I Spy a Duke Read Online Free PDF Page A

routine than any doubt that he was correct. Thomas loved geology. “Very good.”  
    Thomas grinned. “That was too easy, Miss Loren.”
    Vivian mock-sighed. “Pert boys do not get rewarded. Perhaps we should return inside? You haven’t finished your arithmetic lesson. Don’t think that I haven’t noticed.”
    Thomas was quick to protest, shaking his head vigorously. “But it’s so nice outside.”
    There was a light breeze wafting through the air, while the sun had finally managed to peek through the clouds after several days of rain. It was beautiful, but none of it belonged to her.
    “I suppose we could stay out a bit longer,” she proposed. “If you promise to finish your arithmetic tonight.”  
    “I swear,” Thomas vowed, making a cross over his heart with two fingers.  
    He looked so solemn she couldn’t help but laugh. “Lord Thomas, I will know if you are bamming me. Besides, your tutor won’t be very happy with me otherwise, so we must be sure you are caught up on your schooling.”
    Thomas stopped in the middle of the path, giving her a disbelieving look. “Mr. Martin likes you. Everyone likes you. You are much better than nasty old Mrs. Garring, who always smelled like stinky cheese.”
    Everyone likes you.  
    Little comfort, as no one would after they discovered her spying.
    “That’s not a very nice description,” she said.
    “It’s true,” Thomas retorted. “She does smell like cheese, and you always tell me not to lie.”
    She was saved from a response by the sight of Abermont coming up the path. Suddenly, it was as if a hundred butterflies had set upon her stomach, flapping their tiny wings. Oh, no, this could not continue. She would not harbor feelings of an intimate nature for her employer. The man she’d been hired to spy on, for heaven’s sake.  
    But she could not deny how powerful, how utterly masculine he appeared. He was tall, long and lean. His jet-black hair was kept close-cropped. His brows were thick, his chin more rounded than sharp, and his nose had a deliberate hook to it that made him appear quite imposing. There was a sternness to his face that almost overshadowed his attractiveness.  
    Yet it was his eyes that arrested her every time she saw him. Gray-blue, reminding her of waves rushing against the shores of Deal. She could lose herself in his eyes.  
    No, that wasn’t quite right. Last night, for the first time since Evan’s death, she’d felt found .  
    “Jim!” Thomas cried, running to his brother.  
    Abermont caught the boy in his arms, lifting him up effortlessly as though he weighed as much as a newborn, not a strapping youth. He whirled Thomas in a circle, and the boy’s laughter echoed through the garden until Abermont put him back on the ground. Thomas leaned against his brother’s side as they both waited for Vivian to approach.
    “Miss Loren.” Abermont greeted her with a nod, the same polite incline of his head he always did, that indicated he saw her but did not feel her presence honored him in any way.
    She’d glimpsed a different man last night, one of deep feeling, but perhaps that man only appeared once a year.  
    “Your Grace.” She curtsied.
      He nodded. “Miss Loren. Tom, why don’t you go inside?” Abermont stared at her still, his eyes never once leaving hers, as he spoke to his brother.  
    “But Miss Loren said I could play for a while,” Thomas protested. “Didn’t you, Miss Loren?”
    “Ah,” Vivian began, struggling to find the proper words. “I did say that, Lord Thomas, but I should think your brother—”
    Abermont gave a swift nod, this time one meant to silence her. Gracious, the man could say more with the tilt of his head than she could with five hundred words. He gave his brother a little push forward. “Lord Haley’s in the schoolroom with a new game he thinks you will like to play,” he said.
    That was all Thomas needed. “Richard!” He took off at a gallop toward the house, his little feet