Page 43 of Must Love Scoundrels
Chapter Eleven
Duncan turned towardher, the sunlight coming through the door behind her and glinting off his auburn hair, making it look as though it were warm coals. He was such a handsome man. She’d heard some of the staff bemoaning his ginger hair, but she rather liked it. She’d never been attracted to men who were supposedly conventionally attractive. She liked a man with a scar or a broken nose.
Duncan didn’t have any scars or evidence of broken bones. He didn’t seem the type to start a fight. More likely, he’d be the one telling everyone to calm down and step away. That wasn’t the sort of man Lucy found herself drawn to at all. But as soon as Duncan looked at her, she wanted to move forward and touch him. Had she felt that way before or had it just started when he'd kissed her?
Lucy balled her hands. Thinking of him kissing made her want to hit something—preferably Duncan.
“See here,” she said, pointing to the footprints in the dust. “You’ve walked right through them.”
Duncan looked down and his cheeks colored. With that auburn hair, he blushed easily. “Careless of me. I see where they stood now. They spoke there at the door then moved toward the window in the back.”
“Looks like two of them,” Lucy said. “We’re fortunate the family hasn’t been here in some time else the servants would have swept and dusted.” She moved forward, careful not to disturb the footprints. “Two, do you agree?” She glanced up at him.
“Yes, smaller footprints here and larger here. Could be a man and a woman here for a tryst.”
She glanced at the side of the room where the cots were shoved against the wall. “Unlikely. They didn’t use the beds or the floor.” She looked up at him. “But your mind would go to a tryst. You know so much about them.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. She sounded jealous, and she was definitely not jealous. She didn’t care who he kissed. He could kiss all the maids in the household if he wanted. It didn’t bother her. Not even a tiny bit.
“Lucy,” Duncan began. Before he could finish, she said, “Excuse me. I need to check on Johnny.” She moved back outside and found Johnny still picking flowers in the field. She called his name, and he waved at her, holding his flowers in the air. He dropped half of them in the act of showing them off but didn’t seem to notice. Lucy stepped back into the summer house. Duncan was crouched near the prints at the back of the house.
“They were standing quite close together. Whispering perhaps,” he said, though his tone was such that he might have been speaking to himself rather than her.
“We’ll need to come back tonight and see if they return.” The idea gave her absolutely no pleasure. She hated surveillance.
“I doubt they’ll be back tonight, but you’re right. We’ll need to come every night in case they plan to meet.”
“And if they have multiple meeting places?”
“There are any number of places they might meet—arbors, other summer houses, the aviary, the dairy.”
“Can you get away this afternoon to explore those possibilities?”
She shook her head. “No, but tomorrow Lady John is calling on friends. She mentioned her friend has a boy about the same age as Johnny, so she’ll bring him with her. She wanted me to go as well.”
“I think you had better come down with a megrim after breakfast.”
“I can arrange that. Should we meet here tonight?”
“Yes. What time?”
“Ten?” She turned to look out the window and spotted Johnny moving closer to the river. He’d bent and was examining some stones on the shore. But given another moment, he’d find something interesting even closer and soon he’d be in the water. “I have to go,” she said without even looking over her shoulder at Duncan. She rushed out of the house and called, “Johnny. Stop right there, sir!”
Behind her, Duncan said, “See you at ten tonight.”
Lucy started toward Johnny who had looked up at her when she’d called to him and then proceeded to completely ignore her. She would wring his little neck. And tonight, she’d wring Duncan’s.
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