A Token of Love

3

When they walked into the manor, the house was alive with servants making sure everything was ready for their arrival. Daniel had to wonder how much there needed to be done if he had only left this estate a few days ago. Everyone stood at the ready to greet them which was even stranger since he had just been there, but it was their custom. He graciously obliged. Daniel couldn't help noticing Maddie wasn't talking to him she was still mad the little minx, but since now he knew her weakness he only had to smile and show his dimples. She hmphed and went to her room. This was going to be a fun trip, to say the least.

"Mother I would like a word."

The Duchess followed her son into his study. She sat down in the most comfortable chair in the room and waited.

"I need you to be aware of a few things before you throw Maddie to the wolves. Cuthbert has been taken care of. The king is seeing to that. Next, I should also make you aware of the fact Matthew left me as Maddie's guardian. Cuthbert has no say in Maddie's future. If some damn fool, which by the way I have people searching for, shows up with the chip it is invalid since I will not give her permission to marry under those circumstances. Now to the point of this meeting who have you invited to this little gathering?"

Stella seemed to grimace at the question. She hadn't thought Daniel was going to join them. She tried to evade the question.

"Only those bachelors that have titles and would be good to our Maddie."

He shook his head and smiled.

"That didn't answer my question Mother."

She huffed.

"There is Spalding, Jameson, Hoover, Ledger, and a few others? It's not a grand affair just a small one."

He gave her his most Ducal look, and she gave him her most Duchess look, but he won out.

"Fine if you must know I asked Lord Honeywell and Lord Jefferies."

He shot out of the chair

"Why in Bloody Hell would you invite Honeywell and Jefferies?"

She sat up straight and held her ground.

"Because they are young and in need money. They both come from good families. I didn't want to saddle her with an old man she is so alive, and I wanted the best for her."

He knew she meant well, but Honeywell and Jefferies were two of the men he had gone to Eaton with. They had never got along. This was going to be a very long weekend indeed.

Maddie was up in her room pacing. She was flustered and confused. She had woken up cuddling Daniel of all people. she felt irritated but not because she was mad. She had a funny feeling she was falling head over heels again for the handsome Duke. She used to fantasize he would fall madly in love with her and carry her off to the Villa in Italy. As she grew up, she knew that was never going to happen. They were a family of sorts. Sure, families married all the time, but they had been raised as siblings. Well, on rare occasions he would show up to family gatherings. After their fight when he was twenty, he no longer came to family gatherings or holiday her father and the Duchess used to keep them apart.

Maddie couldn't blame them, and the duke were like fire and ice. They couldn't occupy the same air and not have a war break out. She knew when he showed up at the ball last night and whisked her out onto the dance floor she was going to have a tough time keeping her feelings at bay. He had, after all, insulted her honor, but no matter what she told herself all those childish feelings kept surfacing. A gentle knock on the door brought Maddie back to her senses.

"Enter."

It was the footman with her luggage and a message that her presence was requested for a late supper. She decided to do a little unpacking and find the right dress for this midnight supper. She wore a shade of blue that matched her eyes not the color of when she was angry but the color of blue that glowed when she was happy or up to something. And she was up to something. The dress was extremely low cut it was one of the Duchess had insisted would bring a man to his knees. According to the Duchess, all Maddie had to do was play the game the Duchess had taught her to play over the last couple of months. She wore her hair down loose and wild. She would torture the man and then drop him like a brick.