“Rather expensive,” he repeated slowly. He tipped his head back to stare at the sky.
“Indeed. Especially the horses. However, there is confidence and even power to be gleaned from the proficient handling of a horse. I... I should like to expose them to it.”
The duke said nothing. While Drew watched, he pushed his elbow off the wall, grabbed the stone banister, and hopped up to sit on it. Next he swung his legs up and actuallyreclinedon the railing.
One moment he was leaning, in the next he was laid out before her like a man on a bed. He tucked his hands behind his head and crossed his boots at the ankles.
When Drew looked down, she stared directly at his thighs. Her head snapped up.
“Honestly,” he mused, speaking to the sky, “I would pay anything to set them to rights. If I failed them in duty, at least I can open my purse. I’m doubtful it will work—money made no difference in the aftermath of the riots—but I should like to try.” The last bit was said on a bitter exhale.
Drew took a small step back. She wasn’t certain how to respond. “The first step, perhaps, is wanting what is best for the girls, which clearly you do. For their own reward, not yours.”
“Meaning?” His blue eyes cut to her. He cocked an eyebrow. The air between them strummed again.
Her gaze dropped from his blue eyes to his body, laid out like a man-shaped buffet. She licked her lips.
“Miss Trelayne?” he prompted.
“That is to say,” she managed, “it was my mother’s most fervent wish that I should make a brilliant match when I debuted.” There was no more sobering topic than her mother.
She took a deep breath. “It was her only goal. A brilliant match for her daughter would elevate her own status. She gave no thought to my own happiness—not during the Season or in a future marriage.”
“Perhaps I should dispatch Imogene to elevate my status as part of her Season,” Lachlan mused, teasing. “It would be a fight, actually, to see whose wretched behavior—hers or mine—could more effectively sabotage the other.”
Drew chuckled and pressed on. “In contrast, you seem to be motived by the girls’ best interest. Purity of motive, I’d say. It’s an excellent start.”
And now he sat up, swinging his legs down. “Purity. You are surely the first person to pin me with that.”
Drew blinked, uncertain how to respond. She felt her cheeks go pink.
“We cannot be your first clients,” he said. “You’re too wise.”
Wisdom, she could address. “You are my firstpaidclients,” she said. “I have worked with other families in the role offriendly advisor. A volunteer. My consultations have been like a favor to the families. Princess Cynde has friends who’ve needed help with their daughters, and I was happy to oblige.”
“Ah yes, the royal couple. So how didIbecome the lucky friend from whompaymentwas to be extracted?” He rolled back to his reclining position.
“Oh,” she said, taking in the very great length of him, his balance on the wide railing, how easily he moved.
He is magnificent,she thought, her brain sending up useless observations that made very little sense. Or the only sense.
“Just to be clear,” he said, speaking to the sky, “I should pay double to have you, and likely it will come to that. Ultimately your salary will feel like a fat bribe. The money will trap you here with us long after your patience for Imogene has run its course.”
“I am not afraid of Imogene. I quite like her.”
“Oh yes, the great many similarities the two of you share. What did you call yourself? The Originator of Terrible? I’ll admit, I was just as intrigued as the girls, but I fail to see it, these sins of your younger self. Surely you exaggerate.”
“Surely I do not. I regret that you were forced to hear that list.”
“Should I relaymysins, Miss Trelayne?” he asked.
Yes, she thought.Yes.
“Tell you all the mistakes I made as a younger man?” he continued. He stared into the distance. “You’ve never gotten anyone killed, I reckon.”
His face had gone stormy, his blue eyes closed.
“I... I cannot say, Your Grace,” she said lowly.
