Duke Looks Like a Groomsman - Valerie Bowman Page 0,58

be married to him.

It had all been so easy with Rhys. She’d just assumed it would be easy with any man of her choosing. Murdock met all the measurements after all. He was tall, handsome, well-educated, wealthy, from a good family, possessed of a fine title. He had even been approved by both of her parents, which was something she’d never been able to say for the Duke of Worthington.

But somehow, she was just now getting around to realizing that those things didn’t necessarily mean that her marriage would be a pleasant one. Her time with Rhys had been so different. They’d gone riding, talked, laughed about things, and even kissed (and more) in his study. He’d fulfilled all of the measurements as well (save for Papa’s general disapproval).

But with Rhys, those things weren’t what had made her like him so much. He’d actually been smart and funny and good company. She was beginning to fear that not only was Murdock neither funny nor good company, he showed signs of being domineering and arrogant. Rhys was arrogant too, of course, but in a charming way. Not in a way in which she wanted to strangle him, as she’d been tempted to with Lord Murdock in the drawing room earlier.

She needed to get away and think. She could not stay in this house one more day and pretend to be the perfect little debutante. Especially not when Lord Murdock would be following her around, smiling at her. She had no interest in playacting at the moment. She had to leave.

Dawn had barely broken over the horizon when she marched down to the stables to ask for a mount. Rhys was nowhere to be seen—and for that, for once, she was grateful. She didn’t want anyone to know where she was going today. She wanted privacy and the chance to think about everything without interruption.

She asked for Alabaster. The steed would be the perfect horse to ride far and fast across the estate. To take her away from the niceties and the pleasantries and all the fake platitudes she was so sick of.

When Henry, the groomsman, brought Alabaster around, he said, “Are ye certain ye don’t want an escort, me lady? Seems ta me Lord Clayton and Mr. Hereford won’t like it if I let ye go alone.”

“I’m certain, Henry. And if anyone comes looking for me, please tell them I insisted upon being alone. I’ll be back late this afternoon.”

Henry nodded, but his eyes were filled with doubt. “I’ll tell ‘em, me lady. But ye may want ta make it a shorter ride. It smells like rain in the air. If a storm’s a brewin’, ye won’t want ta be caught out in it.”

“You let me worry about that, Henry. Thank you for your help.” She tossed him a coin, spun the horse around, and took off at a gallop.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Later that morning, Rhys was mucking a stall when a commotion near the front of the stables caught his attention. A lady’s voice was raised, and a small group of stablehands were gathered around her. It sounded as if they were attempting to calm her down.

At first Rhys wondered if it was Julianna. She seemed to be the most frequent lady visitor to the stables lately. But the longer he listened, the more he realized it was an older woman speaking. He recognized the voice, too, but he couldn’t quite place it.

Rhys set down his brush and left the stall, dusting off his hands as he went. When he rounded the corner, it was just as he suspected. Three of the groomsmen and Mr. Hereford were gathered around a woman who was nearly hysterical.

“Don’t worry, me lady,” Henry was saying. “I’m certain she’ll be back any moment now.”

The woman to whom they were speaking was considerably shorter than the rest of them and Rhys had to wait for the circle of men to shift before he saw that the woman was…the Duchess of Montlake. Julianna’s mother.

Rhys quickly ducked into the nearest empty stall to keep listening while ensuring that the duchess didn’t see him. She might well recognize him, even though he was dressed in a white shirt and plain cloth breeches.

“Where did she go?” Lady Montlake nearly shouted.

“I don’t know,” Henry replied. “She just asked for a mount. She insisted upon going alone.”

“And you let her, you fool?” Lady Montlake sounded as if she was about to cry.

Rhys narrowed his eyes on the scene. There were two possibilities. Either Lady