The Duke’s Seduction of Lady M. Raven McAllan

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      They approached the lane that snaked from the top of the steep escarpment where the castle perched – a perfect position to check out invaders in its less than peaceful past – to the valley bottom. A scant half a mile later it reached the village, which took its name from both the castle and the river that meandered around its boundaries.

      They paused at the crossroads and Ronald held out the reins in Brody’s direction. ‘You best take ‘em now, m’lord, I mean Your Grace.’

      Brody thought for a second and shook his head. ‘You take ‘em down. You seem to remember their mouths are soft and you’ll know the incline is sharp. Use the brakes with caution but remember they’re there.’ He grinned. ‘So am I, if you need me, though I doubt you will.’

      Ronald flushed with pleasure and took a long indrawn breath. ‘Well if you’re sure. I’ve taken the wagon to church every week for them that need to get back sharpish-like, and driven the gig down often enough but never sommat as bang up as this.’

      ‘There’s a first time for everything and as my groom-cum-country coachman – you’ll have to get used to driving anything I ask. On you go, I have all faith in your abilities or I’d not have offered.’

      Brody sat back, arms folded and satisfied, and watched the myriad of expressions chase over the youth’s face. If all went well Ronald could in time work his way even higher but for now, Brody decided he’d overwhelmed the lad enough and sat back with an air of unconcern, even though he was primed to take over if needed to.

      There was no need. Once, the nearside horse pecked at a rabbit, which had a death wish and ran between the horses’ legs, but Ronald soothed and steadied him without the animals missing a stride. Brody was pleased that Mrs Loveage’s encouragement was working out.

      Nothing else happened to upset animals or humans and within a few minutes, they reached the bottom of the hill and the first few houses of the village. On one side of the lane, the sturdy Norman church with its unusual elegant spire sat in a slightly elevated position, its lychgate tucked safely away from the lane’s edge. Next to it was the school, where several children waved from the grounds as the curricle went by.

      ‘Ho, Ronnie there’s a prime pair.’ One young girl waved and shouted and then danced around in a circle. ‘Yes, yes, yes, cake day.’ An elegant lady, possibly in her early twenties, hushed the child even as she looked covertly at the vehicle and its occupants.

      It’s her. Brody got an impression of a fine bosom under plain and serviceable dark blue cotton, and dark brown hair in a riot of curls. He wished he were close enough to see what colour her eyes were. He was as certain as could be it was the lady he’d seen all those weeks before on his return to the area. The lady he’d deliberately not asked questions about. After all, a brief glance of a shapely rear and breasts you wanted to bury your head between didn’t give enough information to use to discover an identity. At first he’d thought he’d find out soon enough, and then he’d had too many other things on his mind to give thought to the question. His skin tingled as he thought he might now be one step nearer to discovering who she was, what she was, and if there was any point in approaching her.

      Ronald waved back, as the prancing child whistled loudly, to be, it seemed, reprimanded by the lady with the fine bosom. Brody decided he’d need to learn the unknown lady’s name sooner rather than later. He couldn’t continue to think of her in such a way. What if, when he eventually met her, he let that sobriquet slip? It didn’t bear thinking about.

      ‘Time for them to run off some of their energy,’ Ronald said. ‘That noisy one, in the red apron, is my youngest sister. She’s intent on learning and become a teacher herself. Miss Mary, that’s her there, encourages her and our ma is happy for it. Cissy is bright, not like the rest of us.’

      ‘Miss Mary?’ He committed the title to memory. Not the schoolmarm then? Now at least he had a name for her. ‘Miss Mary who?’

      Ronald shrugged. ‘You know, Your Grace. I cannot mind. All I know is she helps out, comes over from the Grange once a week.’

      Probably an under-housekeeper, Brody surmised. She had too much elegance to be a lower servant, and not enough to be gentry. The gown was a mark of that.

       Damn.

      He cast his mind over his surroundings. As far as he knew the Grange, a tidy house a mile or so from the village, had been unoccupied for years with just a skeleton staff to keep it from falling into disrepair. He’d have to do his best to forget about the woman. Even though she didn’t work for him, he couldn’t be seen to consort locally. More was the pity, that bosom begged for attention. So did the rest of her.

      ‘I wouldn’t say you were unintelligent,’ Brody answered Ronald’s last statement regarding himself, as the school and church were left behind them and the lane widened to become the village street, thence to split into two and circle a pretty green with a duck pond and a set of old stocks nearby. ‘You know these animals and their quirks inside out. You have a practical bent, not one inclined to book learning perhaps.’

      Ronald chuckled. ‘I’m wise in some ways m’lord but not in all. I don’t have the same sort of nosy mind as our Cissy. I like horses and country life. To know at the end of a day that a good job’s over and I’ve left nowt undone. I love working with the horses and if you’re happy for me to serve you here, well, I’m a happy man. Then mebbes in a year or so I can convince Susan’s pa that I’m the right husband for her and my life is sorted out.’ His accent was a mixture of how he’d spoken as a youngster, and presumably how he’d been told to speak in the employ of a duke. Rather than pull him up for his slips, Brody let it be. It was rather endearing, and the longer Ronald mixed with the upper servants the more polished his voice would become.

      Brody wished his own life could be so simple. He laughed. ‘You’ve got your head in the right place. Carry on as you are, and in a year or so I’ll put in a good word with your sweetheart’s father, and there’ll be a cottage for you. It’s on my list to build some more. I’ll make sure you get one. Woah! Hold em!’ His words had made Ronald drop his hands and, unchecked, the horses surged forward.

      Ronald recovered in a second. ‘Oh my, oh grief, oh…’

      ‘Oh, well, no harm done,’ Brody said firmly. ‘Ah here we are. Tie them up, and you go to see your mother if you wish. I assume she’ll be at home?’

      ‘Yes, m’lord she does out sewing for the castle, whilst the youngsters are at school. Are you sure?’

      ‘I never say anything I don’t mean.’ Not unless needed to by the crown. ‘I’ll pay my visits here and walk up to the school and meet you there after my visit. To be there for two?’

      He waited until Ronald made uncertain noises and finally acquiesced. Then Brody jumped down, grabbed the basket, and made his way to the first house, shamefully eager to get these visits over and reach the school.

      It was no good, the dark haired woman had caught his attention and he had to meet her, decide she wasn’t for him, and move on.

      If he couldn’t do that he was deep in the mire.

       Chapter Two

      ‘Ohh, Miss Mary did you see that? Bang up pair. Eh, and fancy that, me brother with the reins. Who’d’y reckon that was with him? Some toff a visitin’? Coo er, me ma won’t ‘alf be pleased. СКАЧАТЬ