Love Letters From a Duke Read Online Free PDF Page B

livery had been put into service—just not the kind these two minxes intended.
    Then in a flash, before he could protest, his coat was tugged from his back, along with the jacket beneath it, and the used-only-once livery with the silver trim shoved up into place.
    Thankfully, Lord Langley wasn’t a small man, for the jacket fit, mostly—the chest was a bit tight, but he could still breathe.
    Miss Langley stepped back and surveyed her work. “Yes, yes, indeed. You almost look a proper footman.” She went over to a desk and dug into a cubby. The jingle of coins echoed through the room as she returned. Gathering up his hand, she dropped a few pennies into his palm. “Please see about having your hair trimmed and obtaining a decent razor, and with that done, I think we’ll all get along splendidly.”
    What about new boots? he almost asked, as he found himself being skillfully propelled out of the room and down the hall. “But Miss Langley, I don’t think—”
    “I’m sure we can settle any questions you might have inthe coming days,” she said quite blithely, as Brutus rose to assist her by nipping at his heels and herding him down the stairs like a hapless sheep.
    He’d been routed by the French with less efficiency.
    “Do you have lodgings?” she asked as they turned on the landing.
    “Uh, yes,” he replied, hurrying along before their infernal dog could claim his heel for a souvenir.
    “Excellent. For we can’t have you live in as yet.” She waved her hand around the foyer, which he’d failed to notice before was devoid of decoration and furniture. With a not- so-subtle shove, his coat and hat and jacket were returned to him and he was maneuvered out the front door. “I fear the house wasn’t as well-furnished as we were led to believe when we took it. But it is convenient to the square,” she said, nodding toward the corner, around which sat Grosvenor Square.
    And Hollindrake House.
    Why, the chit had deliberately encamped within firing range of his home. He was of half a mind to move. Not that he could right this moment, not with Brutus having found a firm grip on his boot. Again.
    He gave the dog a shake, but there was no removing the determined mutt.
    Miss Langley flinched and shot him an apologetic glance, even as she reached down and retrieved her sister’s pet. “I’m sorry about Brutus. I hope he doesn’t deter you, Mister…Mister—” She stopped and glanced up at him, a stray strand of hair having fallen loose and curling at her shoulder.
    That pair of wide blue eyes stopped him. They held an unexpected surprise to them, like a patch of bluebells adrift in a lonely wooded grove. And for a moment, she made him stop in wonder and try to figure out how on earth they’d come to this unexpected, unintended moment.
    Her lips pursed, like a woman did just before she offeredherself up for a kiss…or more. And those eyes, those extraordinary blue eyes, called to him, called to some unknown part of his heart that he didn’t even know he possessed.
    He could see her suddenly, tumbling backward onto the great bed in Hollindrake House wearing nothing but the duchess’s coronet and those eyes looking up at him with longing, with needs she wanted only him to claim. To conquer.
    But her fair lashes fluttered and she stammered again, “I hope Brutus doesn’t stop you from helping us, sir. You will help us, won’t you?”
    Her question snaked right through his newfound livery and into his chest. It left him breathless and unsteady and wondering what the hell had just happened.
    “Yes, well, Miss Langley…” he replied, without even realizing what he was saying. Try as he might, he couldn’t quite shake off the vestiges of whatever she’d just done to him as she began to close the door in his face.
    And then it struck him. The chit had beguiled him into—
    “Oh, dear,” she said, opening it up again. “I forgot to ask you one thing.”
    “What is that?” he asked, taking a cautious peek