Wagers and Wallflowers 11 - Beauty Dares the Beast by Clarke Alyssa

Author:Clarke, Alyssa [Clarke, Alyssa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance - Historical
Amazon: B0C39KYNV4
Publisher: Darkan Press Inc.
Published: 2023-05-10T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Impressive.”

“I know,” Dru said cheekily, warming at the praise.

“You vainglorious minx.”

“You like me this way,” she said, shocking herself with her flirtatious retort.

The duke smiled and reloaded his gun. The dogs put up a shower of grouse and they were shooting and reloading as fast as they could, taking them as the birds tried to fly away. The three dogs collected up their kill and brought them to their master. The duke was packing up the grouse, rabbits and hare into their bags and rewrapping his gun. He stood up as the dogs bounced over him and licked his face, then more warily they headed to Drusilla, sniffing at her hands, and then allowing themselves to be stroked.

“Not a bad day’s shooting, for such a wet day.”

Laughing, she asked, “How did I do?”

“You brought down two brace of the grouse. Game pie for supper tomorrow. You are a pretty good shot with a gun you’ve never handled before.” His eyes gleamed. “You are rather impressive, my lady.”

Dru smiled. “You flatter my vanity, I like it.”

He laughed appreciatively.

“I think you shot eight birds as well as the rabbits. You are much quicker at reloading that I am, Your Grace.”

Thunder cracked overhead, and the duke lifted his face to the sky. “I think we should get back and warm up because the rain is coming down hard now; after all, you might wash away in all this water.”

“I am tougher than I look, Your Grace,” she said but they packed up, and Dru mounted her horse while the duke held its head to keep it still.

He mounted and led the way back to the castle where they headed to the stables at a gallop. Grooms ran out to take the horses, the dogs slid inside the stable and were being toweled down by one of the lads, and another man took the game bags and guns from them. Everyone was running as the rain fell hard in an absolute deluge.

Ambrose grabbed her hand and set off at a run. Terribly conscious that he held her hand in a clasp, Dru followed as fast as she could, although the rain made it difficult to see where they were headed.

The duke opened a door into a glazed building within the castle courtyard. She had not explored this area before and had not been aware that there were gardens within the sheltered courtyard. As she pulled off her hat and shook the rain from her hair and body, she realized they were in a vinery with an ancient vine which clung to one of the castle walls laden with dark purple grapes. The room was warm, more than warm, and the moisture steamed from their clothes as their ragged breathing from their headlong dash began to ease.

They were both soaked to the skin and the duke’s clothes revealed a very taut and muscular body hidden beneath the once immaculate tailoring. He grinned although his mouth pulled at one side and looked so much younger, like a lad caught out in mischief.

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.