Bewitching the Duke

Chapter 1

Staffordshire, England, 1814

Selina White paused before the Duke of Northrop’s bedchamber. What was it about this room that made her tremble? She had put off this bedroom for last, even though it needed her attention the most. Slowly, she opened the door to the duke’s bedchamber and slipped inside the room.

She closed her eyes for a moment to adjust to the darkness before blinking them open again. Why hadn’t the servants opened the curtains in here? The duke should be arriving within the next few hours. She felt around until she found a small table. She placed her cleansing bowl on the table determined to lighten the room so she could finish her job.

Slowly she walked toward the windows and the bright sunlight that would assist her. Pulling back the heavy velvet curtains, she sighed as the vast beauty of Northrop Park opened before her. As she took in the view, a loud groan forced her gaze to the large bed.

“Bloody hell, I told Roberts no one was to disturb me until noon!”

Selina gasped and turned away from the window to stare at the man in the duke’s bed. His large hands rubbed at his eyes. His tousled black hair needed a good brushing. But as his hands moved away from his face, she felt pierced by his icy blue eyes. She’d only met him one other time, but she would never forget those eyes.

“Who are you? One of the new servants?”

She almost laughed at the idea of any new servants being hired for this crumbling estate. The average age of the servants was sixty. “No, Your Grace.”

He groaned and sat up against the pillows at the headboard.

He looked like the drunken degenerate she’d heard stories of for the past few years. Mrs. Roberts always disavowed those claims of the duke being nothing but a worthless reprobate, maintaining that as much as he’d loved his late wife, he could never act in such a manner. Selina doubted Mrs. Roberts’s assertions. Even now, he didn’t attempt to hide his naked chest. And she couldn’t seem to look away, even though she knew she should. Broad shoulders melded into a strong chest lightly covered with black hair. Her fingers twitched as if they wanted to feel the sensation of his warm skin.

She must be mad!

“Have you completely lost your tongue, girl?”

“I’m not a servant, Your Grace.”

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the headboard. “Did Thomas send you?”

Thomas? “I have no idea to whom you are referring.”

“My brother. Did he pay you to join me in my bedchamber?”

She clutched the small chair near her to keep her knees from giving out. “You think someone paid me to be your whore!”

The duke shook his head. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Perhaps not for you, but it would be for me.”

“Indeed?” he said with a coarse laugh. “You enter my room with your hair unbound and your dress cut down to your breasts and I’m supposed to believe you are an innocent angel?”

“I would never do such a thing!” She stole a quick glance down at the bodice of her dress. The man was mad, the gown completely covered her breasts.

“I’ve never met a woman who wouldn’t do anything for the right price.”

“Well, now you have. And I don’t care what you believe about me or any other woman.” She strode toward the table where she’d set her cleansing bowl.

“Do not leave this room until you tell me who you are and why you are in my bedchamber,” he demanded.

The cold tone of his voice stopped her feet. Her mother had warned her to stay away from the house when the master was at home. Selina knew he’d hated her mother, but she never assumed his disgust would carry down to all women.

He shouldn’t even be here yet. She’d been certain she could finish the herbal cleansing of the house before he arrived later today. Obviously, he arrived late last night.

“Who are you?” He started to move the coverlet off his body as if he meant to stand.

“Please don’t get up,” she said quickly. The last thing she wanted to see was his naked body. Although, it might prove quite interesting. No! She couldn’t think of him that way. Absolutely not the duke. “Miss White, Your Grace.”

“Miss White?” He paused and a dark scowl formed.

She only nodded.

“The wise woman’s daughter? Why are you here and not your mother?”

“My mother passed on a few years ago.”

“Bloody hell. Based on the smell of sage I can only assume you have taken up her practices?”

“Of course. Who else will tend to the sick on your estate?”

“There is no one sick here. I also happen to know there is a completely qualified physician in town.”

“Qualified?” Selina snorted. “Qualified as a rotten sod. The man is incompetent to practice medicine.”

“The man is highly educated and trained. Now get out of my room and my house,” he said in a low voice as he pointed toward the door.

“With pleasure, Your Grace.”

Selina grabbed her bowl of burning sage and raced for the door. Once in the hall, she leaned against the wall and released a long breath as her heart pounded in her chest. The man was more dreadful than she’d expected. First assuming she was a whore and then almost standing up before her with nothing to cover himself. What an awful man.

“Miss White, you cannot go into the duke’s bedchamber.”

She looked up to see the duke’s ancient butler ambling toward her. “I know that now, Mr. Roberts.”

“You were in there?”

“No one told me he was here. Yesterday I was told he would arrive this afternoon. I assumed I would have this morning to finish.”