A Duke to Die For by Amelia Grey

Author:Amelia Grey
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Casablanca Pr
Published: 2009-04-01T07:11:47+00:00

Twelve

My Dearest Lucien,

Here are a few more good words to live by from my favorite friend, Lord Chesterfield: “To ride well is not only a proper and graceful accomplishment for a gentleman, but may also save you many a fall hereafter; to fence well may possibly save your life; and to dance well is absolutely necessary in order to sit, stand, and walk well.”

Your loving Grandmother,

Lady Elder

IT WAS HALF-PAST NINE IN THE EVENING. BLAKE STOOD stiffly in his drawing room, staring out the window into the darkness and waiting for Constance to bring Henrietta below stairs so they could make the short carriage ride to Lady’s Windham’s house.

His shoulder was killing him. He desperately wanted a glass of port or brandy—or anything to take the edge off the pain, but he dared not take a sip of anything until he had seen Henrietta through her first ball. If he started drinking now, he was afraid he wouldn’t stop until the spirits eased the ache in his shoulder as they had done right after he was thrown from his horse.

The days at Valleydale with his cousins had been good until his mare stepped in a hole during a hunt and he and the horse went down hard. Blake’s left shoulder had taken the brunt of his fall, knocking his arm out of the shoulder joint. Morgan had put the arm back in place for him, but the pain had been excruciating. And it still pained him.

Much to his consternation, he had to ask Ashby to help him tie his neckcloth because certain movements were still too painful to accomplish alone. He didn’t like the feeling of not being in control.

When he’d returned to London earlier in the day, he had gone straight to see a physician. Not that it had done him any good. The ornery old fellow had simply looked at his shoulder, told him to keep the arm still, and said it would be better in a few days, which was exactly what Morgan had told him. Blake had refused the laudanum the physician offered him for the pain. He knew that would put him to sleep. Tonight belonged to Henrietta, and he wanted to make sure he attended her first ball.

He wanted everyone in the ton to see that he was a proper guardian for Henrietta, though he couldn’t feel any less like one. Every time he thought about her, he felt more like a seducer than a protector.

He hadn’t seen Henrietta since the balloon ride last week, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t thought about her. Often. He had stayed busy with Race and Morgan during the day riding the new horses, hunting wild boars, and practicing archery, but at night, when he lay down to sleep, Henrietta always invaded his thoughts. Even after his evening with the tavern wench.

He had hoped the lusty woman would ease the ache in his loins and make him forget his ward, but that hadn’t happened. The brief, unfulfilling encounter with her had left him more unsatisfied than ever.

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