Free Bewitching the Duke by Christie Kelley

past few nights, he had gone to the pond and stared up at the house. He had seen nothing to make him believe there was anything unnatural upstairs.
    A knock sounded on the door to the library. “Come in.”
    A pallid Mr. Roberts entered the room. “Excuse me, Your Grace.”
    “What’s the matter, Roberts? You look white as a ghost.” Did he really just say ghost? He had ghouls on the mind tonight.
    Roberts looked away. “It’s Mrs. Wells, sir.”
    Mr. Wells had been the blacksmith on the estate for ten years but Colin didn’t remember hearing about him marrying. “What is wrong?”
    “She delivered a stillborn girl tonight, Your Grace.”
    He closed his eyes against the instant pain he felt. This was his fault again. He forced Miss White to leave. She might have been able to help Mrs. Wells. “I will speak with them in the morning. Thank you for letting me know.”
    “Good night, Your Grace.”
    “Good night, Roberts.”
    Damn her!
    No, damn him.
    This was his fault for forcing her to leave. His servants and tenants would despise him for evicting her. They would never forgive him. Just another thing to blame on him. The tenants and servants loved her. And with good reason; she took care of them far better than he had the past eight years.
    Selina. With her curly, blond hair and emerald eyes.
    He had to stop thinking about her.
    If it wasn’t guilt he felt, then he thought about her physical attributes. Her full, pink lips that just begged to be kissed. Or her breasts that would just fit in his hands. There was something dreadfully wrong with him. He didn’t want her on his land.
    But he wanted her in his bed.
    He walked the length of the room again. Why wasn’t this brandy making him tired? Or easing his frustrations?
    If not for the rain, he would have taken a walk. He walked to the terrace door and opened it. Rain continued to fall but not as hard as earlier. A figure with blond hair caught his eye. She paced the length of the reflecting pond. He blinked to make sure he wasn’t dreaming or worse, imagining a spirit again.
    It had to be her. But what was she doing here? She should be ensconced in Mrs. Featherstone’s warm home tonight, not out in the cold rain.
    He placed his glass on the table and headed out into the night. As he approached her, she looked up, shook her head, and then held up her hand as if to stop him.
    “Please just let me have my one place to calm myself,” she all but shouted at him.
    Taken aback by her frantic tone, he slowed his pace. “What is wrong, Miss White?”
    “Just leave me alone,” she sobbed and then wiped at her face. “I should have prepared her for the possibility,” she mumbled. “I should have told her this might happen.”
    Colin took a few steps closer, drawn to the pain he saw in her eyes. “What happened, Selina?”
    Her lower lip trembled as she stared at the water. “She was a beautiful baby. Blond hair and blue eyes. Lifeless blue eyes,” she cried.
    Mrs. Wells’s baby. “Were you here for the delivery?”
    “Of course I was here.” Her sadness turned to anger, directed at him. “Did you think if you forced me to leave that I would give up my duties here? Did you think I wouldn’t run here and help the people I love?”
    “I honestly never thought about it,” he whispered. The wind blew tendrils of blond hair over her face. Without a thought, he brushed them away.
    “You can’t stop me from doing my duty to this land and the people who live here. I won’t stop. You’ll have to send me to prison because nothing else will stop me,” she shouted her frustrations at him.
    But her words never reached his ears. All he saw was the pain in her eyes and he wanted to comfort her. Ease her troubles. Make her understand all his reasons for wanting her to leave.
    He stepped closer and pulled her into his arms. Expecting she would push away, he wrapped his arms around her tightly. Her head landed on his chest and after a quick pound to his chest, she