Dastardly Dukes and Randy Rogues: Regency Series Starter Collection Volume One by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Romance, Historical, Fiction
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2019-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Willa’s hands were clenched into fists at her sides. It was less from anger and more to control their trembling. The man was no less terrifying at a close distance. His lurking aside, there was something cold and calculating about him. She had little doubt that he was plotting something. His desire to lay claim to Marina as his child had nothing to do with any paternal inclinations he might have. He wanted something and Marina was a means to an end for him. Of that, she was certain.

“Where is Lord Deveril?” she asked of the butler.

“He has stepped out, Miss Marks,” the butler replied. “He had a matter of business to attend to but is expected to return shortly.”

“Does the matter of business pertain to Mr. West?” she asked.

“I cannot say, Miss,” the butler replied.

Cannot say. It was a far cry from he did not know. She was fairly certain that given how difficult the afternoon had been that Lord Deveril would not have left unless it was to deal with the problem at hand.

“When he returns, please inform him that I’m awaiting him in his study.” Her manner was as stiff and formal as the butler’s. She was well aware that he disapproved of her, that he remembered her well enough from her previous visit to the house and likely saw through their sham of a betrothal as if peering through a pane of glass.

“I see no reason why that man should not have access to his child,” Lady Carringden proclaimed from her position on the landing. “It isn’t our place to prevent a father and his daughter from reuniting.”

“Other than the fact that the child is terrified of him?” Willa demanded. “I cannot understand the hardness of your heart toward an innocent child.”

Lady Carringden laughed. “My dear, are any of us ever really innocent?”

“Yes,” Willa said, beyond infuriated by the woman’s cavalier answer. “I aim to wait for Lord Deveril in his study. Alone.”

Breezing past the butler and his disapproving glower, and ignoring Lady Carringden’s indignant harrumph, she made her way down the corridor and into the study that was his sanctuary. It was the first time she’d been in that room alone, without his overwhelming presence to fill it. It was a strange feeling—almost as intimate as those charged moments that had passed between them earlier. It was a room filled with his letters and personal items. It was where he conducted his business, where he greeted his intimates, and where he spent the better part of his time. And every piece of furniture, every book, every letter, all seemed to be infused with the intoxicating scent that was simply him.

Free to explore without his knowing and watchful gaze upon her, Willa did so. Walking around the perimeter of the room first, she studied the art work on the walls, the figurines that graced the shelves and mantel. The bookshelves behind the desk held a treasure trove of delights, many of them forbidden. There were books she’d read, devouring page after page until she could recite them.

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