she
flew into his path and braced for impact.

The duke collided with her, but instead of
warm arms wrapping around her to save her from a fall as she’d
anticipated, she stumbled back and landed on her bum with an
undignified “Ooff!”

“
Miss Bell!” An alarmed voice
barely penetrated the rattling in her ears. “Look what you have
done, Langley.”

“What
I
have done? The chit ran into
me.”

And the duke hadn’t even tried to save her.
This did not bode well for the start of a courtship.

His companion knelt in front of her, his thick
brows drawn together.

“
Lord Ravenswood,” she said on a
breath. Elle’s brother, Alex. Thank heavens for a familiar face.
She practically melted into the carpet gazing up into that handsome
face so close to hers. It had been a few years since they had
spoken, but Valera had been watching him from afar this
Season.

“
Have you been injured, Miss
Bell?” Alex’s blue eyes lit with brotherly concern as his large
hands closed around her upper arms.

A current shot through her where he touched
her, leaving her more rattled than the fall. “N-no, my lord. I do
not believe so anyway.”

Langley watched the exchange with a
dispassionate stare. “The girl is unharmed. Let’s continue to the
ballroom.”

The tingles dancing along her skin faded and
her heart dropped. Could His Grace not spare a moment to pretend
concern for her?

Ignoring the duke, Alex gently helped her
stand then readjusted the headpiece knocked loose in the fall. It
flopped against her ear again. A slow smile spread across full lips
and chased away the chill of Langley’s dismissal. “Perhaps you’ll
want to visit the retiring room before returning to the
ball.”

Langley raised an imperious brow and leaned to
peer inside the dark room. “What were you doing in there, girl?”
His piercing stare made her palms moist.

She picked at her gloves. The duke had made
her a little uneasy the few times she had been in his presence, but
she thought everything would be different since she was in
possession of the locket and destined to become his bride. “Uh… I
thought it was the withdrawing room?”

“
Is that a question?” The duke’s
voice snapped like a whip. “Where is your chaperone?”

His chastisement hit its mark and she blushed.
Her sister had been basking in the adoration of a foppish viscount
when Valera checked before stealing from the ballroom. Janine
thought her too meek to do anything this daring.

More like
foolish
. Tonight wasn’t turning out like
Valera had envisioned.

Alex drew her protectively to his side,
towering above her and lending her a sense of security. “Miss Bell
isn’t responsible for your foul mood,” he said.

The duke sniffed. “No, that would be your
fault, Ravenswood. Another kick from the Barnaby clan. You’re as
loyal as your sister.”

Valera gasped as Alex tensed beside her. If
anyone overheard Langley, he might conclude the duke hadn’t given
his blessing for her dear friend Elle’s marriage to the duke’s
cousin, Mr. Farrish.

Langley’s mouth twisted sardonically. “Now I
see the reason you avoid innocents in favor of widows, Ravenswood.
Too easily shocked.”

Intense heat engulfed her. For a moment, she
had forgotten Alex’s roguish habits and allowed herself to be
caught up in the lovely sensations his touch created.

Foolish girl
. Alex was her best friend’s brother. He would never see her
as a lady of interest, nor should she want the kind of attention he
bestowed on women. Valera was seeking a husband and the duke was in
the market for a wife.

Alex nudged her in the same direction where
the card room lay. “You should run along to the retiring room, Miss
Bell. It is to the left at the end of the corridor.”

She bobbed a quick curtsey before lifting her
skirts and hurrying away from the men.

“
Watch your step, Your Grace,”
Alex bit out, his deep voice carrying on the air.

“
I didn’t see the chit. She is as
quiet and small as a mouse.”

“
That was not my
meaning.”

The duke’s words were like a dark cloud
chasing her heels. Even after he’d mowed her down, he thought her
beneath his notice, as invisible and insignificant as a rodent.
This was going to be tougher than she’d imagined, winning the heart
of a man who might not have one. Perhaps she should give the
pendant to one of her other friends and set her cap for a gentleman
with a lesser status who wasn’t so surly.

Her step faltered and her eyes
widened as her favorite fable came to mind.
The mouse and the lion
. The duke’s
surliness could simply be a case of Langley with a thorn in his
paw. What if all he needed was a brave little mouse to show him
kindness?

As she continued to the retiring room, she was
smiling. She touched the pendant again, the metal unyielding and
strengthening her resolve. Yes, perhaps that was exactly what he
needed, and Valera could be just the mouse to tame that
ill-tempered beast.

Alexander Barnaby, Earl of Ravenswood, heir to
the Marquess of St. Aidans, shook with repressed anger as he
entered the ballroom with Langley. To Hell with smoothing over the
rift created between their families when Alex’s sister jilted the
duke. Alex had tolerated as much of the man’s company as he could
stomach that evening. He should find an accommodating lady’s bed to
warm and cut the evening short.

He scanned the ballroom for a promising
prospect, but all he could picture was Miss Bell sprawled on the
plum Aubusson, her whiskey-brown eyes round with shock. And
damnation! Little Vallie Bell had grown up and filled out in all
the right places when he hadn’t been paying attention.

Alex hadn’t seen his sister’s
childhood friend in some time, but he remembered her as a shy,
sweet girl. In truth, he’d always held a soft spot for her over
Elle’s other friends. Vallie had always seemed a little too wise
for her age. Perhaps it was because she had been forever spouting
off proverbs like ‘
Think twice before you
leap
’ and ‘
He
laughs best who laughs last
.’ His personal
favorite was ‘
Figures don’t lie, but they
won’t make a hen lay
’. What did that even
mean?