The Scandalous Love of a Duke by Jane Lark Page A

replied.
    But she said, “John.” Before he turned and walked away.
    He returned to the shop an hour later though – frustration niggling after none of his suppliers had expressed any inkling of error in Wareham’s work – and did what he should not do. He had seen the longing in her eyes before she’d turned and he could simply not resist the urge.
    ~
    “Miss, this came an hour ago.” Hetty, the housemaid, bustled into Katherine’s bedchamber, carrying a large round box, excitement in her voice. “Mr Castle put it in the scullery and forgot to bring it up. I said to him, how could you forget it when ‘tis for Miss Katherine, she never gets nothin’, do you Miss?”
    Katherine’s eyebrows lifted. “Are you certain it is not for Jenny? She and Mama ordered all sorts in Maidstone yesterday.”
    “No, Miss, ‘tis addressed to Miss
Katherine
Spencer, clear as day.”
    Katherine set down the darning she was working on and rose from her chair by the window.
    The weather had turned chillier today, although it was still sunny, and several white fluffy clouds flew across the sky on a brisk summer breeze.
    Her mother and sister were out calling on those they were inviting to the ball. Katherine had not been asked to join them. Her mother never treated her as part of the family. But that was an ancient fact, and the pain it caused so old now it was dulled.
    Yet perhaps there was still tallow to keep her hurt burning, because she had stayed in her room to hide her exclusion from the house servants.
    “Leave it on the bed, Hetty, and bring the tea up to my room as no one else is in.”
    Katherine’s gaze fell to the box when Hetty put it down. Perhaps Phillip had bought it? Whatever it was.
    “I’ll fetch it now, Miss.”
    The maid disappeared as Katherine walked over to the parcel.
    It was tied with string and she pulled it free, feeling excited despite her current melancholy mood. Hetty had been right, Katherine was rarely given anything new.
    When she lifted the lid her heart pounded. It was the bonnet she’d admired in Maidstone the day before. It lay nestled in a bed of tissue paper.
    She lifted it out with shaking fingers. It was beautiful, but it could not be from Phillip.
    There was a card beneath it.
    I saw you staring and wish to give you what you desire.
    J
    He had not? No! He could not have done. How could he?
    John!
    Oh he was so arrogant.
    Without any care for the fashionable creation, she stuffed it back in its box, furious. She may be provincial, but she knew a woman should not accept gifts from a man.
    If her mother had seen it…
    If her father had!
    Did John think she did not know the connotation? Or did he mean to buy her favour? He’d kissed her twice.
    He’d risked her reputation by sending this.
    Oh the arrogant, selfish man.
    Angry, she turned to her small travelling desk and withdrew a quill and paper.
    No thank you, Your Grace. On all accounts, I am afraid I may not accept.
    K
    ~
    John stared at the rows of facts and figures in annoyance. There were no anomalies in the ledgers. He could find nothing wrong. Yet something did not stack up. There was the inexplicable loan and then there was the way Wareham behaved.
    This morning the man had come to John with a taunting smile on his face, as if he wished to know if anything had been found in the books and then had been gloating over the fact it had not.
    He’d asked John if he wished to ride along one of the estate’s boundaries. John had accepted and so he’d had the pleasure of Wareham’s insolent company for three hours.
    They had ridden mostly in silence but when they’d met tenants, John had had to correct Wareham’s words on two occasions. It obviously infuriated the man, but John could hardly let things slip when Wareham was deliberately being facetious. Wareham needed ruling with an iron hand. This could be a powder keg if John let any spark be lit. The man had influence in every estate John owned.
    The morning had merely made John