No Other Duke Will Do by Grace Burrowes

Author:Grace Burrowes
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: 0
Published: 2017-11-06T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“I don’t believe Mr. Sherbourne did it intentionally,” Elizabeth said, “but the kite bearing the red dragon is up there somewhere, nonetheless. Two years from now, somebody will see it wafting among the parapets, and you’ll have a proper ghostly legend for your castle.”

She’d kept her distance from Haverford for most of the day, resisting the urge to recount for him the pleasure of her morning walk with Griffin. The younger St. David brother was spontaneous, cheerful, and guileless, probably very like the duke had been, long, long ago. She and Griffin had agreed to meet tomorrow, weather permitting, though Elizabeth had wondered—idly—if Griffin would have enjoyed the kite flying.

He’d certainly not have got his kite stuck up among the castle’s crenellations. He’d have been absorbed with flying the kite, not flirting with the young ladies. The other bachelors would have been dumbstruck to see how the ladies flocked to Griffin’s side as a result.

“We have legends enough already,” Haverford said, leading Elizabeth down a gravel walk. “Come with me.” He’d appeared at her side as the party had left the park to return to the castle, then tarried with her behind the larger group in the formal garden.

“Where are we going, Your Grace?”

“To retrieve your damned kite.”

He was in a temper over something, though he’d flown the St. Andrew’s cross for Miss Trelawny with cordial competence. Elizabeth had ignored them as best she could with Mr. Sherbourne affixed to her elbow.

“It’s only a kite, Haverford, and I’m sure you have better things to do—”

He opened a gate in the garden wall. “The view I’d like to show you is even better than the view from the oak, as grand as the view from the hill.”

The wall ran into the castle itself three yards to the right. The duke opened a low door in the arch of the gateway between the garden and the park, and Elizabeth spied a passage.

“You want me to follow you into there?” she said.

“We’ll leave the door open at the bottom, and soon find ourselves in a servants’ stair. This wing of the castle has no ghosts, I assure you.”

He held out his hand. The other guests were strolling toward the house, probably intent on resting before changing for dinner. Miss Trelawny was draped about Mr. Sherbourne’s arm like seaweed wrapped about a floating spar.

Elizabeth took Haverford’s hand and bent low to follow him into the passage.

“The castle is full of hidden rooms, extra staircases, and even tunnels,” he said. “We managed to dance our way through the Civil Wars, the Protectorate, the Restoration, the Jacobites, all of it, in part because the castle was designed with escape routes and hiding places. Our plan was to be hard to find and hard to follow in our own sanctuary. The old dower house has a few of the same features.”

They reached a spiral staircase, dimly lit from above. Elizabeth dropped the duke’s hand. “Will Lady Glenys set up housekeeping in the dower house anytime soon?”

“I certainly hope not.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.