What the Duke Doesn't Know Read Online Free PDF Page B

hospitality.
    â€œFruit,” said James.
    Both ladies turned to look at him.
    â€œThey eat a deal of fruit on the Pacific islands.”
    Ariel smiled and nodded. Kawena examined the man, wondering why he seemed uneasy. Then she gave up wondering and went to fill a plate with the items on the side table. The eggs were familiar, and she had eaten sausages in the course of her travels. Some she had found palatable, others revolting, with no way that she could see to tell the difference beforehand. Bread was safe. She liked bread, though they did not eat it on Valatu. And jam—jam was a welcome addition to her life indeed. This on the table was raspberry, her newly discovered favorite.
    Silence fell as they ate. They were, after all, three strangers thrown together by family ties and circumstance. “Have you been to Oxford before?” Ariel asked James after a while.
    â€œNo. Never had the occasion to come.”
    â€œYou should look around. There are a great many lovely buildings. You could take Kawena about,” she suggested. “Show her something of her father’s country.”
    â€œYou’d be a far better guide,” James answered. “And Alan best of all.”
    â€œHe’s gone off to his laboratory. And I have an appointment this morning. I’ll come with you another day, but you should go out exploring.”
    James shrugged. “I don’t know anything about the colleges, but I could use a bit of exercise.”
    â€œI’d like to see this place,” Kawena agreed. And so the matter was settled.

Three
    Lord Alan Gresham kept no personal carriage, preferring to hire a vehicle if he needed one and save the expense. James and Kawena found this no hardship when they set out on foot a little while later. Less than half a mile down the green lane, they came to a place where three roads met at a bridge across the River Cherwell. On the other side, they were immediately among Oxford colleges. “I don’t know the names of any of these places,” James said. “They’re hundreds of years old, most of them. And, er, architectural.” He was very conscious of her vibrant presence by his side, though she didn’t take his arm as an English girl might have. He’d offered it as they’d left the house, but she obviously hadn’t understood the gesture. She’d marched off like an explorer on an expedition instead.
    He watched her gaze at the intricate stonework and leaded windows that surrounded them. She was far more fascinating than any fusty carvings. And it wasn’t just her unfamiliar style of beauty that made it so difficult to tear his eyes away. He’d thought that was it, of course. She was one of the loveliest creatures he’d ever seen. Then, as they walked and talked, he’d started to notice an air, a manner, unlike anything in his previous experience. Kawena’s lively presence brimmed with…the unexpected, with an exhilarating whiff of adventure.
    Some of the buildings loomed as large as mountains to Kawena, and as unlike her island home as anything could be. She felt squeezed by narrow passageways under heavy arches. “I’ve never seen anything so old,” she said. “Not built things, I mean.” Beaches and oceans and cliffs were far older, she noted. And yet not oppressive at all. “Your brother went to school here, but you did not?”
    â€œNo. I couldn’t wait to escape the classroom. The idea of going on to university…” James shook his head. “Never in the cards. There are two kinds of Gresham brothers, you see. Randolph and Alan, and Nathaniel a bit, took to their books like fish to water. Sebastian and Robert and I could hardly sit still long enough to turn a page. We’d far rather be doing other things.”
    For no good reason at all, the phrase reminded Kawena of their recent conversation in his bedroom, and all the “other things” a man