Why Do Dukes Fall in Love?: A Dukes Behaving Badly Novel Read Online Free Page A

twenty minutes ago, but that had been the only good thing Michael
     had gleaned yet from the man. He had spent most of the time after his prompt arrival talking about expansion and opportunities
     and discussing in very vague terms what Michael could expect from his investment.
    Apparently he would be the benefactor of modern-day travel. He congratulated himself on not telling the gentleman he was satisfied
     enough with being a duke. What he wanted from the meeting were not some romantic vagaries, but information. Why did people
     feel the need to obfuscate the facts with generalities? Generalities didn’t do anything but annoy him.
    He suppressed a sigh, instead looking to where the gentleman was pointing, his index finger indicating some papers on Michael’s
     desk.
    “I see.” And he did see, only he couldn’t focus, not with wondering if she was going to arrive. What had he been thinking,
     to offer her daughter a place as well? He hadn’t even asked how old the girl was—not that she could be that old; the woman
     herself was definitely younger than thirty, so her daughter would still be young.
    Not that it mattered. But a young girl. And her mother. Both living here, under his admittedly very large roof.
    If he didn’t wish to, he wouldn’t need to bother seeing the girl at all; she would be off doing . . . something while he and
     her mother were working.
    What would the girl be doing? He definitely had not thought any of this through. Making such a quick decision with no debating
     of the merits both for and against—that was completely unlike him, and he wasn’t certain he liked it.
    No, he knew. He did not like it. Things needed to be orderly, to be logical, to make sense. Sense was the only thing Michael
     trusted. He’d settled on that course when his parents had lied to him about where his brother was, not believing a child of
     four could understand death. Since that day, he required—and trusted—only logic and reason. Reason made sense. Unlike death
     and caring for others, and trusting that people who were older were necessarily more intelligent.
    That was only one of the many reasons he kept whatever family he had at arm’s length. If they weren’t close to him, they couldn’t
     hurt him. And he would never allow himself to be hurt again.
    But this. This impulsive action. Deciding on the spur of the moment that his secretary could bring her child to live in his
     house—that was nonsensical. If he had just tried harder, he could have found someone else for the position, someone who wasn’t
     so encumbered.
    In several more months of searching, perhaps.
    And it didn’t make rational sense to take more time for the search just because there was an accommodation in the form of
     a young girl.
    But none of this thinking was getting the information he required. Specifically, where his new employee was. He glanced at
     the clock again—he couldn’t seem to help it—noting that it was now two hours and seventeen minutes.
    A knock sounded at the door just when he was trying to convince his brain to concentrate on the papers, not on the whereabouts
     of his new secretary.
    “Enter,” he said, not looking up.
    The door opened. And Hawkins cleared his throat, damn him.
    “What is it?” Michael said in a terse tone.
    “Your new secretary has arrived, Your Grace.”
    Michael wondered just why he felt so much better than he had a few moments ago. It was only relief that he wouldn’t have to
     continue his search, nothing more.
    “Send her in straightaway,” he said. He saw the railway gentleman jerk, and remembered, of course, that most people would
     be shocked—stupidly so—at the gender of his newest employee.
    “You don’t wish her to freshen up before seeing you, Your Grace?”
    Michael felt his eyelid twitch, and tried not to snarl at Hawkins. It wasn’t his butler’s fault the man hadn’t learned not
     to question his employer, even after being in his service for over a