“Don’t be rude.”
She reached for her teacup, intent on taking it away from him, but he held it above his head and out of reach.
“As I was saying, she was determined to ride in the morning, and she would climb out of this window, down the trellis, and sneak over to the stables to go riding when the rest of the family were asleep.”
Katie forgot about the teacup. “Lady Edith used to crawl out of the window and down to the ground?” She went to the window and peered out. She knew the trellis he spoke of. He must have used it himself when he’d climbed up, but she could not imagine anyone climbing back down that way. The foliage-covered trellis did not look sturdy, and the drop was not insubstantial. “In skirts?”
“In a riding habit, yes. That is, until she was caught.”
Katie was caught herself, swept up in his tale, despite her best efforts to remain uninterested. “What happened?” she heard herself ask. She wanted to kick herself. She should have been telling the duke to leave. Why was she standing in the middle of her bedchamber speaking to him as though his presence here was not completely inappropriate?
And why did she not feel self-conscious of her birthmark? She always felt self-conscious around men, even servants. She felt uncomfortable around women, too. It seemed—to Katie, at any rate—that everyone stared at the mark on her face when they looked at her. They didn’t see her; they only saw the mark. But Carlisle was looking in her eyes. Moreover, he was treating her like he might treat anyone else, and not at all like she was a hideous monster he should run from.
“My father had to go to London one morning and was up early. He saw her walking just—” Carlisle took her arm and tugged her gently to the windows. He pointed to a section of the back lawn that would have been visible from the drive. “Just there. He called her name, and she ran. The girl tried to scramble back up the trellis, and of course, that gave the game away. These windows were nailed closed for the next couple of years, until Edith complained that her room became too warm in the summer and promised she would not try to escape again.”
“Did she?”
Carlisle looked away from the grounds outside the window. “I don’t know. I doubt it. Edith is a sensible person, aside from horses. I’ve seen her beleaguered husband more than once at Tattersall’s. We Carlisles are known for our passions.”
“Yours, I suppose, is gambling.”
“Guilty as charged. I doubt anyone would call it a passion, though. My mother calls it a vice.”
Katie gestured to the bedchamber. “You lost your duchy in a card game.”
“It was dice, and Carlisle Hall is not my duchy. If it were, it would be entailed.”
“But I thought—”
Carlisle went to the stool in front of her dressing table, took a seat, and crossed his legs. He sipped her tea as though he had every right to make himself comfortable. Katie crossed her arms.
“Everyone thinks this is my duchy, which is understandable because Carlisle Hall has been here for almost a hundred years, and the land has been owned by the Dukes of Carlisle for longer than that. My great-grandfather had the house built here because he wanted a residence close to London. He was very active in the lords, or so I am told. The land granted to the first Duke of Carlisle, along with the title, is actually in Cumbria, just a stone’s throw from Gretna Green. One of my ancestors—I forget if it was the first or the second duke—built a fortification there, but it’s in ruins now. There’s land as well, but it’s quite rocky and not very suitable for farming. I suppose that was why my forebears bought land elsewhere. I do collect a small income from the farmers, though. And the sheep.”
“Sheep?”
“Sheep farmers or—Are they called farmers? In any case, lots of sheep that way.”
“And will you go to Cumbria after visiting your mother?”
“As I said, the keep is in ruins, and I have no idea about the rest of the buildings. I’m afraid I have nowhere to live at present.”
“You have your London house.”
Carlisle cocked his head as though curious. “I take it your father has not enlightened you, then.”
Katie had a nauseating feeling in her belly. “What do you mean?”
“He won my town house in a game of vingt-et-un.”
Oh, no.“I don’t understand.”
The duke’s eyes went to the window, and she saw a muscle in his jaw twitch. He obviously didn’t like repeating this. “I wanted to win back Carlisle Hall, so I challenged him to a game of cards. He would only play if I wagered my town house.”
“And youagreed?”
Carlisle uncrossed his legs. “In my defense, my luck that night was unparalleled.”
“And I suppose you had won several hands against my father already.”
