Page 18 of The Dark Duke's Virgin

“See!” Isabella cried. “She wants to do it. Father, please!”

Caroline suppressed a groan.

“All right!” the Duke bellowed, silencing the room. “Isabella, do you want this?”

“Yes!”

“Grandmother, do you think this is a good idea, also?”

“I cannot see why it wouldn’t be.”

His smile was pained. “Miss Dowding…” He looked right at her, and she felt her stomach flutter as she was drawn into his eyes. “If you do not mind, I would like to have a word with you.”

She swallowed. “You would?”

“Alone.”

“Alone?” She swallowed again as her chest tightened.

“Yes,” he said, his voice deep and commanding. “Alone. Now.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Frederick hesitated in closing the door once he and Miss Dowding entered the room. She walked ahead, stopping in the room’s center, looking forward as if she was purposefully trying to avoid his gaze. And Frederick, feeling more nervous than he had any right to feel, held the door with one hand, not entirely certain that shutting it and thus trapping them both inside, alone, was such a good idea.

It was for that reason that he left it open, striding into his study, side-stepping Miss Dowding, and then making for his desk. He sat himself down, fixing her with a stern expression because he knew that this moment required calm and command, and if he was to navigate it, he needed to be in full control of himself.

Even still… the sight of that open doorway stood as a reminder of just how precarious this situation was.

“So…” He cleared his throat. “You and my daughter.”

“Wh - what of us?” Miss Dowding stood before his desk, hands folded before her, eyes looking everywhere but directly at him.

“Tell me again how you both met.”

“It is as we said.” She swallowed, still not looking at him. “She was sitting inside the carriage that your mother and I arrived in. Seeing her there, I joined her for a moment and convinced her that she would do better to return to her room.”

“And that is the truth?”

A deep breath and she looked at him although he could see how much trouble it caused her. “It is.”

“And as the two of you were making your way back inside, she tripped and fell. Is that the way of it?”

“That is as it happened, yes.”

She was clearly lying, of that Frederick had no doubt. Raising a daughter as he had been doing for these past twelve years, Frederick had become rather adept at seeing through half-truths and discerning lies, and from the look on Miss Dowding’s face, she was spewing them at him… and doing a rather average job of hiding the fact.

But that wasn’t what concerned Frederick of the moment. His daughter and her shenanigans were a problem for another time.What he had to deal with right now was what was to be done about Miss Dowding.

“My daughter seems to like you,” he observed.

She smiled softly. “I confess I do not know her so well, but she seems lovely. Truly, a wonderful little girl. You should be very proud.”

“And this suggestion of hers,” he continued. “What are your thoughts on the matter?”

“To be her governess, you mean?”

“Did she suggest something else that I did not hear?” he asked flatly. “Yes, to be her governess.”

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