160 Love Finds the Duke at Last Read online

  He told himself that, as this was almost impossible, he would be most fortunate beyond words if things worked out exactly as he wanted them to do.

  ‘Perhaps it is too much to ask?’ he questioned.

  At the same time in announcing his engagement to Devinia he knew that he had put a barrier between himself and Penelope that would be difficult for anyone to remove.

  With Devinia, he told himself, things would be very different.

  She was penniless and she was without a father or a mother and now, having played the part he had asked her to do, when things were clear and there was no chance of him being forced up the aisle with Penelope, he could find Devinia someone who would look after her and befriend her and reward her with enough money to be comfortable with in the future

  Eventually she could be married to someone who loved animals as she did and settle in the country where no one in the Social world would hear of her again.

  ‘It is working out perfectly,’ the Duke told himself. ‘But in the future I am going to be more careful than I have been in the past. When I marry, in perhaps eight or nine years’ time because I need an heir, it will be very different from being pushed into a marriage by a greedy, ambitious young woman like Penelope who will never love anyone except herself.’

  He drew in a deep breath.

  As he turned from the window to see a footman bring him a glass of champagne, he thought as he raised it to his lips that he would drink a toast to himself and his own cleverness.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Duke was driving his own phaeton with four horses that he had recently bought which were perfectly matched.

  Beside him was Devinia who, because she was so thrilled with the horses, had forgotten for the moment her own problems and looked smiling and happy.

  Behind them came a large carriage loaded with the Duke’s luggage and the few things that the housekeeper in London had put in a case for Devinia.

  “You’ll find that Mrs. Shepherd in the country has everythin’ you require, miss,” she said, “and I’ve just put in the things that you’ll find you’ll need immediately you arrive like underclothes and, of course, nightgowns.”

  “You are very kind,” Devinia said, “and I am more grateful than I can possibly say.”

  When she came downstairs, the Duke urged her,

  “Hurry up, the sun is shining and the sooner we are out of London the better. I know you will enjoy the drive.”

  When she saw that he was driving his phaeton, she was thrilled.

  “I have always wanted to ride in one of these smart phaetons,” she said, “but it has never come my way. I am so thrilled with your beautiful horses, they are so perfectly matched.”

  “They are very proud of it,” the Duke answered, “and so am I. Now I want to show you how fast they can go. In fact the driver of the carriage is already muttering that he does not think he can keep up with us!”

  Devinia laughed.

  “That means he loses face with his fellow workers and you will have to give him a start so that he does not lag behind us too much.”

  “I will give him one while we have luncheon,” the Duke said. “He will either go hungry or gobble it down quickly.”

  She laughed again.

  “Most people would rather be slow and late,” she remarked.

  “If there is one thing I dislike,” the Duke retorted, “it is women who keep you waiting for a long time. But I can see you are ready in time to leave and that is what I hoped you would be.”

  Devinia smiled.

  He felt that when she was smiling and not crying she really looked very lovely.

  But he had plenty of other matters to think about at the moment.

  There were some last minute urgent orders for his secretary, which included instructions that no one was to be told exactly where they had gone.

  Then he picked up the newspaper which had been put out for him at breakfast and carried it with him to the phaeton.

  He was quite certain that all over London when the elite of Society opened their newspapers, they would gasp with astonishment when they saw the Duke’s engagement to a young woman they had never heard of and never seen.

  How was it possible that he had found someone he wanted to marry and none of them had been aware of it?

  He could almost hear their voices chattering to each other in amazement.

  Equally he knew that Penelope would be absolutely furious.

  ‘Serve her right!’ he thought to himself. ‘She has obviously treated this poor child very badly and at least she will have a home for the time being. Then I will find her a nice husband so that she never need be troubled by those dreadful relations again.’

  He understood only too well the shock it had given her in having her beloved dog killed and then thrown into the river.

  It was the sort of thing, he thought, that no decent person would do to any animal, let alone one who was as loved as this one had been by a young girl who had for the moment no one else to love and depend on.

  When they reached the phaeton, Devinia ran from one horse to another commenting on their beauty.

  “How clever of you to find them!” she exclaimed. “You must be proud to own such unusual and marvellous horses.”

  “Who are waiting to carry you to The Castle,” he answered. “So get in and see how fast they can travel.”

  Devinia was now wearing a pretty straw hat that the housekeeper had given her. She also had a woolen cloak to put over her shoulders if she felt cold.

  This she set down beside her because the sun was shining and she thought if anything, although the phaeton was open, she would feel too hot.

  The Duke put his top hat on at a rakish angle and he was exceedingly well-dressed and was, she felt, almost too smart for someone like herself.

  ‘I am lucky, very very lucky, that he is so kind to me,’ she thought. ‘I am sure it was Mama who sent him to save me because if he had not been there I think I should have followed Jo-Jo into the river and drowned myself.’

