Only Beloved Read Online Free Page A

teach her. She was utterly devoid of musical talent, poor girl, though her parents were convinced she was a prodigy. Those lessons were always a trial to them both.
    Perhaps Mrs. Henry would deal with whoever was standing on her doorstep. Her housekeeper knew how tired she always was after a full day of giving lessons and guarded her privacy a bit like a mother hen. But this was not to be one of those occasions, it seemed. There was a tap on the sitting room door, and Mrs. Henry opened it and stood there for a moment, her eyes as wide as twin saucers.
    â€œIt is for you, Miss Debbins,” she said before stepping to one side.
    And, as though her memories of last year had summoned him right to her sitting room, in walked the Duke of Stanbrook.
    He stopped just inside the door while Mrs. Henry closed it behind him.
    â€œMiss Debbins.” He bowed to her. “I trust I have not called at an inconvenient time?”
    Any memory Dora had had of how kindly and approachable and really quite human the duke was fled without a trace, and she was every bit as smitten by awe as she had been when she met him for the first time in thedrawing room at Middlebury Park. He was tall and distinguished looking, with dark hair silvered at the temples, and austere, chiseled features consisting of a straight nose, high cheekbones, and rather thin lips. He bore himself with a stiff, forbidding air she could not recall from last year. He was the quintessential fashionable, aloof aristocrat from head to toe, and he seemed to fill Dora’s sitting room and deprive it of most of the breathable air.
    She realized suddenly that she was still sitting and staring at him all agape, like a thunderstruck idiot. He had spoken to her in the form of a question and was regarding her with raised eyebrows in expectation of an answer. She scrambled belatedly to her feet and curtsied. She tried to remember what she was wearing and whether her garments included a cap.
    â€œYour Grace,” she said. “No, not at all. I have given my last music lesson for the day and have been having my tea. The tea will be cold in the pot by now. Let me ask Mrs. Henry—”
    But he held up one elegant staying hand.
    â€œPray do not concern yourself,” he said. “I have just finished taking refreshments with Vincent and Sophia.”
    With Viscount and Lady Darleigh.
    â€œI was at Middlebury Park earlier today,” she said, “giving Lady Darleigh a pianoforte lesson since she missed her regular one while she was in London for Lady Barclay’s wedding. She did not mention that you had come back with them. Not that she was obliged to do so, of course.” Her cheeks grew hot. “It was none of my business.”
    â€œI arrived an hour ago,” he told her, “unexpected butnot quite uninvited. Every time I see Vincent and his lady, they urge me to visit anytime I wish. They always mean it, I’m sure, but I also know they never expect that I
will
. This time I did. I followed almost upon their heels from London, in fact, and, bless their hearts, I do believe they were happy to see me. Or not see, in Vincent’s case. Sometimes one almost forgets that he cannot literally see.”
    Dora’s cheeks grew hotter. For how long had she been keeping him standing there by the door? Whatever would he think of her rustic manners?
    â€œBut will you not have a seat, Your Grace?” She indicated the chair across the hearth from her own. “Did you walk from Middlebury? It is a lovely day for air and exercise, is it not?”
    He had arrived from London
an hour ago
? He had taken tea with Viscount and Lady Darleigh and had stepped out immediately after to come . . .
here
? Perhaps he brought a message from Agnes?
    â€œI will not sit,” he said. “This is not really a social call.”
    â€œAgnes—?” Her hand crept to her throat. His stiff, formal manner was suddenly explained. There was something