Page 2 of The Duke Who Dared Me
She heard them as soon as she crested the hill before they came into sight, swimming in the large pond below.
“Percy!”she screamed at her brother, who held a friend over his head, his arms shaky.He froze at the sound of her voice, then tossed the boy into the cold water, eliciting a scream.
“Go away, Verity,” he snapped.“We’re swimming.”
“You broke my Meissen porcelain collection.”
Her brother glared and swiped his hand through his blond hair.He was all legs and arms and impossibly handsome, according to Verity’s friends.She detested him.
She raced down the hill, unafraid.Let them squirm at her being so close as they splashed about in their buckskins.She didn’t care a fig for propriety when they seemed so hellbent on turning her world upside down.
“Are you going to replace them?”
His friends laughed and splashed each other, making it difficult to hear his muttered response.
“Well?”She crossed her arms, staring down at her brother.Percy neatly ignored her.“Listen, you ignoramus?—”
Suddenly, erupting from the pond’s surface to her right, Alistair popped up with a grin on his face.“That’s a large word for you, Bug.”
Her neighbor, Alistair Rutley, the future Duke of Tunstall, stood before her without a shirt on.Water sluiced down his chest, drawing her attention to his muscles.All sorts of muscles that, until today, she thought only statues possessed.Judging by the smile on his face, the one that showed off his perfect teeth and his annoyingly razor-sharp jaw, made her feel as though she had swallowed a bee skep from the apiary.
“I didn’t ask for your opinion.”
“You never do.”
“Maybe,” she said, stepping closer.Damn it, she was brave to do so.Another year at Eton had treated him well.Considering she had been his neighbor for the past fifteen years, she thought it rather inconvenient that he was both annoying and a trifle handsome.“Perhaps because your opinions are garbage.”
“Really?”He dipped back below the surface, treading water until he was farther away from shore.Before she could think better of it, she skipped the stones by the edge of the pond and navigated out until she stood on the rock that towered over him.She wouldn’t be ignored or talked down to…
“I didn’t realize we were keeping track, but I have plenty of examples.”
He gestured for her to continue, the hint of his dimple about to emerge.Her brother continued wrestling with his friends by the shoreline, and her temper whirled within her.
“Will you stop?”she finally shouted at them.
“What an angry young woman.”
“There!”She pointed at Alistair.“That is a terrible opinion.Am I not allowed to express my frustration simply based on my sex?You punched a hole in the nursery wall last Christmastide, I recall, because?—”
“I don’t have to attend finishing school.”
She pulled her arms in tighter, furious that her cheeks were burning.“Wereyouresponsible for shattering my collection then?”
“Why would I ever do that?”
“Why do you ever do anything?”
“I ask myself the same question daily.The answer, it seems, is I’m to be a duke.Lots of rules.”
“If you’re expecting my condolences, you may continue to wait.”
Alistair chuckled, looking up toward the late afternoon sky before swimming closer to the rock.The light washed over him, drawing out the dark navy in his blue eyes as he studied her.
“Have you finished throwing your fit now?”
Why was she expected to practice her reading and arithmetic and drawing and music and French at all hours of the day?Horse feathers!French was an impossible language that twisted up on her tongue, and the words sounded nothing like they were written.Her mind hated it.Her brother was allowed to run wild, and her parents could do whatever they wished.So why must she practice being small to make everyone else comfortable?
“I’m not a child, Alistair.”Resentment swelled up inside again at the reminder of her governess implying the same earlier.“They were my favorite.It’s taken time to gather that collection and at a great cost.”
