The Duke's Guide to Correct Behavior Read Online Free Page A

he? He’d taken in his illegitimate daughter after her mother died, had established this was to be her home, for the time, at least, and even hired a governess for her.
    Not really what he thought most men in his position were accustomed to doing. Especially if they had spent most of the night drinking with their now boon companions.
    First of all, if there was a daughter, she was usually legitimate, and therefore came with a mother, who would handle the hiring of the governess.
    Illegitimate offspring didn’t require recognition, let alone a governess.
    The governess. He was now even more glad he was unencumbered in the wife area. Something about her made him prickle nearly as much as he had when first seeing Rose.
    Or perhaps he was just tired.
    Twenty-four hours earlier, his primary concern
had been whether to anoint Collins or Smithfield his new best friend. He still hadn’t decided, but he was leaning toward Smithfield, since Collins ate the last bit of roast beef and had the temerity to ask a question of a duke.
    Smithfield had just snored.
    But now he had a child in his possession. A child for whom he was responsible. When he wasn’t altogether certain he was responsible.
    But he wasn’t going to let that deter him from doing what was right. For now. For once. He hadn’t done anything about his new title except resent it, but if being a duke meant he could change this girl’s life for the better? But he knew damned well he couldn’t do it alone.
    And so he had found her a governess. A governess who snapped back a retort, which no one had dared to since even before he’d become a duke. A governess who had turned into stone when he asked about her references, whose cheeks had flushed when he spoke to her. A governess who wore a gown that the nicest thing one could say about it was that it was made of fabric.
    A governess who had intrigued him right away. Made him ignore the missing references, the flush, the worn gown; made him want, instead, to see what color her cheeks would turn if he kissed her, if he discovered what curves lurked underneath her clothing. What she would say if he could get her to speak her mind all the time.
    It was clear she had the goal of presenting herself as plainly as possible, but like an archeologist searching for a lost treasure in a pile of dirt, he
could discern the beauty underneath. And that intrigued him as well. Luxuriant hair, the color of the most delicious chocolate, was pulled back into a severe bun, but several strands had fallen out, giving her a seductively disheveled appearance. Her eyes were hazel, but changed color as her emotions changed. In the height of the pink-cheeked moment, for instance, her eyes had gotten darker, while when she saw her new charge, he would have sworn they turned almost golden.
    And her figure—her waist was small and trim, and as for her breasts—
    No, stop, he reprimanded himself. What was he doing, waxing rhapsodic about his newest employee? She was here to instruct his charge. His daughter .
    He was setting on a course of respectability, at least until he figured out what to do with his daughter. She deserved that care, at least.
    Not to mention, the newest employee’s demeanor was hardly that of a seductress, regardless of her disheveled hair or lush figure. More like when his prim-mouthed aunts had tried to temper his wild habits.
    Clearly, he thought as he recalled what he’d done the night before, they hadn’t succeeded very well.
    Perhaps now that he was going to try to be a responsible parent, if just for a little while—not to mention a responsible employer, one who did not notice that the governess’s eyes were the green of moss, the kind a woodland fairy might rest on—he might want to actually do something
about his residence. He hadn’t really cared that much before. Just as long as there were adequate rooms for himself and whichever boon companions he’d found,