CHAPTER 1
London, England
August 1827
“MISS FARTHINGALE, WHATis the matter?”Alexander Havers, the new Duke of Davenport, had not expected to run into Tulip Farthingale when he stepped into Lady Fullerton’s garden on this hot summer evening, hoping to get away from the crush of revelers in the ballroom at one of her famous routs.
The night was steamy, threatening rain, if the heavy scent of grass and damp leaves was any indication, although not a drop had fallen yet.But a light haze had settled over the trees and lush shrubbery, dimming the rows of lanterns gaily strung along measured intervals and giving the impression of a fairy garden hidden in mist.
A church clockbongedin the distance to mark the midnight hour.
This also marked his last night in London before Alex returned to Somerset and the Davenport estate his predecessors to the title had left in shambles.He thought he had been alone out here until the lovely Tulip had run straight into him and bounced off his chest, for she had been moving very fast.
She had a tendency to do this, having run into him in this same manner the first time they had met, and he had been thinking of her ever since.
He caught her in his arms to steady her, the softness of her lithe body familiar as he wrapped her securely in his embrace.
Wispy tendrils of haze encircled them.
Blessed saints.
She felt remarkably good in his arms.
“Oh, dear!”She looked up at him, her big blue eyes reflecting the firelight from one of the garden lanterns.“I’ve done a dreadful thing, Your Grace.”
“You have?”He struggled not to grin at the earnest expression on the face of this charming bluestocking he would have liked to know better.“What have you done?You know I am no longer working for the London magistrate, an impossibility now that I have inherited a dukedom, so I will not report you to the authorities.Your secret is quite safe with me.”
Until a few months ago, he had been simply Mr.Alexander Havers, and had yet to get used to being addressed with the deference accorded his new title.While he had not changed who he was in essence, most around him had suddenly turned into fawning toadies because he had inherited a dukedom.Those who ignored him in the past now fussed over him, pretending they had always admired and adored him.
Young ladies went to great lengths to throw themselves at him now that he had become London’s most sought after bachelor.
Not Tulip, however.
She avoided him as much as she could because she was wary of the Davenport reputation.Only recently had she started to thaw toward him, hopefully understanding he was nothing like the dishonorable Davenport dukes who had come before him.
He kept hold of her, rather liking the feel of her body against his palms.
She was draped in pale blue silk, a hue that matched the color of her striking eyes, and he thought her the prettiest thing he had seen in an age.
“Lord Finley Caruthers took me for a stroll in the garden,” she said, clearing her throat as though it pained her to make the announcement.
“That is a serious crime,” he intoned, taking care not to laugh.
“Please do not tease me about it.He wanted to kiss me and–”
“You let him?”He frowned, knowing exactly what a dishonorable hound like Caruthers meant to do once alone with Tulip, and it was not restricted to a single kiss.
“No!”Her eyes rounded in horror, then her expression turned sheepish.“But I almost let him do it.”
“Almost?”
She nodded.“You see, I wanted to be kissed.”
Dear heaven.
Alex would have obliged her, and been a far safer partner than that lout, Caruthers.
“But then I realized that I did not wishhimto be the one to kiss me.Especially not for my first time.”
