Page 41 of Taken By the Duke of Stone

He dragged a hand through his hair, "Let's be on our way then."

"Let's."

Earlier he had sent a note around to the Hartfield house inviting Miss Proctor and her aunt for a stroll through the park.

"Hello, chap," Patrick waved at him from where he had been lounging against a tree. Then he made his way towards them, "Surprised to see you here."

And then he looked over Victor's shoulder and saw the footman with the now cleaned up dog with a smart blue now tied around its neck.

"Is that the mutt from the other day?" The Viscount's eyes were saucer wide.

"Yes," he said with irritation, already looking around for a familiar head of brown hair.

"He looks quite distinguished now," Patrick laughed.

It was at that moment that he spotted Lavinia in tow with Lady Hartfield. She was in a deep pink dress and a matching bonnet, a snowy white parasol propped over her shoulder.

Her eyes lit up with excitement as soon as she saw him, but the excitement doubled when she caught sight of the dog being held by the footman behind him.

"Andrew!" she cried, increasing the length of her strides till she had the dog in her arms, cooing and fussing over it, "You look so smart and healthy now. How adorable."

He cleared his throat, "do I have to compete with a four legged creature now?"

"Your Grace," she laughed, dropping into a deep curtsy, lashes fluttering at him, "are you jealous of Andrew?"

He smirked at her.

"Your Grace," Lady Hartfield reached them and then made a face at the dog, "Lavvie, you know dogs make me sick."

"I rescued him from certain harm yesterday and the Duke was kind enough to keep him for me," she dropped the dog back on the ground and grabbed hold of its matching blue leash.

"Do you think Andrew would make a wonderful addition to your dogs in the country?" She asked as they began to walk.

Victor thought about the large beasts who weighed almost the same as her and couldn't see any good outcome for Andrew who looked more or less like a large, hairy rat.

"Of course," he said, "but I already have to deal with those two hounding my every step, I am loathe to add a third. And moreover, Andrew might just get lost in the factory."

Her head snapped to him, gaze full of curiosity, "there's a factory? Is it yours? What do you make?"

"It is in fact a brewery. I make and process my own alcoholic beverage. It is the major source of income and employment on my lands," he glanced over at her. "Most people do not know about the brewery though, I am not ashamed of it but neither do I advertise it. It is not the thing for a titled gentleman of my ilk to get his hands dirty with such a menial occupation, but the brewery is my biggest source of joy."

"Tell me everything about it!"

"Are you sure?" He raised a brow, shocked at her apparent interest, "I am afraid it might get quite boring for you."

"Please?" she requested. It was a step to learning about him, to fitting into his life.

"We start with barley," he began. "First we steep it in water and let it sit. It goes through a process called fermentation where the barley is converted to organic acids. Yeast is necessary for the process. It is quite more complicated than it sounds and requires a lot of patience. My great grandfather established the brewery back when our lands stopped turning a good yield and the sheep were dying. The land was suffering and the tenants too," heexplained. "It started off as a sort of experiment with his brother and then there was a fire that tore the whole thing down."

She gasped in dismay. "Oh no. That must have been horrible."

"It was, or so I have been told," he shrugged, "he was a persistent man though, and so rather than give up on the brewery, he rebuilt. My father used to say I inherited his passion for it."

"He did not have an interest in it?"

"No," Victor said, "neither my father nor grandfather did. They turned it over to managers and generally ignored it, focusing more on the land and working hard to ensure it became fertile again. When I got the title, my first order of business was enlarging the factory and purchasing some necessary machines that would aid the process. That way, I was able to employ more of the tenants."

"How long does all of this take?" They had stopped walking as they got to a weeping cherry tree and stopped under it to shade themselves from the sun.

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