The Duke's Love (14 page)

Eliza did not really know, but it was a good guess
,
since she never saw him in polite society.

Eliza knew
Jordan
found her attractive.
Since
they first met four years ago, he
had
made it known.  He was a rake and most mothers kept their daughters away from him. Eliza felt like prey being hunted by its predator and she was growing increasingly uncomfortable.

“Your mother has been gone for
a while
. I am going to go up there myself
,
”
s
he said as he started walking toward her.
A
s she fled
, she could feel
Jordan
's amusement. Eliza breathed a sigh of relief
at being
out of the room.
Although, she
did not know why,
Jordan
unsettled her
for some reason
.

Continuing
down the hall
, she tried
to
discern which way
to go. The house was big enough to get lost in
, but
she was not in a hurry. Lady Katherine left some five minutes ago
,
and she would be sorting things out, at least she
hoped so
. She wished Jake and Ana would sort things out. Anyone could see the two belonged together. She could not wait for the
Viscount
to come. Ana would have her hands full. It
seemed
as if it would be
a long weekend. She sighed as she made her way upstairs. Instead of turning right, she turned left and went
into
the family wing; at least she hoped it was the family wing. She
passed
by the first couple of doors
,
before she saw Lady Katherine
.
She
smiled
to
herself as she walked up on the eavesdropping woman.

“Are you hearing anything interesting?” She whispered in Lady Katherine’s ear. The woman squeaked as she jumped in fright. Eliza put a finger over her mouth in a shushing gesture
for her
to remain quiet. They both leaned into the door hoping to catch pieces of what was going on the other side of the door. After several minutes of quietness, they both straightened.

“We
had
better intervene
,
if we want the
honeymoon
to come after the wedding, not before
,
”
Lady Katherine
said.
She
knocked
on the door several times. After what seemed like forever, the door creaked open. Eliza stayed in the background, letting her handle her son. After a quick exchange and the door closing, “I think we stopped anything that was going to happen
,
” Lady Katherine said.

Eliza noted wryly that the
Duchess
looked a little too disappointed by
that
news. Lady Katherine announced she was going to bed and advised Eliza to do the same. To her surprise, she opened up the door next to Ana’s room. “I put you here. I thought you wouldn’t mind
,
” Eliza was glad
, since s
he knew Ana would need
her
support. After Lady Katherine said good night and left for her own room, Eliza waited for Jake to exit Ana's room. When he did not, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

What was his mother thinking? He was seriously debating about going back to
London
and
saying
to hell with the house party
. He knew the moment he saw her.
He threw open her door and tossed her inside. He stepped in the room and slammed the door behind him. Jake faced her and crossed his arms.

“What the hell was that about
,
Jake? You are manhandling your women these days?” She scoffed as she faced him.

"What do I have to do to get you to leave
?
” Jake
asked
. Without waiting for a reply, he backed
her up against the wall and invaded her mouth
with
his tongue. This was her punishment. Jake slid his hands over her breas
ts and squeezed lightly
. Ana moaned and could not stop from running her fingers through his thick hair
,
urging him closer. Jake groaned and kissed her more roughly. Jake grabbed her at the waist and pushed himself into her heated core. She could feel the rigid length of him against her. Ana
sighed
and Jake lost all reason.

Without breaking contact, he led them over onto the bed.  As Jake lowered them onto it, he was undoing
her
buttons in
a
frenzy and slipping his hands in
to
her bodice.
“
God help me,
Ana, I want you
,
”
h
e said huskily. Jake was overwhelmed with desire. He could not get enough of her. Somewhere in his pleasured state of mind, he heard the knocking. It still took several moments for it to
occur to him
that someone was at the door. Jake stilled their movement.

He saw Ana was dazed. He put his face down in her neck and groaned in frustration. The knocking grew louder and harder. With a grunt, Jake untangled himself from her and he moved to open the door. Jake opened the door an inch, enough to see his mother’s face filled with concern. Jake felt a trickle of shame by what he had done. “It is alright. She is fine. I’ll be done talking
to her
in a moment
,
”
h
e said quietly. His mother studied his face, nodded in understanding
,
and he closed the door with a soft thud.

He did not turn around. He couldn’t look at her. Aware that she was silent and probably embarrassed, he said the only thing he could think of
at that
moment. “I’m sorry, this won’t happen again.” Silence greeted his statement. He clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides trying to calm his rapid heart
beat
. What was he thinking? He wanted her, possibly more now than he ever did before. He turned and leaned against the door to study her. She was sitting up on the bed with her hands in her lap and properly clothed.

