An Apple Pie for a Duke by Ruby Royce Page B

“Whenever I meet you, your are out of sorts, in one way
or another.”
    Flora
watched him closely. Since the duke did not care for her at all she
was at liberty to blandly observe him. He looked tired. His mouth was
twitching and a certain tension in his posture belied the easy manner
of his speech.
    “ I
hear the Yorkshire air's much more beneficial. My horse keeps telling
me so.”
    “ Your
horse?” It broke out of Flora.
    “ Yes,”
the Duke nodded. “He's quite a chatterbox. It's mostly nonsense
though.”
    “ Is
it?” Lady Cartwright's good humour had evaporated. She looked
downright worried.
    She's
afraid she's set her daughter up with a mad man. That would serve her
right.
    “ Yes,
indeed. Guess what he told me about Yorkshire. He said there were
pirates in Yorkshire.”
    “ That's
well possible,” Lady Cartwright concurred. “There are a lot of
secret coves by the sea, ideal for smugglers. We live further inland,
fortunately.”
    The
duke nodded. “My horse spent some time at a lovely inn called the
Red Mill. Do you perchance know the local?”
    Lady
Cartwright, still visibly distressed, cleared her throat. “Oh yes,
I do! The owner served under my husband in the army.”
    “ Coeur
de Lion enjoyed his stay very much. Because that's were he saw the
pirate! In fact, he hit upon a secret meeting between a Princess and
a Privateer in that very inn's most comfortable stable. Spectacular
haylofts, if anything.”
    “ Oh,”
Lady Parker cried. “Isn't there a novel of that title? The Princess
and the Privateer?”
    “ I
wouldn't know,” Lady Cartwright said sternly.
    Flora
glanced at Gigi to see whether her friend found the entire
conversation as disturbing as she did. Gigi's face had changed from
white to bright red.
    “ Was
it a secret rendezvous ?”
Lady Cartwright asked nervously.
    Why
does she even listen to his gibberish? His horse tells him stories!
Bedlam's calling!
    “ That's
what my horse believed, at first. But it turned out to be a
book-club.”
    “ A
book-club?” Again, Flora had not managed to keep her mouth shut.
    The
Duke proceeded unperturbed. “Yes, charming little get-together with
cider and apple pie, rolling around in the straw, dramatising the
content of the book in question. An excellent apple pie, my horse
insists.”
    “ Your
horse joined the book-club, then?” Flora asked with a tinge of
sarcasm.
    “ Oh
yes, oh yes. The pirate was very welcoming. Only when he found out
that the horse was in fact my horse, he was
terrified!”
    “ Aha?”
Lady Cartwright pursed her lips.
    “ Yes!
That pirate had, so it seems, encountered me in one of my less
decorous moments and hence feared retribution. Must've been at a
place called Hayford where I'd threatened to finish off the heir.”
    “ HAYFORD?”
Lady Cartwright gasped.
    The
duke nodded gravely.
    “ Retribution?”
Lady Parker asked. “But what for?”
    “ For
corrupting the equestrian diet, of course. This horse is an athlete,
you understand. Sugary pies are not at all beneficial to him. The
pirate was very knowledgeable on the subject and justly feared my
wroth. Unspeakable punishments I would administer, he was sure of it.
The poor pirate would dwell in eternal agony. He dramatically offered
himself to be my slave for the rest of his life if it saved him from
the gruesome penalties awaiting him in my dungeons.”
    “ Oh,
did he?” Lady Cartwright had stopped patting Eugenia and looked at
her with raised eyebrows.
    Eugenia
bit her lip and nodded, her skin a dark shade of violet.
    “ Well,
I couldn't vouch for the accuracy of my horse's account. If any horse
could be accused of verbosity, it would be mine. --- But forgive me,
I can't linger, I have an appointment in the city.”
    He
looked at Eugenia gravely for a while. Then he drew a deep breath. “I
shall call on you tomorrow afternoon, Miss Cartwright. I hope to find
you recovered from your illness, by then. As far as I understand, a
certain Mr. Wimple's life may