  Then she thought whatever happened she must not be hysterical as it would only annoy the Duke.

  She forced herself to speak quietly to the horses and then ask His Grace just how far it was to his house in the country.

  “It will take us about an hour after we have finished luncheon at what is an excellent Posting inn,” he replied, “which is the very best on this particular road.”

  Because she had learnt that men, when they were driving, did not want too much conversation, Devinia sat down comfortably on the seat beside the Duke.

  She thought that this was something she had never expected would happen to her.

  Her father and mother had only been able to keep three horses in their stables that had originally been built for many more.

  But they were fine animals and Devina had loved riding them whenever she had the chance.

  She remembered now that her father had often said what outstanding horses the Duke of Lavenham owned.

  When he had won a race, her mother was always delighted that a relation was keeping up with the family reputation of being outstanding when it came to horseflesh.

  ‘I never imagined I would get to know the Duke,’ Devinia thought as she sat there beside him. ‘I am sure that Mama is as pleased as I am with him now.’

  She had known from the moment she entered her cousin’s house that she was not welcome.

  While Penelope disliked her and was aggressive the moment she appeared, her parents thought her to be rather a nuisance.

  They complained audibly when they had to spend any money on her behalf.

  ‘Now that I am running away from them,’ Devinia mused, ‘and so thank you, thank you, Mama, wherever you are for looking after me and helping me as you are now.’

  It was a prayer she felt went straight up to the sky.

  She must have turned her head upwards because the Duke said unexpectedly,

  “Are you looking for clouds or are you expecting
to see an angel peering down at you?”

  “I think that an angel has already done so,” Devinia answered, “because he or she has sent you, Your Grace, and I never, never thought I would be so lucky as to ride behind your marvellous horses who are far faster than I could ever have expected.”

  “That is what I like to hear,” the Duke answered. “I will look forward to showing you the other horses I own, two of them have won very large races and I have several others I have high hopes for in the future.”

  “Do tell me about them?” Devinia enthused. “Did you choose them yourself or were they brought to you as they knew that you would want to buy them?”

  This was the sort of conversation the Duke usually had with a man.

  But he then answered Devinia’s questions and was surprised when she asked him details about the horses he had never expected from a young girl.

  They reached the Posting inn which was two and a half hours out from London.

  Although it was early for luncheon, the Duke said, because he was in a hurry to reach home, they would eat while they had the chance.

  Devenia enjoyed the food which was exceptionally good.

  She thanked the publican in a way which delighted him and which the Duke thought was very tactful.

  When they climbed back into the phaeton, it was to find that the carriage had indeed gone on ahead of them.

  In fact it was nearly three quarters of an hour since they had left, the ostler of the inn told them.

  The Duke chuckled.

  “I do know,” he said, “that my Head Coachman dislikes having to lag behind and he is now making every effort to reach home before I do.”

  “I should have thought your Head Coachman, Your Grace, and you were far too old to behave like boys who always want to beat each other at every game!”

  “Perhaps we never grew up,” the Duke responded. “Horses, I am convinced, make most men ambitious and that every horse which does well is a credit to its owner.”

  Devinia smiled.

  “I am sure that is true and so you will understand, when you are kind enough to mount me on a really fine horse, I will do my best to beat you!”

  “In which case,” the Duke said, “I will give you a very slow donkey!”

  Devinia gave a cry.

  “I had one once when I was very small. I remember trying to race a very tiresome boy, who lived near us, who had a pony about the same size, but unfortunately it was faster than my donkey!”

  The Duke laughed.

  “There you are! We go through life doing the same things over and over again and find each time it is more exciting than it was the last time.”

  “I did not find it at all exciting on my donkey when I was always left behind,” Devinia protested. “Then, when I could ride Papa’s horses, he always kept the fast one for himself.”

  There was silence for a moment and then she said,

  “But he was killed when I was quite young and then Mama and I found it very difficult to keep anything except one horse which drew a carriage for her.”

  There was a rather sad note in her voice which the Duke found very touching.

  “I will give you a very fast horse to ride,” he then promised, “and you may beat everyone on it, but not me!”

  Devinia grinned.

  “I will try,” she replied.

  “Then I will do my very best to prevent you from humiliating me,” the Duke answered.

  “I would never do that, Your Grace. Whenever she had the chance Penelope always humiliated me in front of her other guests. I felt shy and embarrassed, but there was nothing I could do about it.”

  The Duke reflected that the more he heard about Penelope the less he liked her.

  He was prepared to thank God on his knees for having saved him from a wife who was everything that he most distrusted and disliked.

  It was his mother who had said to him when he was very small,

  “You have to remember, my darling, that people are very easily hurt by those who have while they have not. Therefore, because you are such a very lucky boy and have much to be thankful for, you have to be kind to everyone else and never ever make them feel that they have been humiliated because you have more than them.”

