Ducal Encounters 01 - At the Duke's Discretion Read Online Free Page B

falling to the floor. Crista helped him to a chair and fetched him a glass of water.
    “I know you are accustomed to getting your way through brute force,” Crista said to Reece, sending him a damning glance. “But that will not serve on this occasion. If my uncle suffers from your rough handling then he will be unable to work, which means I will not be able to work either.”
    Reece seemed infuriated by her disdain. “I can always think of ways to keep you gainfully employed, m’dear.” He leered at her, his gaze insolently resting on her thighs, visible in her tight-fitting breeches. “Never lose sight of that fact.”
    “You are certainly welcome to try,” Crista replied, crouching beside her uncle to satisfy herself he was recovering. “Can I fetch you anything else for your comfort, Uncle Charles?”
    “Bless you, child,” he replied, wheezing. “I shall be quite myself again in a moment or two. I am not quite in my dotage, yet.”
    “Then you will be able to tell me what you plan to do about this visit to Winchester Park,” Reece said, impatiently tapping his fingers against a glazed display cabinet. “It won’t take the duke five minutes to realise I know nothing about jewellery.”
    “Then you should have remained in the back room during his lordship’s visit.”
    “I did not trust you to deal with the man alone.”
    “What could I have said or done to concern you?”
    Reece curled his upper lip. “Just remember who you’re dealing with.”
    As if we could forget, Crista thought malevolently.
    “I shall take Crista with me to the Park,” Uncle Charles said decisively.
    “You can’t−” Reece replied.
    “How can you?” Crista asked at the same time.
    “I shall tell their lordships the truth.” He carelessly lifted his shoulders. “Unlike you, Reece, I have not forgotten how to be honest. I shall tell the duke and his brothers that you are my niece, Crista dear, and do all the design drawings for me nowadays.”
    Crista narrowed her eyes at her beloved uncle, pleased to see a little colour returning to his face. She wondered what mischief he was planning in exposing her to the Sheridans. They had been so careful to keep her involvement in his business a secret, but she refrained from asking in Reece’s company. Reece stepped forward, leaned over Uncle Charles’s chair and pressed his face close.
    “I don’t know what you think you will achieve by this ruse,” he said in a menacing tone.
    “I am attempting to save the business you are intent upon ruining,” Uncle Charles replied in a steely tone.
    “Make sure you don’t try anything underhanded, or it will be the worse for you. The day has yet to dawn when an old man and a slip of a girl get the better of Edward Reece.” He picked up his hat and pushed it onto his head. “You know what’s at stake if you step out of line.” He opened the door to the street, paused when he was halfway through it, and turned back to look at them both. “I shall be watching you both very carefully. Very carefully indeed.” Once again his gaze lingered on Crista. “Especially you.”

Chapter Three
    “You think there is some truth in what Palmer had to tell us about Chesney?” Zach asked, arranging himself in an elegant sprawl behind his imposing desk in the library at Winchester Park. “I thought he was being a bit of an old woman myself.”
    “Palmer always flaps like a headless chicken,” Amos replied from his chair on the other side of the desk that had been their father’s and his father’s before him. “But there is something in what he had to say on this occasion, much as it pains me to admit it.”
    “In what respect?”
    Amos took a moment to gather his thoughts. He liked Chesney and appreciated his extraordinary skill. He had often thought he was wasted in such a small community. Had he set up shop in London, he would have been assured both a rich clientele and the reputation he deserved. Even so, facts had to be faced. The