All About the Duke (The Dukes' Club Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

open and Mrs. Thackery jolted to a halt. Her soft, blue eyes widened. “Why, Alfie! You gave me a fright.”
    Allegra cringed and stopped in her attempted flight. She drew in a calming breath, determined to speak like a boy before the duke. She couldn’t afford any more slip ups.
    “I beg your pardon, Mrs. Thackery, but I came to say hello,” she said, pitching her voice low.
    “Oh.” Mrs. Thackery glanced back over her shoulder at the duke towering like an ancient oak behind her. “Well, now, my lad, that’s nice, but it seems you’ve new duties to attend to.”
    Allegra bit back a frown. New duties? He’d told Mrs. Thackery so soon? That seemed odd. Certainly the butler or the housekeeper, but Mrs. Thackery?
    Allegra forced herself to hang her head appropriately in lament at the loss of sweets. “Perhaps we can have a chat later, Mrs. T?”
    “Mrs. Thackery, you young pup,” the duke boomed. “Show respect to a lady of her talents and take your hat off. You’re indoors for bloody sake.”
    His wicked, whip crack voice sent another dose of shivers down her spine and something else. . . Admiration. She whipped her cap off. “Beg your pardon, Your Grace.” She bobbed to Mrs. Thackery. “Beg your pardon.”
    Mrs. Thackery swatted at the duke’s arm. “Mind your language, young man.”
    And at that playful touch, the duke’s hard face softened. “What kind of rascal would I be without you, Mrs. Thackery?”
    “A worse one than you already are!” she countered, rubbing her hands over her crisp white apron. “Now, I’ve got the capons to dress. You go on now and I’ll have the footman bring you up a tray.”
    “And a sweet for the boy,” the duke said, his voice rumbling as if with laughter. “That’s what all the boys want when they come say hello to you in any case.”
    Allegra began to protest, but Mrs. Thackery tsked.
    “Growing boys need nourishment.” The older woman eyed Allegra up and down, this time with a sharper degree of interest than she’d ever shown before. “Especially this one. A bean pole. That’s what you are.”
    Allegra gave a tight smile, any temptation to tease Mrs. Thackery as she usually would have done, vanishing under the duke’s continuous stare.
    Mrs. Thackery stepped out of her doorway and into the hall, followed closely by the duke, but he didn’t follow her into the kitchen. He stopped, his great coat swinging about his long legs. He lifted his hand and beckoned. “Come with me.”
    Allegra pressed her lips together lest she open them to give him that piece of her mind she’d so longed to give on her march up from the stables.
    “Did you wish to say something, Alfred?” the duke asked with a slight raise of his dark brow.
    She shook her head. “No, Your Grace.”
    “Then up we go to my chambers. That’s where you’ll be spending your time. With me.” With those words, he strode down the hall, toward the servant’s staircase which led up into the sprawling castle.
    She had no choice but to follow and she ran to keep up with his long stride.
    His chambers? She swallowed. More like her doom.
    ***
    M rs. Thackery knew next to nothing about Alfred except that the boy had come at Gregory’s recommendation and Gregory, of course, was not on the estate today. Nicholas found it damned irritating, not knowing for absolutely certain that his suspicions were correct.
    However, Mrs. Thackery had seemed most opposed to the idea of him taking Alfred as his personal servant. Was Mrs. Thackery hiding Alfred’s secret? It seemed impossible. Mrs. Thackery had never lied to him as far as he knew and he had known her since he was four years old. In fact, Mrs. Thackery was the only constant in his life and, perhaps, the only person he trusted.
    So, he couldn’t give credence to the thought that she would keep such a thing from him. No, it was likely that she was afraid he was going to use the blade of his tongue on poor Alfred.
    But from the way Alfred’s eyes had