A Season of Hope Read Free Page B

room she’d been designated. It was nearly eight o’clock in the evening. “He wants to see me, now?” She’d only just arrived from a grueling carriage ride two hours past.
    Mrs. Ealey frowned at her. “No. His Grace wanted to see you yesterday.”
    “There was snow,” Olivia said, hurrying to keep step with the duke’s loyal housekeeper.
    “ Humph.” Mrs. Ealey seemed to believe the Duke of Danby’s wishes should supersede the weather.
    They wound their way through the imposing castle without any further words, and only stopped when they reached the Duke of Danby’s office.
    Olivia frowned. Now that she’d escaped, for the present, her father and Lord Ellsworth’s proposal, the dread of having to deal with her grandfather’s summons overtook her. “Mayhap I should wait…”
    Mrs. Ealey knocked. “Lady Olivia has arrived, Your Grace.”
    “Well then, show her in,” the duke thundered from the other side of the wood panel.
    Olivia jumped, a hand at her breast.
    Taking a deep breath, she entered the duke’s lair.
    He stood but didn’t move out from behind his desk. “Come here, gel. Let me get a look at you.”
    Olivia hesitated and then came forward .
    He raked a disapproving gaze over her. “You’re old.”
    Olivia bit the inside of her cheek at the insult. “Yes. Far older than the last time you saw me, Your Grace.”
    “You’ve been giving your father a hard time, girl.” It wasn’t a question. “Well done.”
    And it would appear Danby d idn’t know her name.
    He peered down his long, hawk-like nose at her. “Don’t give me that look.”
    She frowned. “What look, Your Grace?”
    “The one that says I don’t know your name.”
    Olivia knew enough to remain silent.
    “It’s Alexandra ,” he barked.
    She clenched her lips so tight her teeth snapped.
    He snorted. “Get over here, Olivia.”
    Olivia chuckled and crossed around the desk to greet the duke. It seemed as the years slipped by, the old duke let his guard dip a bit more. She reached up and placed a kiss on his wizened cheek.
    “None o’ that, now,” he said, his voice gruff from discomfort at her display of emotion.
    All the nervousness at his ducal summons dissipated. Danby may scare most of his off-spring, but when Olivia was around him, she was reminded that he was as gruff and loveable as one of father’s old hunting dogs. “You summoned me?”
    The duke patted her on the shoulder in an awkward gesture of affection. “I have always enjoyed your directness, Olivia.”
    She inclined her head. “Then you would be the first and only. My father—"
    “Is a fool ,” Danby cut in. He folded his hands behind his back. “Trying to marry you off to Ellsworth.”
    A glass fell. The shatter of crystal filled the room and Olivia spun around.
    In the dark shadows of the room, illuminated only by the blaze in the fireplace, stood a towering figure.
    Olivia took a step closer to her grandfather who chuckled in response. “Not normally that clumsy, old fellow.”
    The man stepped deeper into the shadows, managing to make himself one with the wall.
    A pull of awareness coursed through Olivia. She peered into the corner of the room but the old fellow remained cloaked in darkness. She cocked her head, Danby forgotten. Olivia moved out from behind the desk, closer to the center of the room, and then paused. There was something ominously familiar about her grandfather’s—
    “He’s my steward.”
    Her brows knitted together. “Is he?”
    And still, the man said nothing.
“You have anything to say to my granddaughter, Lady Olivia?”
    A blush heated her chest and climbed up her neck. It was all she could to keep from reprimanding her grandfather. One didn’t correct the Duke of Danby , even for terribly gauche manners.
    Apparently Danby’s steward considered himself exempt from the duke’s orders.
    Determined to exert the years of genteel propriety drummed into her by governesses over the years, Olivia walked over to the