The Wooing Game by Rose Gordon

Author:Rose Gordon
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Parchment & Plume, LLC
Published: 2016-11-20T18:00:00+00:00

8

J ames was jealous, dammit, which was bad enough. But for Charlotte to know it… Well, it made him just that much more vulnerable. Did she think it an amusing tidbit to share with her family? Or did it make her more drawn to the man behind the letters?

That reminded him of what he needed to do at present.

“Dulcey,” he said.

“Yes, my lord.”

“What is your post here?”

“The butler, my lord,” Dulcey said with a bow and a stoic expression.

“Good, then. I won't need to remind you.”

“No, my lord.”

“You shall bring all of the countess' correspondence to me until further notice.” James held out his hand.

As if he knew exactly what James wanted, Dulcey excused himself for a moment and came back with the letter Charlotte had written to Lord Smitten. He placed it in James' open palm.

“Thank you,” James murmured. “Now send a man over to Lady Atherton's to let them know both Lord and Lady Wynn will be attending their musicale tomorrow night.”

“Yes, my lord. Anything else?”

“No. You're dismissed.”

“And you're besotted,” came a deep voice from behind James.

James spun on his heel. “Danby,” he greeted through a brittle smile, catching a glimpse of a somewhat amused-looking Dulcey from the corner of his eye. Why the blazes did the duke keep sneaking up on him? James lifted his eyebrow and Dulcey sobered.

“Wynn, I was afraid I'd have to hire a Bow Street Runner to track you down.”

“Well, then I guess I just saved you a small fortune,” James said dryly.

Danby harrumphed and tapped his cane on the floor. “I'll need every pence to purchase a more comfortable pair of boots with how long you make a man stand.”

Reluctantly, James invited the man back to his study, then grimaced the whole way as Danby groaned and grumbled about the long walk and James' hospitality, or rather, the lack thereof.

James knew the man was just trying to be cantankerous. On more than one occasion he'd been behind the man as he climbed three flights of stairs at the opera house without muttering a complaint.

“Please, make yourself comfortable and I'll ring for—”

Thwack. The door to James' study flew shut by the end of Danby's cane. “No need to order anything I don't plan to stay long.”

“Are you sure?” James feigned overwhelming concern. “You have to make the same trek to leave the house. I'd hate my face to be the last you see before you meet your maker.”

“I'm sure you would,” the duke muttered, crossing his arms.

“Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad thing,” James said thoughtfully. “I just might be lauded a hero.”

“The way you're trying to be one in Charlotte's eyes,” Danby asked, a smug expression on his face.

“I'm not trying to be her hero.”

“Just her husband,” Danby concluded.

James remained silent. There was no use in refuting the man's words and they both knew it.

Danby uncrossed his arms and idly polished the top of his cane. “For as much as all of my young family members pretend to hate me, they all have one other thing in common: happiness.

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