When the Duke Returns by Eloisa James Read Free Book Online Page A

mother’s chambers and knocked on the door.
    She was sitting before a small secretary at her window. Simeon realized with a sinking heart that her desk, too, was stacked with sheaves of paper.
    He dropped into the bow that she required, waited while she held out her hand to be kissed, waited while she arranged herself in a chair and motioned him to another. Though they were in the country, and surely not expecting morning callers, she wore a high powdered wig hung with teardrop pearls.
    â€œYou have come, of course, to apologize,” she said, folding her hands. “I expected as much from your father’s son.”
    When had his mother’s voice become so high and quavering? When had she developed that slight hitch in her step? When had she become so old?
    â€œMother,” he began.
    She raised her hand. “I see no reason that you, a duke, should address me by a term suitable for a schoolboy’s use.”
    â€œYour Grace,” he started over. “I am concerned about the state of the paperwork in the study.”
    â€œYou needn’t worry about that,” she said, bestowing him with a gracious smile. “I took care of everything regularly. I was brought up to manage a large estate, and I have continued to do so since your father’s death. In every case I noted the instructions I gave Honeydew, so that you have a thorough record.”
    â€œThere are some unpaid bills,” he observed.
    â€œOnly if the bill was absurd.”
    â€œPerhaps I do not grasp the problem. The local candle-maker, for example, does not appear to have been paid in over a year.”
    â€œA case in point. How on earth could we have used two hundred tallow candles? Acting as the guardian of your estate, I could not allow chicanery to continue. Either the servants are stealing candles, or the chandler is defrauding us. Either way, the bill remains unpaid until I am satisfied about the matter. Your father was very firm, very firm indeed, when it came to matters of thievery. He couldn’t abide a thief!”
    â€œOf course not,” Simeon murmured. “Do you have any idea, Mother, why he didn’t pay the estate bills? There are a great number unanswered, from well before his death.”
    â€œOnly the thieves,” she said dismissively. “They charge us double, you know, because of the title. They think they can get away with robbery because the dukedom is so well respected.”
    He doubted that. In fact, he had no doubt but that the majority of the people living around the duchy loathed the name, seeing that they had been defrauded of proper payments for years.
    â€œAnd now…your apology.” She looked at him expectantly.
    For the life of him, he didn’t know what he was supposed to apologize for.
    He cleared his throat.
    â€œYou are just like your father!” she exclaimed. “I used to have to instruct him in the precise wording of this sort of thing as well. You have come to apologize for the dissolute manner by which you showed your lower limbs not only to myself, but to the household staff. The lower orders are highly susceptible.”
    â€œSusceptible to what?”
    â€œImmorality and vice, of course.”
    â€œAnd my bare knees?”
    â€œYour knees, Cosway, are not only unattractive but uninteresting. I am certain that the footmen would rather not see them, and neither would I.”
    â€œAnd the immorality thereof?” Simeon enquired.
    â€œTo be unclothed before the lower orders, except in necessary situations, is to be avoided at all costs.”
    â€œI apologize for my bare knees,” Simeon said obediently. “Your Grace, would you like me to take care of such correspondence as you are unable to manage?” He nodded toward the desk.
    His mother raised an eyebrow. “Do I appear to be an invalid? No? Well, then, why on earth would I wish you to take care of my correspondence?”
    â€œI merely