Page 1 of Her Duke Next Door
ChapterOne
“It is quite a lovely day, Mama, isn’t it?”
Mary’s daughter, Eloise, asked as they walked through the countryside. She loved the peace, the serenity, the fact that she could hear herself think. Almost thirty years of age and she had not known peace quite like the way it was in the countryside.
Her daughter, Eloise, only seven years old, still occasionally held Mary’s hand when they walked anywhere. It was not particularly dangerous where they lived. The threat of being trampled by carriages was not quite the same out in the countryside, so it was comforting for Mary to know that when Eloise held her hand it was out of her child wanting to.
“I agree,” Mary said. Her eyes fell over some flowers in the distance. “How about we start over there to pick those ones?” Mary suggested gently. “They will do very well for the wreath you want to make for Katie on her birthday.”
They walked down a country lane, where an unattended garden grew wildly. Flowers of white, pink, yellow, and orange all sprung up beautifully.
Eloise grinned. “I should think she will like the pink ones most. We can match them with white, what do you think, Mama?”
“Beautiful,” Mary agreed. “We will gather them in the basket and have Bernie prepare them for us.”
Bernie, Eloise’s governess, nodded. “I shall indeed, my lady.”
“Can I help, Bernie?” Eloise asked as she plucked a flower by the stem and placed it in the basket hanging over Mary’s arm. “I would enjoy personally helping to make the wreath so Katie knows I have participated. It shall be my gift to her. It would be lovely for her to show her papa that her best friend made the wreath.”
“Of course you can, my lady,” Bernie assured her.
“Her papa?” Mary asked, curious. “The Duke of Livingston?”
“That is right,” Eloise said. “He wrote to Katie a few weeks ago to inform her of his return for her birthday. Of course, she told me how he had promised this for several birthdays. Oh, Mama, I do hope he keeps his promise! She was ever so excited! Finally, she shall have a break from her nanny. I should think her papa misses her but if he does, then would he not come home more? She misses him terribly and…”
Mary smiled, listening to her daughter talk at great length about her friend. At least she had somehow shielded Eloise from a lonely life in the countryside after only having one child before her life was irreversibly turned upside down.
“He is rather handsome,” Eloise said, bringing Mary up short. “That is what Katie overheard the castle staff say.”
Mary cast her daughter a concerned look. “You both should not listen to such things from the staff.”
“He is kind too. Katie told me so.”
Not so kind enough to return for poor Katie’s birthday, Mary mused.
She bit her tongue angrily.
“He shall bring her many gifts from his travels, I suppose!” Eloise chirped happily, walking through the patch of flowers while Bernie pointed out some of the more perfect flowers that were not wilted. Mary watched the two of them pick them together, contemplating such a man her daughter described. “I wonder if I shall get to meet him.” She glanced back at her mother, a smile forming on her lips. “I wonder ifyoushall meet him, Mama.”
I have no interest in meeting a man who cannot even be present for his daughter’s birthday, Mary thought haughtily. This would be gossip she would share with Anne had they still lived near to one another enough. She missed her sister dearly but could not face life in London again. It was an isolating decision to not return but the best for her.
She smiled at Eloise. “I am sure he shall turn up this year bearing riches and gifts abound for Katie. And if he does not, then we shall host a wonderful birthday dinner for her. Would you like that?”
“Very much, Mama.”
“Katie will be the happiest birthday girl in the world.” Mary smiled at Eloise’s satisfied grin as she continued to pick flowers for the wreath. “I do hope her father does the right thing and contributes to that happiness.”
“Oh, I am sure he will!”
It was always on the tip of Mary’s tongue to ask Eloise if she felt the same as Katie, whether having no father—deceased or simply neglectful—affected her the way Mary was sure it affected Katie. But Eloise was still too young to be posed with such questions and she kept them to herself.
Mary’s basket was soon bundled with flowers. Eloise returned with her governess to her side once she had picked enough and talked excitedly about the plans for Katie’s birthday. The three of them lingered on the side of the country path as Eloise stopped them to check all the flowers were perfect enough and that no petals had come off. Distantly, she heard the sound of hooves.
“My lady?—”
Bernie’s call came too late, and Mary was too focused on her daughter to take note of just how close those thundering hooves were. As soon as she turned, she saw the horse, and the male rider atop it. Immediately, she pulled Eloise protectively away from the side of the road, switching places with her.
As the man slowed his horse down with a sharp, “Steady there, boy,” Mary was knocked aside by the horse’s rearing body for the sake of protecting her daughter. She cried out as she fell down. Her ankle twisted unpleasantly, and a harshripsounded. Mary covered her mouth as she realized her skirts had ripped, caught beneath the heel of her shoes.
