Read Online The Reluctant Duke (A Seabrook Family Saga) by Christine Donovan - Free Book Online Page B

d’Armes. His skill is like nothing I have ever seen. He moves
with the skill and grace of a panther. Mr. Croquere is so quick that most of
the time I never saw him coming.” Myles paused and chuckled. “One day with Mr.
Croquere’s instruction and I prevailed over Mr. Bernier.”
    Wentworth
leaned forward in his chair and eyed him with raised brows. “Let me get this
right. You spent only one day with a fencing master, and that was enough to
perfect your handling a rapier? You actually won the dual?”
    “Yes, well,”
Myles said, frowning. “It helped that Mr. Bernier was a novice himself. I
nicked him once in the shoulder, and it was over.” Myles sighed loudly. “I
don’t think he wanted to challenge me to a duel. But Sophie’s honor was in
question after I kissed her on the balcony of her parents’ home. Mr. Bernier
felt he had no choice. By now they are likely married and on their honeymoon.”
    Myles did not
like the pity he glimpsed in his friend’s eyes. He hadn’t told him the story to
be pitied. Bloody hell; he did not know why he’d told Wentworth at all. It did
not matter now because Sophie was lost to him forever.
    “I would like
you to consider me for Emma.”
    “Come on,
Myles. You cannot be serious. I don’t know, in good conscience, how I can give
my blessing for you to marry my ward when you just confided your love for
another.” Thomas groaned. “It would not be fair to Emma. Wait until her first
season is well under way. If she doesn’t fancy anyone, we’ll discuss this
again.”
    ***
    Thomas leaned
back in his chair and tried to picture Myles and Emma. Oh, he could see them
together easily, too easily. And the thought of Myles and Emma together made him
want to do physical harm to Myles.
    Ever since he
met Emma last year, she’d plagued his dreams and undermined almost every
coherent thought. And because of her he hadn’t sold Mr. Hamilton’s fleet of
whaling ships. Somehow he knew if he held on to her legacy, she would be part
of his life. Because, bugger all, she tortured him with her womanly curves and
her beautiful smile. Never mind her soft blue eyes that sparkled with life,
innocent life.
    Emma was not of
noble birth, however, so nothing could come of this lust Thomas felt for her.
Everyone expected him to marry a lady of breeding. Emma would be perfect for a
second or even a third son. She had a large dowry that would attract many
eligible bachelors along with any number of unsavory rogues. For the first time
he considered his younger brother with a degree of envy. Then he shook himself.
    He had to be
careful to keep her safe from fortune hunters.
    Myles threw his
gloves at Thomas, and they landed right on his face. “Why are you smiling like
some lovesick young buck? My life is over, and you are grinning like the king’s
fool.”
    Sitting up
straight, Thomas looked and sounded contrite. “How inconsiderate of me. Please
accept my apologies.”
    “Yes, well.”
Myles picked up the nearly full brandy bottle. “I’ll just take this with me as
a peace offering.” He left the duke alone in his cabin.
    The audacity of
Myles taking Thomas’s brandy. It was a good thing he had more, because if he
were going to survive this voyage with Emma, Thomas needed to dull his brain
and his cock. Both engaged every time he thought of her.
    Get a grip
on your emotions, man. You are her guardian. There must be a law against
lusting after her.
    The sooner he
escorted her off this ship and turned her over to his mother and sisters, the
better for all involved.
    ***
    The first week
aboard ship had Emma keeping to herself in her cabin except when Myles or
Wentworth escorted her up on deck. And when they did, the bright sun and fresh
air warmed her cheeks and caused her pulse to soar. She’d been on her papa’s
whaling vessels in port, but never had she sailed on the open ocean. Now Emma
understood a sailor’s love of the sea.
    It exhilarated
her, and she never tired of the vast expanse