“Certainly,” the Duke replied. “Lord Manson is sending them to my stables tomorrow.”
“You seem certain that I shall wish to own them,” Verena remarked, trying to find fault.
“I have already purchased them on your behalf,” he answered.
He saw, as she turned to look straight at him, that she thought it an impertinence and added,
“If you are not interested, I would be delighted to keep them myself. In fact I consider I am making a considerable sacrifice in allowing you to have them.”
“So, I have to be grateful to you, do I?”
“Not in the least,” he replied. “Just be your usual disagreeable self, I am getting used to it.”
She laughed because she could not help it.
“You are impossible!”
“Good gracious!” the Duke exclaimed. “You have now found a new adjective. I was beginning to think th
