Bewitching the Duke Read Free Page A

closing in on him. He could still hear her screams of agony, and her pleas with God to save their baby. He entered his study and his gaze focused on Mary’s portrait above the fireplace. She’d been stunningly beautiful with her auburn hair and blue eyes. The longer he stared at her picture, the more his guilt ate at him. He had to get out of here . . . out of this damned house.
    He should have insisted the wedding take place in London.
    “Roberts,” he shouted, “tell Mr. Sellers I want a horse saddled.”
    “Yes, Your Grace.” Roberts replied from the hall.
    Colin paced his room. Dust and cobwebs covered every table and corner. Of course, if he had sent more notice of his impending arrival, the house would have been immaculate. Or at least as immaculate as his elderly staff could make the decrepit place. He needed to hire more staff as quickly as possible. And workers too. The house needn’t be perfect but at least respectable enough for the wedding.
    It was only two months. Then everything would be fine and he could return to London. Then he would never come back to this godforsaken house again. He’d let it rot until the next duke took over. His brother, Thomas, or Thomas’s son, Richard, could handle the renovations it would need then.
    He strode from the room and the house to escape the memories that plagued him. A ride would ease his mind. Once he reached the stables, a fine mare was waiting for him. At least his stables had been maintained.
    “Thank you, Mr. Sellers.” He mounted and took the reins from the groomsman.
    “Thank you, Your Grace. Aphrodite needed some exercise today.”
    “Then I’ll make certain she gets it.” He flicked the reins and headed out to the flat pasture. He’d forgotten how beautiful the Midlands were at this time of year. The sheep grazed on green grasses near a meadow of heather. The tilled fields had wheat rising from the ground. He smiled slightly as he remembered racing across the fields as a child.
    He breathed in deeply, allowing the thickly scented air into his lungs. Finally, he brought Aphrodite to a halt at the rise of a hill where his property intersected with the estates of the Earl of Harstfield and Viscount Middleton.
    Colin closed his eyes for a moment only to picture the little witch who had angered him yesterday. With curling blond hair and green eyes, Miss White was not the girl he vaguely remembered meeting when she was only about ten. Now she was a beautiful woman who irritated the hell out of him. She had to be in her middle twenties now. It was highly improper for a woman of her years to walk about with her hair unbound. And why hadn’t she married? Surely, she didn’t mean to remain a spinster and live in that tiny cottage for the rest of her life.
    He opened his eyes, annoyed with himself for even thinking about her. Her mother caused his pain. Her mother was the reason he was miserable here. Her mother killed his wife and heir.
    The sound of a horse galloping turned his head toward the earl’s estate.
    “So the rumors are true,” Hart said as he reined in his horse. He glanced to the east and then back at Colin with a frown. “You have returned. I guess the sun will now set in the east.”
    “Good morning to you too,” Colin said stiffly.
    “Excuse me, Your Grace,” the Earl of Harstfield said in a condescending tone.
    “What do you want, Hart?”
    Hart gave him an easy laugh. “Just making sure the rumor was true. After all, your exact words were the sun would set in the east before you ever set foot in Northrop Park again.”
    Colin shook his head. He had said those words and meant them until a month ago. “Kate wishes to marry here.”
    Hart nodded. “And you can’t refuse her anything, can you?”
    “No.”
    “She knows what happened. Why would she insist on having the wedding here?”
    Colin jumped off his horse and took the reins. Slowly he walked along the knoll with Hart following him. “She has no desire to marry in