  He had not understood what she had meant at first.

  Then, as he grew older, he realised that the ordinary people would almost expect a Duke to treat them as if they were of no standing and to assert himself as their superior with almost every word he spoke.

  He had, therefore, always remembered to praise the people who served him and, when they were friends, never to boast about the things he possessed which were better than theirs.

  *

  When two hours later they turned in at the huge gates which led to the Duke’s house, Devinia gave a little cry of delight.

  “These are just the sort of gates you ought to have for a big and famous house,” she said. “I love the touch of gold on them and, of course, the two cottages on either side where it looks as if they have stepped a Fairytale book.”

  The Duke smiled.

  “Wait until you see the house,” he replied. “I have always felt that it might have come straight from a Fairy story rather than being, as it is, a Castle which was built in Queen Elizabeth’s reign and added to by every member of my family ever since.”

  Devinia was gazing with delight at the huge oak trees on either side of the drive.

  Then she saw the ancient bridge which led the way over the stream that flowed in front of the house.

  She gave a cry of approval.

  “I thought that you would have a stream near your house,” she said, “and I did not dare ask if you have a lake in case you said ‘no’ and I would have been disappointed.”

  “I am hoping that you will not be disappointed at anything you find,” the Duke replied. “I have loved every inch of my home ever since I was born and so you cannot praise it too much as far as I am concerned.”

  “Of course I will praise it because it is polite and I would hate you to be disappointed with my views. But now I can do it with joy and excitement simply because as far as I can see you have everything I have ever wanted to see in a big ancestral house.”

  She was looking as she spoke at the Tower, which was at one end of the building.

  Even as she did so the Duke’s standard was run up the flagpole on the roof to show that the owner was now in residence.

  It unfurled in the wind and Devinia clapped her hands.

  “It is lovely, lovely!” she cried. “No one could have a better Castle to reign over than you, Your Grace.”

  “Thank you,” the Duke answered. “Most people start by being envious and then by being critical. I am so delighted that you are so enthusiastic at first sight. I only hope it is something you will not lose when you come closer to the house and then walk inside it.”

  “It is a Fairy Castle and nothing you can say or do will change it,” Devinia said. “I think your ancestors must have done everything they had to do with love. That is what I feel that The Castle is, it is a Castle of Love to make the world a more beautiful and kindly place because it is here.”

  The Duke thought of all the people who he had entertained at The Castle and the praise he had listened to, it had never been quite so charming as how Devinia had just put it.

  “That is what I want you to feel,” he said aloud, “and welcome to your new home.”

  She gave him a quick glance.

  He knew she was thinking it might not last long and he would soon find some excuse for getting rid of her.

  He did not understand why but he could suddenly read her thoughts.

  Yet there was something in her eyes as well which told him without words what she was thinking.

  He drew up the phaeton outside the front door.

  Instantly two grooms came running from the side of The Castle to go to the horses’ heads and hold them still.

  “Afternoon, Your Grace,” one of them said. “Did Your
Grace ’ave a good journey?”

  “A very good one and I believe that I must have broken all records,” the Duke answered.

  “Well, the carriage arrived just ten minutes ago,” the groom informed him, “and they was real pleased to find they’d beaten Your Grace.”

  “I think they must have cheated by eating little or no luncheon,” the Duke replied laughingly.

  Then he helped Devinia out of the phaeton.

  Holding her by the hand he took her in through the front door.

  There was a grey-haired butler waiting to welcome them and three footmen in smart livery.

  Devinia thought that they looked as if they were just going on the stage.

  She was thrilled and enchanted by everything that she saw in The Castle.

  When the Duke ushered her into the drawing room which his mother had furnished with Louis XIV furniture and some exquisite French china, she gave a cry of delight.

  “You must be so proud of this room,” she enthused, “it is so lovely! The furniture and china must be the envy of everyone who comes here.”

  “My mother was particularly proud of this room,” the Duke replied, “and now I must show you my father’s favourite.”

  He took Devinia down a long passage which was hung with ancient tapestries with beautiful inlaid furniture along the walls

  As he opened a door at the end of it, he commented,

  “I have a feeling that you will really be impressed, Devinia, because this is our library.”

  Devinia gave a gasp.

  The library was very large and beautifully planned, but the books with their bright colours were on shelves that went right up to the ceiling.

  It was, without any exception, the most impressive display of books that Devinia had ever seen anywhere.

  “It is lovely, lovely!” she exclaimed, “and I want to read every one of them.”

  The Duke laughed.

  “You would be at least one hundred and fifty before you managed it!”

  “In which case I had better start reading at once, Your Grace.”

  “No!” he answered firmly, “I still have more rooms to show you including the Picture Gallery and what must not be forgotten, The Castle’s ballroom.”