Say Yes to the Duke by Kieran Kramer Read Free Book Online Page A

down.
    “It’s not uncommon to get a bit dizzy at things like this,” Mr. Callahan told him
     lightly, which Janice appreciated very much. Oscar had his dignity, after all. “Let
     me help you up and get you upstairs.”
    Oscar winced. “I suppose that’s best.”
    Janice laid her hand on the older man’s grizzled jaw. “I want to give you a sip of
     Daddy’s whiskey right now, and once you get to your bed, take some more from your
     own flask. Will you promise me that?”
    “Aye.” Oscar didn’t even wince as she dribbled some of the potent liquid into his
     mouth. He swallowed it as if it were the elixir of the gods. “I want to stand up,”
     he rasped after a moment.
    Mr. Callahan helped him to his feet.
    “Are you sure you’re fine?” Janice couldn’t help but worry.
    “I’m right as rain.” There was gravel—and perhaps a bit of annoyance—in Oscar’s tone.
    Mr. Callahan exchanged a brief look with her. The slight upward curve of one side
     of his mouth mirrored her own amusement—and relief.
    Aaron appeared at the stall door and peered around them to Esmeralda and her family.
     “Look at that, will you?” Then he seemed to notice Oscar’s distressed expression.
     “What’s wrong? Do you need a doctor, Mr Camp?”
    “No, I don’t need a doctor.” Oscar lowered his bushy eyebrows at the boy, who drew
     back an inch or two.
    “Sorry,” Aaron said.
    “No need to be.” Mr. Callahan explained in very few words to the junior groom that
     Oscar needed to be taken upstairs to his bed—but that he was just fine.
    “Right as rain,” Oscar said again.
    Aaron grinned at him. “Let me help you. I can do it.”
    “All right,” the old servant grumbled. “Let’s go, son.”
    “His name is Aaron,” Mr. Callahan clarified, then lifted his chin at the boy. “Help
     Mr. Camp find his flask when he gets there.”
    Aaron nodded. “Yes, sir.”
    Janice couldn’t help but approve of Mr. Callahan at the moment. He was good at looking
     after strays, wasn’t he? Aaron was the lowliest of the grooms. She knew from her walk
     with him to the stables that he had only a sister and she’d emigrated several years
     ago. And while Oscar wasn’t a stray, exactly, he needed careful handling.
    “All right.” Oscar grimaced. “Let’s go—Aaron.”
    Janice looked after both of them as they departed, and when they were a decent length
     away she actually chuckled. “I know I shouldn’t laugh at Oscar’s fainting.”
    “You’re right.” Mr. Callahan had a twinkle in his eye when he looked at her.
    “I never imagined Oscar as sensitive,” she said. “He doesn’t come across that way,
     usually. As you see, he can be quite the curmudgeon.”
    The groom extended his palm, indicating that she could exit the stall first. “No man
     likes to be seen as weak. And no man likes to be fussed over by a woman.”
    On the other side of Esmeralda’s wall, Janice said, “But women add a sense of civility
     and ease to any situation.”
    “Ease?” Mr. Callahan pulled the door shut behind him.
    “Yes.” Janice knew she sounded lofty, but he brought that out in her.
    “I don’t feel ease around you, Lady Janice.” He seemed especially interested in the tendril of hair tumbling down
     one side of her face.
    She wondered if her cheeks were as red as they felt. “You should,” she said, and heard
     that prim tone in her voice that came when she was in over her head. “I’m perfectly
     agreeable.”
    “Agreeable?” He gave a short laugh. “That’s an interesting choice of words.” He leaned
     his elbow on the edge of the stall, put his chin in his hand, and looked at her as
     if he could stare at her for hours.
    She’d never experienced such absorbed interest from a man and was entirely flummoxed.
     “Being agreeable is what I’m best at. Marcia is the great beauty and Cynthia is adorable.
     I get to be the sister who gets along well with everyone, and I don’t mind in the
     least.”
    “I