The Wicked Duke Read Online Free Page A

himself some spirits.
    â€œAre you going to offer me some?” Marianne asked.
    He looked over, startled.
    â€œI have always wondered why, if men need spirits to fortify themselves after a period of high emotion, or before an unpleasant task, they do not assume women might as well,” she said.
    â€œIt isn’t done, is why.”
    Horace arranged his long limbs in the chair. The way he sat, sunk back, rump low and knees high, reminded her of her brother, who had also been very tall and lanky.
    â€œI need to tell you something.” He gazed at the amber spirits in his glass. “It is not the kind of thing one talks to women about, but I see no choice. Without you aware of all of it, I doubt you will know how to manage her now.”
    â€œHow ominous a preamble, Uncle.”
    â€œMore embarrassing than ominous. Embarrassing, and infuriating, and I’ll be damned if I will live with it any longer.”
    â€œBy any description, it sounds like I will be a good deal less happy once I hear it.”
    He took his time broaching this subject. He let her wait while he drank the contents of his glass.
    â€œWhat you know about Nora’s brush with death three years ago is true. It is also incomplete. The horse did return without her, and she did come down with a bad fever, and she may have even been struck with lightning. However . . .” He swallowed what was left in the glass. “Her condition is not the result of fever alone.”
    â€œWhat else could affect such a condition?”
    He shifted in the chair, as if it no longer fit him. “While in fever, she spoke of what happened.” He flushed, and looked away. “She was violated that day. Seduced, perhaps, but used.” He glanced askance, a man desperate for escape. “The physician said there had been some blood on her skirt, but it was assumed that when she fell off the horse . . .” He sniffed. “My beautiful girl, my adorable child, ruined.”
    The revelation horrified Marianne. Nora had only been fifteen then, and barely that. “Is it thought she rode out to meet someone?”
    â€œI think the rogue pursued her secretly, then lured her away from home for his nefarious purposes.”
    â€œThat would mean it was someone local, Uncle.” Marianne wished she had some of those spirits now. “Surely you are in error. Who would dare such a thing?”
    â€œSomeone so highly placed that my daughter would be little better than a kitchen maid to him. Someone known for years to be indiscriminate in his seductions, and wild in his excesses. A man with no morals, and little sympathy with decent people.” His jaw clenched. “She mentioned who it was while in her fever.”
    â€œIf so, why did you not swear information against him? She was
a child
.”
    â€œWhen you hear the name, you will know why I did not act thus, especially on the word of a girl not right in her head.” He peered at her, his eyes narrow and gaze sharp. “She spoke of him several times as she raved in her delirium, and when she did, she would grow agitated in her bed. It was Lord Lancelot Hemingford. He has bettered his situation of late, of course. Due to the convenient death of his brother Percival, he is known now as the Duke of Aylesbury.”
    Marianne stood. She paced in an effort to control her emotions. She wanted to curse, or cry. “I refuse to believe even his station allows him to have his way with a girl, and leave her to the elements as he did. Good heavens, Uncle, you are a magistrate now. If you cannot see justice done, who can?”
    â€œI intend to have justice, as you put it. The only kind that can be had under the circumstances, but a fitting kind.” He gestured that she should retake her seat. After she had, he leaned forward and spoke confidentially. “I am going to make him marry her.”
    Nora had surmised her father’s intention correctly, then.