Heartless by Jaimey Grant Page A

hands behind his back.
    “I do not know what you mean,” she said stiffly.
    “And I thought your one redeeming quality was honesty.”
    She inhaled sharply. “Why don’t you just say what you mean instead of playing games,” she snapped.
    He looked at her in amusement. “And I have succeeded in driving away your serenity once again,” he remarked. “And with so little effort on my part.”
    She strove for calm. “Nonsense, your grace. I am ever calm.”
    “I recall another time in which you were less than serene, my dear. You were in fact quite…bothered,” finished the duke with a wicked smile.
    Her heartbeats picked up and color rose to her cheeks. Whether it was from anger or embarrassment or something entirely different was anybody’s guess. “That was a unique situation, your grace. And you are no gentleman to bring it up,” she retorted.
    “I never claimed that title, Merri. I only ever claimed to be a duke. And I am that.”
    They were silent for several minutes. They had wandered toward the stables without either one of them noticing. Derringer led the way into the stables and to two stalls near the end. Leandra knew that Satan’s Son and Lucifer’s Lady were stabled there. She herself had grown quite fond of Lady.
    Derringer was oddly silent as he approached the stallion. He said something low to the animal that made Satan whinny in answer. The duke smiled and reached into his pocket. He held his hand palm-up and gave him a small apple. Satan nodded and whinnied his approval. Then Derringer did the same for Lady. He received much the same reaction he had gotten from Satan.
    Leandra stood a little distance away and watched this. She was amazed at how very gentle he was with the animals. He even reached down to pet the huge black dog that trotted up to sit at his feet.
    She approached the man and his pets. “Why do you name them so?” she asked with a gesture toward the horses. She had been wondering since she had first come to live at the Crescent.
    Derringer smiled. “An affinity with the Dark Prince?” he quipped. “It was an act of rebellion. It helped that they are so black, too.” He pointed at the dog that now lay at his feet and the black cat that had just joined them. “Have you met Cerberus and Beelzebub?”
    “Not properly,” she replied with a twinkle. She stooped down to pet the dog and cat who were more than happy to let her. After a few moments of this, she looked up to find the duke’s black eyes trained on her. She couldn’t read the emotion there but it set her heart to beating erratically.
    “They don’t like anyone,” he commented. “That’s why I like them. Do you ride?”
    “I have enjoyed a few good gallops on Lady. I hope you don’t mind.”
    “She didn’t throw you?”
    Leandra gave her husband a puzzled frown. “No, why should she? I do know how to ride.”
    “She—”
    “Doesn’t like anyone,” finished Leandra dryly. “Are all your animals like their master, your grace?”
    “No,” he said harshly. “They all seem to like you.”
    Leandra didn’t give him the hurt look he had expected. The look she gave him was blank, completely and totally devoid of any expression or emotion. He even searched her eyes but they were equally blank behind her spectacles. She gave him this steady look for a full ten seconds before turning on her heel and walking away with her head held high.
    She was twenty feet away before he realized that her eyes had been brown and the gold flecks had disappeared. What that meant, he was unsure. But he was sure that he didn’t want to see it again.

     
    “Tell his grace that I am indisposed and will be unable to join him for dinner,” Leandra instructed Stark as she entered the house and headed in the direction of her room. “If my family goes in to dinner, apologize to them as well.”
    The butler bowed and watched her walk away with a concerned frown marring his normally expressionless face.
    Leandra dismissed Liza as