“Why would you hope for that?”Julian repeated.
She grimaced.“Because the alternative of you actuallybeingthe Duke of Moreland would be a catastrophe of momentous proportions.”
Julian tensed.“Would you care to explain that remark, madam?”
* * *
Would Georgianacareto explain it?
The answer to that was a resounding no!
Because this man’s remarks had confirmed what she already suspected.
And she could not imagine having a more inauspicious meeting with the man who, until a few moments ago, she had hoped would become her employer for the foreseeable future.
A man she had initially took, and had not hesitated to reveal that reaction, to be some sort of monster as he rose from the mud to glare at her with what she could now see in the lamplight were green eyes framed by long dark lashes.He was probably aged in his midthirties, and his face was still slightly smeared with mud.But she believed the latter only made the sharp angles of his face and chiseled lips appear more devilishly handsome, not less.
Indeed, the lamplight revealed him to be one of the handsome gentlemen Georgiana had ever set eyes upon, as well as being exceedingly tall and muscular.
Nevertheless, she had never been one to shrink away from the truth.“Allow me to introduce myself.”She sat forward on the bench seat to thrust her bare hand toward him.“My name is Georgiana Stapleton.I am the new secretary the Duke of St.Albans has hired for you and whom you were expecting to arrive before the end of the month.”Her chin rose.“I believe, if you were to check your pocket watch, you would see that I have fulfilled that promise by one whole hour.”
CHAPTERFOUR
Julian chose to ignore the slender hand now held out to him as he heard the sound of cobbles beneath the carriage wheels.Announcing, he hoped, that they had reached the stables at Moreland Park.
A wish which proved to be correct after the carriage jolted to a halt seconds later and the door was immediately thrown open by his head groom.“Shadow has arrived back unharmed,” the man instantly assured, knowing Julian well enough to realize this would be his first concern.“He is now unsaddled and dry and settled in his stall.”
“Excellent.”He nodded his satisfaction with that outcome.“I believe there is an unmanned St.Albans carriage rattling about in the dark somewhere along the coast, if you would care to send a couple of grooms out to look for it,” he instructed.He turned back to place a hand on Georgiana Stapleton’s arm and help her step down from the carriage.
She accepted that assistance this time, perhaps because the shock of what had happened to her was starting to become a reality.
Minutes later, she had a blanket that smelled distinctly of equine wrapped about her shoulders, provided by one of the gawking grooms before he and his companions, along with the head groom, saddled horses so they could go off to look for the St.Albans carriage.
Leaving Julian and the young woman standing alone beneath the shelter of the stable overhang as the rain continued to fall heavily.She was at least a foot shorter than his own three inches over six feet tall, and she appeared to have generous curves beneath her clinging clothing.
In truth, Miss Stapleton was a pitiful sight, hence, no doubt, her earlier concern that he not be the Duke of Moreland.
Her navy pelisse and a light blue gown, which Julian believed might once have been that same beautiful color as her eyes, were now covered in brown mud and God knows what other unpleasant substances.Her dark hair hung down in wet whisps, about what was obviously not only a female face, but also one that Julian considered far too youthful and beautiful to belong to his new secretary.
He recalled now that St.Albans had only ever referred to the new secretary he had hired for him as G.Stapleton.
Deliberately, so that Julian was at least forced to meet with her?
Deliberate or not, it had inevitably led Julian to the conclusion that G.Stapleton was a man.
And why wouldn’t he have made such an assumption when every previous secretary Julian had ever employed had been male?Every secretary he had everheardof anyone employing had been a man.What the hell was St.Albans thinking of to send?—
Julian tensed.“Stapleton?”he prompted.The surname was familiar to him, even if this young lady was not.
She released a heavy sigh.“I see no point in even attempting to avoid admitting that my father was the Earl of Shefford.”
Julian’s brows rose.“The gentleman who recently died?”
“The man who was recentlymurdered,” she corrected.“And he was an unpleasant man, not a gentleman,” she added scornfully.
Julian sensed some resentment behind that statement.“Then you are…”
“Lady Georgiana Stapleton, the eldest of his three daughters.”The announcement was made as a challenge.
