The Danger of Dukes (6 page)

A Simple Trade

Black Creek Ranch, Kentucky, America 1818

“What do you mean, you made an offer?” I snapped at my father. “You didn’t think you could find anyone who wanted half the ranch and the railway just to marry me!?”

              My father looked at me shamefaced. “You are going to be twenty-one! All the other girls you played with grew up and are already married, some with kids. It is what your mother would have wanted!”

              “Well she’s been dead for almost fifteen years, so what she wants doesn’t matter. It’s what I want that matters! I do want get married Pa, you know that. My life is here with you and the horses. Hell I made this ranch into the place it is today with my breeding program.”

              Pa came over to where I had sat down on the bench and place a hand my shoulder.

              “It was after your accident that I posted the ad around, I never thought one would answer to be honest. You still won’t get up on a horse since then and I figured it was time you moved on. Every young woman deserves to get married and have a family.”

              My shoulders sagged at the reminder of the accident that happened last year. I had been training one of our best new stallions when a mountain lion had gotten in the pin and took the horse down with me on its back. My leg had been crashed from the fall and it had taken half a year to heal before I could even start to learn to walk again. I could walk, but it hurt if I went too far.

              “Pa, no one is going to want a wife with scars,” I mumbled.

              “Shoot, a man can look passed scars for a pretty face and a huge heart. Just like your mother did for me,” he said softly.

              I sighed seeming how he was mostly right; maybe it was better if I moved on. Maybe marriage could be the answer to a better life.

              “Alright, who is this man that answered your post?” I asked, standing up.

              “A duke,” my Pa said with a grin, “from England, if you can imagine that!”

              I sat back down, hard.

              Maybe not after all.

Unexpected Journey

Black Creek Ranch, Kentucky, America 1818

Never in his life had ever had to go through so much trouble just for one woman, but he had to keep in mind that this was not only for this woman, but his sister and for the family name. But it was only ironic that his family name would not be dragged through the mud, but he would as well it so happened. Be dragged the mud that is and by his horse no less. His butler had not been jesting when he had told His Grace to enjoy the wilderness of America; now with some small amount of humor he realized that his butler had been teasing him.

              Now he also had to put up with the bugs that came with the weather that would put an English summer to shame and it was only early spring here! He had been traveling on horseback and on a river boat now for almost three weeks and him wary and ready for a rest. Why had England wanted this god forsaken place in the first place, he didn’t know, but for all he did know was that the bloody Americans could keep it. Grasslands, swamps, and mountains all in abundance. He was a man who enjoyed nature, but this was utterly ridiculous!

              Now he was slowly walking his horse through a thick patch of mud when the sound of a hundred thundering hooves struck the ground in the field across the river on the other side.

              “Whose horses are those,” the duke asked his guide who was a few feet ahead of them.

              “Those horses belong to one of Miss Black’s wild herds, with the way they are moving I bet she isn’t that far behind. She picks two of em’ a year for training and breeding into her father’s breeding stock. She’s young but she’s got a great breeding plan.”

              “Miss Black?” the duke echoed.

              “Yes, sir. We’ve been traveling on Black Creek land for the past few days; I figured that’s where you was wanted to go.”

              “It is,” he said slowly. But
Ms. Black
was the one out following the horses? “Did you say a Ms. Black?”

              “Why yes I did, her Pa, Mr. Black is busy at the ranch, its selling time for horses right now, and he got the finest to be seen anywhere. Envy of all the others I dare say, no one’s got a breedin’ program so fine.”

              Surly the Ms. Black out with the horses wasn’t the lady he was going to marry; maybe it was a cousin or a sister, for he had been told she would make the ideal wife of a duke. One who was smart, clever, and beautiful and had a cunning head on top of her pretty shoulders, a true lady.

              Shaking his head he followed his guide until they were clear of the mud.

              His guide smiled at him and shook his hand. “It’s been real great taking you out here sir, but this is where I leave ya. Follow this here road on the other side of this meadow and you should be there in a few hours.” And without farther ado the man swung up into his horse’s saddle and rode off in the other direction he had pointed out.

              The duke stared at him open mouthed and let loose a growl of frustration. He stomped about until he cooled off then mounted his own horse and started off. He could do this, he was a duke after all, he told himself.

…

“Sir are you alright?” asked a sweet voice from up over him. He opened his eyes only to have rain fall into them, so he blinked it away to get a glance at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen with a mass of long curly raven black hair that fell to her waist and bright green eyes staring at him with concern in a heart shaped face.

              “Mister, do you need some help?” she asked again.

              His chest hurt from the fell off his horse, but he tried to speak. “Horse…got scared by…fell…” and then all went black.

…

“Well gosh damnit anyway,” I said blowing hair from my face.

              I had just finished picking out the two foals from the group this year to be coming back to the ranch when I had spotted a man lying on the ground near the Old Well in the rain. The man was tall, his wet hair with a beard that seemed to be black. He looked like he had been chewed up and spit back out a few times. Poor fellow must had taken a wrong turn to get lost on their land. Looked as if his horse had thrown.

              Now if only I could get the man to wake up long enough to get him back to the ranch house so I could treat any wounds that he may have suffered.

