Page 42 of A Duke Changes Everything
That sounded good. She longed for a cup of Mrs. Scribb’s oversteeped black tea and a blanket, and for her heart to beat at a normal rhythm. But she hadn’t accomplished anything she’d wished to.
“I wanted to show you around the estate.” To showcase the beautiful parts, not the crumbling bits.
“I’ve seen every inch of Enderley.”
“But the garden—”
“—has been cut back for the winter, I suspect.” He descended to the stair step just above her.
Mina reached out to stop him going farther. Her palm landed on his chest, pressed against the buttons of his waistcoat and his firm muscles beneath. Mina dropped her hand, but she needed to stall him.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Lord Lyle’s horse.” She’d planned to confess all to him eventually, but the guilt of her deception weighed on her mind now more than ever.
“You should have told me. Trusted me, as I must trust you. If you remain at Enderley when I leave, I’ll be relying on you to represent my interests, not engage in horse stealing.”
“Youcantrust me.” The reminder that he would soon depart made her heart squeeze if as a fist had been wrapped around her middle.
“No matter what I decide?” He pressed his hand against the wall next to her head. “What if I send the stallion back to Lyle? What if I told you to dismiss every member of the staff? ”
Mina’s throat tightened until she could barely breathe. “Why would you?”
“To start anew and be done with the past.”
“Emma’s nineteen. Hildy is sixteen. They have nothing to do with the estate’s past. They never knew the father you hate so much.” Mina pressed her lips together. She hadn’t meant to speak so bluntly.
“I see.” He huffed out a breath of frustration. “So you’ll do my bidding, and resent me for it every single day?”
“Most dukes don’t bother with what their employees think of them.”
Chuckling, he pushed off the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “What have I done to make you think I’ll be like most dukes?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “To be perfectly honest, I’d pass the title to Tobias if I could.”
“Tobias would be an awful duke.”
“Worse than me?” His voice had gone quiet, vulnerable. As if it mattered to him whether she thought he could embrace a role he loathed.
“Definitely.”
He lifted a shoulder. “That’s something, I guess.”
“If you wish to be a good duke, I could help you.” Mina’s father had once described a steward’s work that way.
“What would you suggest?” His gaze was wary, as if he’d agreed to a spoonful of medicine but was dreading the taste.
Enderley came to the fore of Mina’s mind, as it so often did. If he planned to do better than his father and brother, taking care of his birthright was where he needed to start.
Reaching into her pocket, she closed her hand around the list she’d prepared earlier in the morning.
“This would be a good place to start.”
Staring into her eyes, he reached for the folded list. Their fingers brushed and heat shot down Mina’s arm, then lower, to her middle, then her thighs. Like swallowing that bit of sherry he’d given her. One touch and her insides were warm.
“You need to let go,” he said in a voice so low it made her shiver.
Mina opened her fingers and took a step back. She was acting like a fool. Like that impetuous infatuated girl she’d once been. Such lovesick nonsense couldn’t happen this time. Her wayward heart would obey her.
The first man she’d set her sights on had been a bad choice, but the Duke of Tremayne was an impossibility.
As he examined her notations, both brows edged up his forehead. “This is a substantial list.” He flipped the page and found the rest. A muscle began pulsing in his cheek. “Might have been easier to note what did not require repair.”
