The Heart of a Duke by Samantha Grace Page B

head. "I promise you this is not
a rash decision—"
    "How could it be anything but ?"
    "I've been unhappy for some time, and while
I'm quite certain Langley has a mild fondness for me, that is not
enough. Not anymore."
    He moved toward her, but Elle backed away. She
did not want his sympathy, or his pity.
    "Eleanore." The intensity in Jacob's voice
halted her, and he stepped closer. Placing one palm on her cheek,
he gently forced her to face him. The compassion in his gaze was
nearly her undoing. "Do not do this. You'll be ruined. You'll lose
everything."
    The tenderness with which he brushed his
fingers along her jaw pushed her to ask, "Will I lose your
friendship? You stated earlier we were friends, of a
sort."
    His gaze sharpened, studying her.
    "Will I lose you too?" she whispered, reaching
up to fold her fingers over his, frightened by the strength of
sorrow that thought brought her.
    His expression blanked, and slowly he drew his
hand away from her. Dismay filled her as he took one step back,
then another.
    "Of course not. You may always count on my
friendship."
    But he didn't look at her as he said
it.
    "Of course," Elle echoed, numbness overtaking
the hurt, giving her the distance she needed to summon a smile and
drop into a curtsey. She did not wait for his bow, hurrying past
him. Forcing herself to take measured steps down the hall, her mind
raced ahead, sorting the things that must be done.
    She could not go home. Papa was there, and he
would just put her back into a coach to Brookdale. Any of her
loving friends would offer refuge, but she knew she could not ask
any of their families to stand against hers and the
duke.
    Only one person had ever intimated that Elle
might have the right to choose her husband for herself.
    Grandfather .
    She had been eleven, and Mama had taken them
to visit her childhood home in Scotland for the summer. Grandfather
had taken Elle fishing, against Mama's wishes. She had been dirty,
shoeless... and never happier in her life. He had cast his line out
onto the loch, and looked down at her from under thick bushy
eyebrows, his blue eyes twinkling.
    "So you're to marry Langley's boy, eh? An' how
do you feel about that?"
    Elle had scratched her nose and lifted her
face to the morning sun, wiggling her dirty toes in the soil.
"Fine, I suppose."
    "Hmmph. Do you like the boy?"
    A careless shrug made him smile.
    "I suppose. He's rather bossy, but most boys
are, I've noticed. Perhaps it will be different when we are
married. It's so far off, I don't think on it much."
    "It's no' that far off, wee one.
You donna have to settle for fine , just because your father made
some archaic deal with a Sassenach." He laughed at Elle's wide eyes
and tugged on his dark, full beard. Leaning down toward her, his
gaze turned serious, blue eyes searching her face. "You are
descended from Scottish royalty, Eleanore Barnaby, and never forget
it. The song of the Highlands resounds in your blood and you will
always have a place here. You need not marry the
Englishman."
    "But Papa said—"
    "Your father doesn't know what he's speakin'
of." Her grandfather's voice went flat. "He's never been in love.
He picked my Hannah because she was a beauty, and he thinks my
lands will be of use to him when I tip my toes up for the las'
time."
    He shifted on the bank of loch, laying down
his pole to stare out over the water. Elle held her breath, amazed
at this new side of him she was seeing, a man who guarded his
privacy well.
    "Donna make your mother's mistake. She married
for prestige an' money, an' has paid a heavy price for it. Marry
for love, little Ellie, like I did." His gaze went distant and
dreamy, a faint smile tipping up the ends of his mouth. "Ah, your
grandmother was a one. You shoulda seen her, in our youth. I
couldna keep away from her, she drove me mad with love."
    Elle wrinkled her nose.
"Grandfather, please ."
    He raised his bushy brows. "I may seem more
ancient than these mountains around us, but once I was young,