How to Fool a Duke (The Husband Dilemma #1) - Lancaster, Mary Page 0,33

a glance at Leonard, who looked hastily away, biting his lip.

“I acknowledge it was all my fault,” he said shakily, and Sarah let out a snort of laughter that she hoped might be mistaken for anger.

Lady Whitmore took the return of her guests—two of them soaked to the skin—quite in her stride, merely summoning servants to aid the afflicted.

Only as Sarah hurried upstairs in the wake of a maid did their hostess interrupt the flow of Lord Trenton’s explanations to demand in dismay, “Sarah? Is my music ruined?”

“Oh, no,” Leonard said from several stairs beneath. He held the leather-bound sheets over the bannister to Lord Trenton, who passed them to Lady Whitmore.

Sarah paused, her mouth falling open. Had she dropped the music? When had he picked it up? She had forgotten all about it in the midst of passion and the shock of her cold soak.

Leonard smiled at her tranquilly, and this time she could not hold in the laughter. She actually ran after the maid, hoping her mirth would be misconstrued as feminine hysterics.

Chapter Nine

The following afternoon, Leonard and James left the dig early in order to prepare for the supper party at the inn. James was clearly eager to see his harpist again, and Leonard… Well, it had been an effort to stay away from Sarah today. He hadn’t seen her since they had parted soaked to the skin in the castle.

Her warmth, her passion, delighted him, as did the shared if concealed hilarity of their dip in the lake. But she was skittish, unsure, and that haunted him. Could he really be responsible for the uncertainty that lay beneath her outward charm? Had his act of walking away from her two years ago—an act he had considered so honorable at the time—truly affected her so deeply?

Guilt tugged at his heart. She had told him he was the reason she was here, making herself a perfect and accomplished lady to capture his heart. Not to marry him but to reject him. Revenge, which he had inspired.

He hadn’t meant to be cruel. But at the very least he had been thoughtless. And now she did not trust him—or any man.

Deep in thought, he entered the castle by a side door, James at his heels. At once he was aware of someone descending the stairs that led to Lady Whitmore’s private apartments, and paused to greet her.

But it was not her ladyship, but his own man of business.

“Jenkins,” he said in surprise. “How on earth did you get my letter so quickly?”

Jenkins’s eyes had widened with equal astonishment, so that he looked positively alarmed. “Oh, I have not had your letter, sir. I came in response to…er… In short, sir, your hostess is one of my oldest and most honored clients.”

Leonard blinked. “Is she, by God? You mean we share a solicitor?” He laughed. “What are the odds?”

Jenkins smiled nervously. “A useful coincidence however. We are agreed you shall rent the property you discussed. I have left papers for you to sign if you find the rent fair, which I think it is.”

“I would rather buy it and be done,” Leonard said with a frown.

“Unhappily, her…her ladyship is not in a position to sell. Although the property is settled upon her, she needs to keep it intact to be passed on to her son.”

“Oh. Well, I would not care to step on her son’s toes.”

“To be sure, sir, that would look most odd,” Jenkins said breathlessly.

Leonard peered at him. “Are you quite well, Jenkins?”

“Indeed, sir. But Your Grace must forgive me. A conveyance to Durham awaits me…”

Still frowning, Leonard watched him dash through the passage to the main hall. “Does it seem to you, James, that everyone has run mad?”

“Present company excepted, my lord Duke.”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Leonard said ruefully and carried on to his chamber.

***

As she and Hammy entered the inn that evening, Sarah’s heart beat with excitement. She knew it was foolish, but she was in danger of believing in the duke’s warmth toward her. Not his attraction to her. She had deliberately won that from the beginning. And even if she had given him the wrong idea about her morals, she knew from the lust in his eyes—and his body, God help her—that he still desired her. But then he had, presumably, once desired Lady Loxley and probably still did. Sarah refused to be one in a long line of flirts, to call it no worse. And if Leonard had mentioned marriage in his wager