Page 20 of The Hero

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Do I need to ask the Duke of Oxford his intentions?”

Harry glanced at her brother as she entered the breakfast room. He was already seated at the table as she crossed to help herself from the array of dishes being kept warm on the side table.

The two of them had last seen each other briefly yesterday evening, when Edward was on his way downstairs to dinner and Harry was going to sit with their very ill father overnight.

So much for the doctor’s assertion that his skills were such the earl would not suffer any ill effects from his injury.

Their aunt had been seated beside the earl’s bed when Harry entered the room. Her aunt, after a night’s sleep, was once again upstairs seated beside her brother-in-law’s bed. Allowing Harry, once she had eaten, to go to her bedchamber and take a much-needed nap. Edward, obviously refreshed after having spent the night sleeping in his own bed, was dressed to join the other gentlemen this morning on another shoot.

Harry would like to claim his young age as the reason for his selfishness, but she was very much afraid her brother had only ever thought of himself.

Harry placed her plate of food on the table and then seated herself opposite Edward. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Everyone here has noticed Oxford has shown a particular interest in you.”

“Then they are particularly mistaken.”

Blue eyes so like her own met hers mockingly. “Our illustrious duke was all over you on our first evening here. He was most unhappy yesterday evening when he realized our father’s turn for the worse meant you would not be joining us for dinner.”

“Really?” her tone was deliberately offhand as she turned to thank the footman after he had placed the white napkin across her thighs.

“Oh yes.” Edward lounged back in his seat. “He was very dismissive of the other young ladies who vied for his attention during the evening.”

A fact which pleased Harry very much. “Oxford is always dismissive, and rarely desirous of anyone’s company, but most especially that of any of the single ladies.” She easily recalled his scathing opinion of those ladies.

“He seemed to be very desirous of your company two evenings ago,” Edward baited.

“The duke was merely being polite.”

Her brother looked at her from beneath an increasingly dark brow. “Do not play coy with me, Harry.”

“I am not sure I would even know how to behave coyly.” She took a bite of the triangle of toast she had liberally buttered before adding an orange preserve. Her aunt’s cook really did make the most delicious marmalade from the fruit grown in the orangery at the back of the house.

“Oxford is one of the richest men in England,” Edward reminded.

“I am sure that is very nice for him,” she dismissed mildly.

“You could be his duchess if you took the trouble to behave in a more…ladylike manner.” He winced as Harry removed her glove so that she might pick up a piece of crispy bacon from the side of her plate, take an enjoyable bite before groaning her pleasure as she chewed the greasy delight.

She slowly licked her fingers clean before replacing her glove. “Any future Duchess of Oxford would, by definition, have to be married to and live with the duke. Who, I am sure you must agree, is a most unpleasant gentleman?”

“A man’s nature can be overlooked if he is rich enough,” her brother insisted.

“Not by me.”

“What of the rest of your family?”

A frown creased her brow. “What do you mean?”

“Papa’s social standing, and my own, would certainly benefit from having Oxford as son-in-law and brother-in-law.”

Harry snorted. “Papa has never cared a fig for his social standing.”

“I care for mine!”

“How would you possibly bene— Please tell me you have not incurred any more debts?” she pleaded. “You know how upset Papa was the last time he had to pay your gambling debts.”

---