              Bending down I slapped his face a couple more times and his eyes finally opened, blinking in the rain.

              Suddenly as his sharp grey eyes found mine I felt my breath catch in my throat.

              “Mister, come on, we go to get you up and out of here before night falls. There have been a few mountain lions spotted near here recently.”

              The man struggled to sit up and with all my might I pulled him up along with me.

              “There you go, see? That wasn’t so bad. I’m Alana, who might you be?”

              “My name is Grayson, my lady,” he wheezed a little bit.

              I felt my grin slip right off my face. Dear god he had an accent and not just any accent, he was British. And there was a good chance this was the man who was going to be my husband within a few months.

The British are Coming

Black Creek Ranch 1818

The fire was warm and roasting the smell of food wafted up from the kitchen downstairs and it felt good to slid into my own bath after two weeks in the wild with the horses. Nothing could beat a hot bath fresh from the stove downstairs, the curiosity about the man was killing me, but I had left him in the care of the kitchen staff so that I could have my own bath. The rain had chilled the warm days that had been growing and soon everything would finish turning green.

              It was odd that a man would turn up so close to the ranch, but I couldn’t blame the man for falling from his horse, he must have gone in the wrong direction to end up at the Old Well for that was a dangerous area this time of year when all the animals were hunting for food after a long winter.

              Finally my wondering mind got the better of me and I quickly toweled off and dressed in a new part of pants and a long sleeved shirt before going down stairs into the kitchen. He was bare in a large wooden tub that was still too small for such a tall man. He had his eyes closed, the back of his head resting on the tub’s rim, relaxing. Probably enjoying the bath after so long outdoors.

              “So Mr. Grayson, where is it you would be coming from?” I asked leaning up against the door frame.

              His eyes shot opened and he twisted to stare at me a moment before reaching for something to cover himself, not that I had been looking, his eyes were just so striking. He was handsome, but once you looked over his entire face the plains were rather sharp, his cheekbones a bit to uplifted, his nose a tad crooked, his beard too long.

              This cheeks turned a slight red as I continued to start at him firmly in the eyes.

              “I beg your pardon, my lady, but could do me the favor of giving me a few moments alone? I would be more than glad to answer your questions when I am more, um properly attired.” He swallowed as he took in my attire as well and he turned his back.

              A grin stretched across my lips as I turned and walked back upstairs to find my father. He had yet to be told of the mystery man down stairs.

              I found my father in the office just off to his bedroom. I barely knocked on the door when he opened it and pulled me into a hug.

              “Good to see you back, my dear, did you pick a few good ones for this year?” he brown eyes twinkled.

              I sat down on one of his many chairs and grinned, “You bet, Pa. Remember the Paint we spotted last year? I got her foal, he going to be a great stud for the program in a few years. Oh and on the way back I picked you up a surprise.”

              His eyebrows rose. “A surprise you say?”

              I grinned. “Yes, sir. You can find it downstairs in the kitchen. Best hurry if you want to see it.”

              Pa raised himself from the chair and with a questioning glance went downstairs, I followed closely behind. The moment my father reach the kitchen door he froze in place and slowly turned to me with a glare.

              “It’s not what you think, just get him to speak and you’ll see why.”

              “And what, my good sir, are you doing in my house?” Pa asked with a growl at the man.

              A different man was now in the kitchen and I was about to tell Pa when I noticed those grey eyes. Same man, he had just shaved and his clean face was a strikingly differently than before. Now I could call him devilishly handsome.

              The man looked up from where he finished buttoning up his shirt and bowed, and then he smiled at my Pa.

              “Hello Mr. Black, good to finally meet you. And you as well Ms. Black or was it Alana?” he asked full of charm, his accent flashing.

              Suddenly Pa’s scowl turned into a friendly grin as he walked up to shake the man’s hand. “Well met Lord Bedford. Well met indeed, I hope your trip was a pleasant one?”

              Baited by his smile I grinned and from behind their back I added, “This was the man I dragged out of the mud near the Old Well.”

              That got my father’s attention. “The Old Well? Why its dangerous there as its hunting season, he must have taken a wrong turn!”

              That indeed!

              Lord Bedford, the duke, cleared his throat and we turn to look at him. He winced slightly as he said. “I have had a rather long and hard trip; perhaps we may introduce ourselves and then become acquainted on the morrow, when we have all had a better rest.”

              I nodded; I could fall asleep at any second. “I am Ms. Alana Black, the one you offered for, and this here is my Pa, Mr. Jackson Black.”

              The duke smiled slightly as he bowed again and said, “Please to meet you Lady Alana and Mr. Black. I am Grayson Blackstone de Grey, Duke of Bedford.”

              I wrinkled my nose. “I am not a lady yet.”

              “Ah, but you are,” Lord Grayson said wisely.

              “How so?” I asked putting hands on hips with a small glare.

              It was my father who answered for me. “Your mother’s mother was the daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. Your Grandmother whom still resides in New York. Her and your mother however had a falling out before you were born and I believe you only met her once at your mother’s funeral.”

              “Everyone has to be from England, don’t they? Well I guess it could be worse.” I sighed. “Good night Pa, Mr. Grayson. I guess we will have to talk everything over tomorrow.”