Page 33 of By No Means a Gentleman
“That is preposterous! Sharing a chamber with one man is already crossing the line. But two? I cannot share a chamber with two men!”
“One man,” Leeds said flatly.
She pointed to Calstone. “Then what is he?”
“I’d like to know that, too,” Calstone grumbled.
“The chaperone.”
Harriet sent them both a piercing look. She couldn’t believe her ears. “Surely you are jesting.”
“I am not.”
“When has a strange man ever been a chaperone to a woman?”
“I’m not strange,” Calstone said, affronted. “But I am a man.”
God’s blood. It was like talking to a child. “You are both strangers to me.”
“I am family,” Leeds said.
“Not yet,” Harriet pointed out. “Perhaps not at all.”
He didn’t take her bait, but merely stared at her. Either this man was an emotionless brick, or he had an impressive amount of patience.
No, no.Nothingabout him was impressive. If she kept telling herself so, one day she might believe it to be true. However, she now knew him tonotbe emotionless either. Lord, his grin on thebeach had near blinded her. Just thinking about the pure delight that lit his features brought on another set of heart palpitations.
Beneath that sculpted marblefeelingschurned.
“Chaperone or not, there is only one bed,” Calstone lamented. “Where are we all going to sleep?”
Leeds tapped his foot on the ground pointedly.
The duke cursed. “The stables would be more comfortable than the floor.”
“Then go sleep in the stables.”
At any other time, Harriet would have laughed at the aggrieved look that crossed the duke’s face.
Calstone turned his attention to the fireplace and grimaced. “There isn’t even a fire lit. I’ll go arrange for wood, shoes, and food.”
Leeds nodded. “And a carriage. We start for London at daybreak.”
“Wait,” Harriet called when Calstone strode to the door. “You can’t leave—you’re my chaperone!”
The duke paused. “I won’t be gone long,” he said and hurried off, but not before Harriet caught the look on his face. There was still something they were not telling her.
She shot a meaningful look to Leeds. “What are you hiding?”
“Who says I’m hiding anything?”
“If not the look on your friend’s face, then the way he scurried off.”
Leeds sighed.
So, she was right!
“Either you tell me, or I will hunt down the owner and ask him myself.”
