“Yet you were out on a walk with Lady Ellen just now. I saw you from an upstairs window. Where did she go, by the way?”

Natalie cast a furtive glance at the house. Luckily, the girl had vanished from sight. “You just missed her. She went inside already.”

“The two of you came from the direction of the woods. What were you doing out there?”

An inquiring directness in his eyes seemed to peer deep into her thoughts. Did he guess that Lady Ellen had had a rendezvous with another suitor? A young neighbor who was the duke’s rival for her affections?

But that was not Natalie’s secret to reveal.

“As a matter of fact, she was helping me look for Leo,” she invented. “I thought he might have gone down to the river, but he wasn’t there.”

“Ah yes,” he said affably. “Lady Godwin mentioned that the brat is missing. That’s why I came out here, to see if you’d found him yet.”

So why hadn’t he said so from the start? Why all the questions?

Natalie drew a breath that filled her lungs with his provocative masculine scent. “Leo isn’t a brat. And I was just on my way to check the stables.”

“I’ll join you. If he’s run off again without permission, the boy could use another lecture on proper behavior.”

The twinkle in the duke’s eyes proved a distraction as he took hold of her elbow. His touch seared straight through her sleeve to wreak havoc with her insides. It would be ill-mannered to refuse his escort, she reminded herself. Aside from Lady Ellen, he was the only one who had exhibited any concern for Leo’s welfare. Natalie might not approve of the English class system, but her pragmatic side acknowledged the value of having a duke as an ally. If indeed she could trust him after the way he’d questioned Leo.

Perhaps the best way to put a period to her unwanted attraction to him was to bring his marital plans out into the open. “You came here to Oak Knoll to court Lady Ellen, did you not?”

Slowing his steps, he sent her a piercing look. “Is it so obvious?”

She reduced her pace to match his. “The other day, she mentioned something of your interest in her.”

“Did she? What exactly did she say?”

“Very little, really,” Natalie hedged. “Only that there was a long-ago agreement between her father and yours.”

“They were fast friends as youths. They fancied it a fine notion to pledge their children and strengthen the family ties. Since my ducal seat is only twenty miles from here, the marriage also would enable Lady Ellen to remain reasonably close to her parents.” Clayton’s mouth twisted wryly. “Though I confess, she doesn’t seem to be very taken by the match.”

Was he in love with her? Or just determined to fulfill a family obligation? It was difficult to tell. “Perhaps she’s hesitant because it was Audrey you were supposed to wed. No one likes to be second choice.”