A wave of anger crashed through her sadness, her temper rising to levels she had not felt since her cousin Benedict told her she was to be married without discussion or debate. Clenching her fists, she stormed through the chaos her entrance hall was becoming and stormed outside into the bright morning, though her mood was anything but cheerful.
“You!” She spotted him at once.
The Duke, leaning casually against her favorite cedar tree, was overseeing the coup like a general who did not care about casualties. He had shed his greatcoat and draped it over the lowest bough of her beloved tree, standing there in nothing but those tight trousers and a half-tucked shirt, the sleeves rolled up as if he meant to carry some of the things inside himself.
I cannot tell if he is the Duke or… some farm laborer from the village!Even in the height of summer, she could not imagine any English gentleman wearing so little. Theycertainlywould not show off their sculpted forearms, nor the shelf of their collarbones… though the fabric of his shirt was thin enough that it showed rather more than just that, suggesting the ridges of a muscular abdomen and the bulge of powerful upper arms, as well as the curves and contours of a broad, muscled chest.
“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded to know, marching across the gravel carriage circle, filled with carts and carriages, to confront him. “You saidyouwould return today, not you and the entire inventory of your worldly belongings!”
Jeremy observed her with those intense, black eyes, though they seemed a shade lighter in the daylight. A deep, deep brown. “The roads were good,” he said with a shrug. “They arrived earlier than anticipated.”
“Well, send them away!” Anna retorted, waving a hand in the direction of the carts and carriages. “There is an empty house onthe coast. Fill it with all of these… things. I really am certain you will be more content there.”
He pushed away from the tree, adding an extra couple of inches to his immense height. “The title is the Duke ofStonebridge, lass, and this is Stonebridge Manor.”
“And the property on the coast belongs to the title just the same,” she insisted, her neck aching as she tilted her head up to hold his gaze. “Call it Stonebridge House if you like, but I will not let you take over like this!”
A muscle ticked in his strong jaw. “Ye don’t command me, lass.”
“Perhaps not, but it is the decent thing to do, considering you have gained this title by nothing but timely fortune!” she replied, her anger fueling her courage. “Indeed, if this is your attempt to remove me, to get me to leave of my own accord, you will have to try much harder than this. I have nowhere to go and nothing but time,sir. I can make things very difficult for you.”
“Nowhere to go?” he said coolly. “Did ye not just mention a house on the coast?”
The corner of her eye twitched. “I did, butIcannot go there. I have no claim to it. The only claim I have is to Stonebridge.” Her voice hitched, the night of sleepless fretting catching up with her. “I would rather stay withyou, enduring your presence in my home, than have no home at all.”
It was as Mr. Phipps had said before he left over a year ago; she was the Duchess, she was to act like it, and she was not, under any circumstances, to leave the manor for very long, or someone might try to take it. As long as she was the primary resident, the Royal Court would turn a blind eye to a woman being in charge of such a property, and would not rush to give the title and the estate to someone else. To the highest bidder.
Indeed, according to the solicitor, there was a sort of grace period if there were no living heirs. One that went off the assumption that she would find a new husband and, perhaps, that husband might want to acquire Stonebridge for himself. Failing that, it would give time for an heir to be found if therewasone, far down the line of succession.
And you certainly did that, Mr. Phipps.
For a moment, Jeremy’s expression turned rather serious, his brow furrowing as he stared at her. “What of where ye came from?”
“I cannot return there,” she said quickly, recalling her cousin’s harsh parting words. “You are not to set foot in this house again. From now on, it has nothing to do with you.”
“Ye truly have nowhere to go?” Jeremy asked, his hand reaching out to her.
She was about to step away when he quickly brushed a fallen cedar needle from her shoulder, his action more like an instinct than what he had done the day before. The light touch of hisfingertips kept her in place, too startled to protest, and the moment passed so quickly that she thought it might be silly to scold him. Not that he seemed like someone whocouldbe scolded.
Nevertheless, that fleeting touch seemed to leave a burn on the border between her bare skin and the fabric of her dress, exactly where he had brushed his fingertips. She had not paused to put on her pelisse on her way out, leaving herself exposed.
“Truly, I do not,” she replied, remembering why she was standing there at all.
He pushed up the sleeve that had begun to roll down his forearm. “Well, as I told ye yesterday, I don’t have anywhere else to go either, and the journey has been too long to go venturing off to an unknown house by the coast. Nor will I live in a city, before ye mention that townhouse in London again.” He paused, those dark eyes seeming to pierce right through Anna. “But I am not indifferent to yer plight, seeing as I shared it not so long ago.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, frustrated that he was not leaving as she wanted him to.
Then again, the house on the coastwasin a state of disrepair. At least, that is what she was told by the solicitor, but how much could she truly trust that man now?
“It means I will give ye time enough to find somewhere to live, since I have come to learn that there’s nay dowager house,” he replied. “In fact, I will help ye.”
“Helpme?” Unease began to prickle afresh at the nape of her neck. “How?”
As far as she was concerned, the only way he could help her was to pack up everything he had just deposited in the entrance hall and leave without saying a word. If he also handed over the deeds to the manor to her, that would be very helpful. But she doubted that was what he had in mind.
His lips curved into the ghost of a smile as he leaned in and said, “I will find ye a husband.”
CHAPTER 4
