Heaven And Hell novel Chapter 135

"Good morning?" Cole suggested wryly. "I didn't expect to see you until later, Dad."

"Obviously," the duke retorted. "My meeting with Paul Richmond was cancelled."

Feeling that I had to pitch into the conversation somehow, I blurted out with, "I'm sorry, Mr Cutting!" and bit my lip at the sudden outburst.

"Isn't it truly mind-boggling, my dear," the duke answered, "that I can barely hear footsteps in this house from these blasted carpets all over, but cries from a lovely young lady such as yourself and my son surprising me with his shouting -- because he never raises his voice -- I could hear several halls away?"

A burst of nervous giggling came out of my mouth as I saw Cole's unamused expression begin to ebb when Arthur went with a recitation of his son's tribulations as Cole's father. "You can't even begin to imagine how hard it was when I was forced to console sobbing girls who had cast out traps, hoping my son would come up to scratch," he told me conversationally. "And that was nothing compared to how I felt when he raced his horse and one of my friends thought I would be the person to keep track of the bets!"

I began laughing, feeling much comfortable in the presence of the duke, while he ignored Cole's annoyed expression.

"I now have flat knees from the hours I've spent hoping for him to just find a nice young lady to change his ways --"

"When you're through counting down my sins, Dad," Cole cut in, "let me know."

Instead of being reproachful by the younger man's tone, the duke merely smiled, strolled into the room, and gently placed my hand on the crook of his elbow. "Come along, my dear, let's have some lovely breakfast and I can tell you more about Cole's escapades when he was younger. Let me tell you now: there are a lot and wouldn't it be nice to tell you those moments while sipping richly made hot chocolate and a nice scone with strawberry marmalade?"

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