The Duke And I

Cassy had the worst journey ever. She had never been one so interested in the sea. As the ship ducked at the England shore, Cassy stepped out and was greeted by a tall young man."Lord Levington?" He asked and she nodded in affirmation. She pointed out to the one trunk that had been brought from America. The man seemed surprised."Some of my things were lost," Cassy lied, and that satisfied him."I'm certain that his grace will be ordering you new garments more commensurate with your station," the man said politely, and indicated that Cassy should follow him.That caused her some unease as she tried to visualise how she would be measured for the new garments. But that was still in the future, and there were other hurdles to clear first, she decided as the man who was the steward and named Sheldon, showed her to a waiting carriage. She eyed it with wide eyes, noting the silver crest on the door, and the brightly glea

But after Sheldon had left her alone in the study with the lunch tray and the rain still pelting the mullioned windows, Cassy surrendered to gloom. Her fate would be the same, no matter what her brother did. Jonathan was assured of a place when and if he returned from sea, but she would be superfluous. An unwanted sister destined to remain on the fringes of life. There would be no place for her here, that much was certain.Her only hope was to carry off her deception until her eighteenth birthday. As stipulated by her father's will, she would at least inherit a small legacy and be able to avoid confinement in a convent. Yes, she'd have to stick it out at Eastland, but she dreaded her next encounter with the grim duke.No less did the duke anticipate his next conversation with his ward. Young Levington was a surly youth, he thought wryly. And entirety too effeminate for his liking, though he did have a prickly temper. Eastland had noted the boy's alm

Sunday, obviously, was not one of those days. It began early, with her valet bringing her the information that his grace expected her to be downstairs within half an hour, dressed and ready for services in the village church.Church didn't sound bad at all, though Cassy did wonder sleepily why it began so early. She'd always enjoyed the sermons and at church near Hampton roads. The minister had been a bit grim at times, but interesting. And she liked singing the hymns.Church services with the duke of Eastland, she soon discovered, were an entirely different matter.In the first place, they arrived in the village in the ducal carriage, which commanded the villagers immediate awe and respect and made Cassy feel conspicuous. She could feel their eyes on her, some speculatively, some wary, some merely accepting, but all combining to make her feel quite uncomfortable.She hoped no one noticed her difficulty in keeping o

Anthony Henry Blake, Ninth Duke of Eastland, found himself in a towering rage as he strode toward the manor house his ancestors had begun in the fourteenth century. His family was an old one, though the original duke of Eastland had been little more than a mercenary. The fierce blood of those early adventures still ran in his veins, and Henry took a savage pleasure in it most of the time.That ruthless streak had never bothered him until lately, when he'd begun to feel faintly foolish for allowing a beardless youth to irritate him past the point of self-control. But dammit, Levington just had such a vulnerable, female look about him! His shy, wide blue eyes, and the way his lashes lowered whenever he thought the duke was staring at him were irritating to the extreme, not to mention those few times he'd caught the boy gazing at him with something close to wary admiration. There was definitely something about the boy that made him edgy, but he felt ridiculous not bein

She could hardly hide her relief when the dinner ended, and the women retired to the drawing-room while the men lingered with port and cigars. Unfortunately, she was expected to stay in the dining room with the men. Cassy felt out of place and uncomfortable, but managed to remain just out of conversational range for a while.Eastland sat back, putting in a word now and then, but letting his guests argue to their heart's content as they imbibed generously from his excellent wine cellar.Again and again, Cassy found her eyes drawn to him and she wondered desperately just what sort of odd fixation she had formed for the arrogant duke. He certainly wasn't very nice to her, or polite, or even distantly friendly. He obviously regarded her, as Levington, a millstone around his neck. She was a duty to be discharged, and he meant to do his best by it, that she could see. But she could also see that he resented every moment of it. When,