An Apple Pie for a Duke by Ruby Royce

a sudden deep longing and at the same time a profound
embarrassment when he pictured how she dreamed about him, what she
fancied he would do to her.
    He
did not dare let his thoughts dwell further into that direction.
    He
was befuddled by brandy and by that little minx, that devilish
kitten.
    Angel!
Demon! Pirate! All of it and more!
    He
had to have her.
    He
had to marry her.
    In
his heart he knew he had wanted to marry her the moment she had taken
off her pirate's tricorn. He had even told her so. Well, he had not
been thinking clearly, she had been rubbing herself against his---
Whatever. He had said it and he had meant it, too.
     
    He
wanted her for his wife but Eugenia only wanted him for a fantasy!
    She
had been savagely angry when she had finally recovered from her
amorous fervour in the carriage. Fury had raged through the beautiful
creature like a thunderstorm.
    She
had called him all sort of things. She never wanted to see him again!
    What
if she wanted to marry somebody less sinister, less moody and less
haughty? Somebody like that ignominious Mr. Wimple.
    I
have to tell her about the stable! She needs to know!
    He'd
call on her tomorrow and come what may, Mr. Wimple would not see the
light of another day.
    He
passed out.
     
                                                                        ***
     
    The
following day, after having recovered from his excessive intake of
brandy, Dominic had Coeur de Lion saddled and rode over to Halfmoon
Street.
    He
was informed by a footman that the General was not at home and
neither were the ladies.
    They
had taken the barouche to Hyde Park.

    12.
     
     
     
    Hyde
Park, that same morning
     
    Miss
Flora Parker, observant as usual, had immediately detected that
something incisive had happened in the Cartwright household. Lady
Cartwright was positively exuberant. The elegant woman was so
radiant, Flora feared she might be inwardly aflame. Her husband's
arrival could have been the reason for the lady's sudden mirth but
Flora doubted it.
    Even
so, Eugenia Cartwright was a complete contrast to her joyful parent.
    The
bright young woman whom Flora had befriended not even a week ago had
transformed into a pale, nervous, brooding creature. Beautiful yes,
but not as forthcoming, witty or charming as she had been on earlier
occasions.
    Funnily,
apparently something Eugenia had done was the reason for Lady
Cartwright's happiness. She would not cease stroking or patting her.
“My good, good girl,” she'd sigh blissfully and smile.
    Flora
and her own mother, Lady Parker, sat opposite the Cartwright females
in their barouche.
    It
was the usual time for a jaunt to the park and many an acquaintance
walked, rode or drove by, greeting them amicably. A few more
courageous ones even inquired after Gigi's health.
    Her faiblesse at Lady Winston's was
known to the entire ton ,
of course.
    Flora's
mother had been speaking of nothing else ever since.
    Had
Flora seen how it had happened? Had Flora heard what the duke had
said?
    “ How
come he danced at all when everybody knows he never dances and what
was he doing at Delilah's anyway? He could not possibly...? Or could
he...? He would have to at some point... though everybody had given
up on it, more or less, but no! Along comes Mary
Tarly-Rivendon-Cartwright – who always got what she wanted then and now – and has
magicked up a stunningly beautiful daughter who pretends not to care
for men at all. The next thing we see is Surrey at a ball, an
occurrence nobody had ever hoped to witness, they
dance, she faints, he brings her home in his carriage alone! Shocking! The girl is
utterly compromised and it has been her own mother's idea! But then
that flaxen haired schemer has always been outrageous, mark my words.
First she marries the Earl of Rivendon about two weeks into her first
season, later she runs of to France and marries that atrocious old
general! It was sheer calculation by