Free Why Dukes Say I Do by Manda Collins Page B

couldn’t help but agree. Sometimes men needed to have their comfortable existence jostled a bit to see what was right in front of them. And like it or not, his sister was a young lady now and deserved to be treated as one.
    Which meant allowing her to dress and behave like a young lady.
    The very fact that she was allowed to have dinner outside the schoolroom was indication enough that he didn’t see her as being in the same cohort as Belinda. Perhaps seeing Eleanor dressed like a lady would give him the nudge he needed to start letting her move in society as a young lady and not a child.
    “All right,” she told Eleanor, handing her the pink gown and a pair of slippers to match. “Now I suggest you lie down for a bit before dinner so that you’re rested for your family debut.”
    Eleanor nodded and to Isabella’s surprise pulled her into an impulsive hug. “Thank you,” she told her. “It’s easy to see you have a sister. I hope she knows how lucky she is.”
    Thinking of Perdita and what she might endure if Isabella did not succeed at her appointed task in Yorkshire, Isabella hugged the girl back. And prayed that the Duke of Ormonde would be better than his predecessor and do the right thing by her sister.
    *   *   *
    Trevor spent the rest of the afternoon going over the accounts, trying to figure out where he’d get the money for repairs to the tenant roofs before winter. It was times like this when he felt the pull of the dukedom … or at least the dukedom’s coffers. But he had promised his father that he would never use money from the Ormonde family at the Yorkshire farm. He had never until recently been tempted to do so. But a poor harvest last year had left him with less funding than he was accustomed to using at the home farm.
    Even so, he was scrupulous about keeping the Ormonde funds and the Nettlefield funds separate. Unbeknownst to the dowager, he had been corresponding with the duke’s personal secretary for some months and had been making many of the decisions regarding the Ormonde House estates. Trevor might not wish to mix with the Ormonde family or take up his role as the duke, but he could hardly let the tenants and the army of servants employed by the Ormonde estate go to rack and ruin over a grudge they had nothing to do with. It wasn’t their fault his late grandparents had been so full of their own importance they’d cut Trevor’s family out of their lives.
    No, he would do his best by the people of the estates, but as far as he was concerned the dowager and the rest of the upper-class hangers-on who flitted about the dukedom could go to the devil.
    The memory of the frisson of attraction he’d felt when Lady Wharton had given him her hand that afternoon came unbidden to his mind’s eye. But ruthlessly he repressed the feeling the memory inspired in him. He had no obligation to Lady Wharton. The sooner she realized that, the better.
    Thus it was that he dressed for dinner in a less than salubrious mood. Looking down at his coat of blue superfine and fawn breeches, he wondered when he’d paid more than a passing thought to his attire.
    Fashion had never been one of his favorite subjects. Even in his salad days—though he did recall a time when his shirt points had been ridiculously high—he’d been more interested in horses than the cut of his coats. Allowing his valet to stab a pin into the froth of his neckcloth, Trevor bit back a sigh. Surely he was beyond all this fashion nonsense by now.
    Wasn’t he?
    The question dogged him as he headed downstairs to the drawing room.
    It was only due to their current houseguest that they were even observing the custom of drinks before dinner. As a general rule, he and his sisters dined en famille with little ceremony. He knew that the girls should be dining in the nursery or the schoolroom, but it was one of the few times during the week that he actually saw them. The farms and estate kept him busy, and when there was a governess in