The Guardian Duke: A Forgotten Castles Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Jamie Carie
both hands twice.
"Around twenty?"
He turned one hand back and forth.
"Give or take." Gabriel pressed his fingertips together and puffed out a breath. Old enough to find her a suitor already. "What does she look like?"
Meade's eyes grew round. He shrugged again, a bigger, bolder move as if to say he hadn't paid much attention to that.
"Come now. Is she above average? Plain? Face like a horse?"
Meade pressed his lips together and then shrugged again. He pointed to his own brown hair. A medium, nondescript brown.
"She has brown hair?"
Meade nodded and then motioned for Gabriel to stand and follow him. Grumbling inside but curious, the duke followed him out of the library, down a long hall with vaulted ceilings and gilded woodwork, then into the blue salon, the color of the sky on a perfect day. It had been his grandmother's salon and was the most lavish room in the house. Every detail had been painstakingly purchased for it. It was a room fit for a queen. Meade walked over to the light- blue painted wall and pointed and then pointed to his eye.
"She has blue eyes?"
Meade nodded as though they had solved a great puzzle.
Wonderful. The best description his secretary could come up with was a twenty-or-so-year-old woman with dull brown hair and pale blue eyes. "Never mind." Gabriel turned and marched back to the library to read what was sure to become the most notorious account of Meade's shooting.
Chapter Four
W ell, you couldn't have messed that up any more if you had tried, Lady Alex. We're in a fine kettle of fish now," Ann muttered then threw her hands into the air for the third time.
"I know!" Alex wailed as she threw herself back onto the hard wooden bench that faced the enormous fireplace in the great hall. "I still can't believe I shot the duke's secretary! Do you think he'll ever forgive me? He must think me a complete addle brain."
"You should be on your knees giving thanks that the young man was so forgiving. I shudder to think what a man of another ilk would have done to you, to us, dragged us all off to London to face the duke, I daresay. You may thank your lucky stars—"
"Yes, yes, I have and am! Please stop haranguing me. I've pled forgiveness from Mr. Meade, the duke, and God. What more can I do?"
Ann opened her mouth to answer that and Alex threw a hand up. "No, no, I've heard enough on the subject. What we should be discussing is what's to be done next. I've sent the duke that letter, and as soon as the funds arrive I will start my search."
Ann's face transformed into the very picture of disapproving doom, but Alex hurried on before another lecture could commence.
"The last letter I received from my parents was from Ireland. The man who hired them said they would find the first clue there. But there is still the question of just where to start my search. I've no idea where to begin looking."
"How do you even know that much, I'd like to be knowin'? Your folks never let on where they were going, especially to you after that time you tried to follow them." Ann sat on the only chair in the cavernous room, shaking her gray head and tapering off into a mutter, ". . . treasure hunters and adventurers, saints a mercy. Just look where that's got them, the poor dears . . . poor us, I say! Leaving you alone much of the time, child. What were they thinking going off to the hindquarters of the earth—"
"Ann, you know they never meant to have children. I was an accident."
Alex looked away, remembering how her mother had assured her that they were quite happy to have her. She said it to reassure Alex, she knew, but it had somehow sounded more like her mother was trying to convince herself, a fact Alex never let herself dwell on. She was determined to believe the best in them, that they loved her despite living most of their lives without her. It was her fault if she was sometimes lonely, pining for their love and attention. She was blessed to have such daring and adventurous parents, blessed that God let
"Around twenty?"
He turned one hand back and forth.
"Give or take." Gabriel pressed his fingertips together and puffed out a breath. Old enough to find her a suitor already. "What does she look like?"
Meade's eyes grew round. He shrugged again, a bigger, bolder move as if to say he hadn't paid much attention to that.
"Come now. Is she above average? Plain? Face like a horse?"
Meade pressed his lips together and then shrugged again. He pointed to his own brown hair. A medium, nondescript brown.
"She has brown hair?"
Meade nodded and then motioned for Gabriel to stand and follow him. Grumbling inside but curious, the duke followed him out of the library, down a long hall with vaulted ceilings and gilded woodwork, then into the blue salon, the color of the sky on a perfect day. It had been his grandmother's salon and was the most lavish room in the house. Every detail had been painstakingly purchased for it. It was a room fit for a queen. Meade walked over to the light- blue painted wall and pointed and then pointed to his eye.
"She has blue eyes?"
Meade nodded as though they had solved a great puzzle.
Wonderful. The best description his secretary could come up with was a twenty-or-so-year-old woman with dull brown hair and pale blue eyes. "Never mind." Gabriel turned and marched back to the library to read what was sure to become the most notorious account of Meade's shooting.
Chapter Four
W ell, you couldn't have messed that up any more if you had tried, Lady Alex. We're in a fine kettle of fish now," Ann muttered then threw her hands into the air for the third time.
"I know!" Alex wailed as she threw herself back onto the hard wooden bench that faced the enormous fireplace in the great hall. "I still can't believe I shot the duke's secretary! Do you think he'll ever forgive me? He must think me a complete addle brain."
"You should be on your knees giving thanks that the young man was so forgiving. I shudder to think what a man of another ilk would have done to you, to us, dragged us all off to London to face the duke, I daresay. You may thank your lucky stars—"
"Yes, yes, I have and am! Please stop haranguing me. I've pled forgiveness from Mr. Meade, the duke, and God. What more can I do?"
Ann opened her mouth to answer that and Alex threw a hand up. "No, no, I've heard enough on the subject. What we should be discussing is what's to be done next. I've sent the duke that letter, and as soon as the funds arrive I will start my search."
Ann's face transformed into the very picture of disapproving doom, but Alex hurried on before another lecture could commence.
"The last letter I received from my parents was from Ireland. The man who hired them said they would find the first clue there. But there is still the question of just where to start my search. I've no idea where to begin looking."
"How do you even know that much, I'd like to be knowin'? Your folks never let on where they were going, especially to you after that time you tried to follow them." Ann sat on the only chair in the cavernous room, shaking her gray head and tapering off into a mutter, ". . . treasure hunters and adventurers, saints a mercy. Just look where that's got them, the poor dears . . . poor us, I say! Leaving you alone much of the time, child. What were they thinking going off to the hindquarters of the earth—"
"Ann, you know they never meant to have children. I was an accident."
Alex looked away, remembering how her mother had assured her that they were quite happy to have her. She said it to reassure Alex, she knew, but it had somehow sounded more like her mother was trying to convince herself, a fact Alex never let herself dwell on. She was determined to believe the best in them, that they loved her despite living most of their lives without her. It was her fault if she was sometimes lonely, pining for their love and attention. She was blessed to have such daring and adventurous parents, blessed that God let