There was another knock on the door, then without waiting for an answer, it opened and Eliza stepped in. “You best be going
,
your
Grace
,
and not let anyone know y
ou two were alone for this long,
”
s
he said.

Jake nodded.
Although it
was for the best, a part of him
wished
for someone to discover them
. He started to say something
, but
then decided against it and left them alone, shutting the door softly behind him.

Jake went back down to the library to find his brother sitting by the crackling fire. “She is still alive
,
I take it?” He heard him ask. Jake scowled.

“Yes, what do you think that I should do? I can’t keep her
in
there
,
”
h
e said.

Jordan
knew what Jake meant. “Move her to another room.”

“I can’t do that either
,
Jordan
. All the other rooms are filled already. Mother had this planned down to the last detail
,
” Jake said dryly.
Jordan
chuckled at his observation.

“The better questi
on would be what will your Miss Fairchild
think about this?”
Jordan
asked.

“T
his couldn’t get worse
.”
Jake
sighed
. What would Sarah think? He could imagine her reaction when she arrive
d
tomorrow. He knew he was in for a long and stressful weekend. Jake went to the side cupboard and poured himself a drink. After he downed it in one shot, he poured himself another. He offered
Jordan
a glass, which he refused with a wave of his hand. Jake decided he was better
off
trying to forget about his problems for the time being. He would deal with it later.

Lady Katherine was sitting in her bedchamber and wondering how things were going to turn out. She should not have let Jake drag the poor girl off like that, but she was secretly hoping Jake would irrevocably ruin her. Then he would have
been forced
to marry
her
. She sighed, no such luck, now she would have to deal with her guests and hope the two would work it out on their own.

Katherine had other plans she needed to work out at the moment. The more Jake and Ana were together, the better. Now
,
Miss Fairchild would be here
.
She
wondered how much it would affect her plans. Katherine really wanted to go and ask Ana why she ended things
the
way she had.  She decided there must be something she was not seeing. No intelligent woman
would
throw
away a chance
of marriage
to a
Duke
, especially the
Duke
of Ashbury.

Then there was
Viscount
Langley, but she knew t
he man was not interested in Ana
as
a
wife. He had confided in her after
she had questioned him about
their friendship when Jake was courting Ana, so she was not worried about him. It was nice to know Ana invited him. Katherine had not thought about it.

Her thoughts turned back to Miss Fairchild. She instantly took a dislike to the girl
the moment they
first met. Granted, the girl did not know who she was at the time, but she had already shown her true colors. Katherine remembered the awful day. Miss Fairchild was attending a ball and the girl bumped into her and instead of apologizing, the girl yelled at her about her clumsiness. It was in bad taste and the ton had witnessed
it
, which led to her downfall in society. Jake had introduced her later and she
was
appalled he was actually courting the chit, but she wanted him married, so she did not tell him about that
incident
. Miss Fairchild was
an
only child and
an
extremely spoiled one to boot. She did not seem very educated or refined
and her behavior was appalling
. Katherine grimaced.

What did Jake see in her? She was not even beautiful. She was much
too
thin
, with a
sickly pale shade to her skin. She was very fickle and vain. Anyone could see it. If Katherine remembered
correctly
, Sarah had been through three seasons without a single offer
.
Thinking back, she could not remember why she found Ana lacking in the first place. She was rather outspoken and very opinionated, but she never faulted her for it. She remembered the letter she
had written
to Ana after the broken engagement. She could not believe she
had
written those things
, but she
had to believe it. The letter was hers
and she
remembered writing the thing.

She wanted her son to have a wife
that
she wished she could have been to her husband. She already knew Ana would make Jake happy. After a heartfelt deliberation, she decided she was doing the right thing by intervening. Being a little depressed and grumpy, she decided on a long hot bath to help sooth
e
away the stress of the day.

Sarah was astounded by the mass
ive
surroundings and
opulence
. “Mother, just look at what my new home looks like
!
” Sarah exclaimed. The carriage was pulling up in front of the estate. Sarah looked back at her mother and saw she was
pre
occupied with her book. Looking back to the window, everything about this place was gorgeous, she thought. They were early
and s
he hoped they were the first to arrive. The carriage came to a halt and the footman opened the door. Sarah was a little
disappointed
that
Jake was not there to greet her. Oh well, being a
Duke
came with responsibilities. A servant escorted them into the main hall and
the
footman
was retrieving
their luggage.