A Duke by Default: Dangerous Dukes Vol 3

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘No!’

  Harriet’s warning came too late. Marc and Binstead fell together onto the grassy bank. She couldn’t be sure if Binstead’s club had hit its target or if Marc managed to dodge it. She was fairly sure he had been hit, but he and Binstead were now engaged in a ferocious struggle and it was hard for her to judge which of them was winning. She was out of her depth and could feel the current pulling her feet from under her. She swam for the island, not feeling as though she was getting any closer. Her strength was fading fast but desperation to return to the bank and help Marc drove her on. She struggled onto Freddie’s scrap of land and was rewarded with a thorough face lick and enthusiastic tail wagging.

  ‘Come on,’ she said, grabbing his collar and tucking him beneath her arm. ‘We have to go and save your master. If you are afraid of the water then you shouldn’t chase the ducks. Dogs are supposed to be able to swim.’

  She pushed herself back into the strong current, relieved to see Marc and Binstead were still struggling to overcome one another. At least that meant Marc was still alive. Freddie whimpered when he hit the water but appeared encouraged by Harriet’s presence and started to swim. She had to let go of his collar. It was impossible for her to fight against the current otherwise. Progress towards the shore was agonisingly slow. Several times her head slid beneath the water, and she felt herself losing the fight to stay afloat. She simply had no strength left to spare. Her head became light, she saw stars even though it was now fully light and she had no further resistance to give.

  So this was what it was like to die, she thought absently. It wouldn’t be so very bad, but for the fact that she was not yet ready to be parted from Marc. She didn’t anticipate reaching that stage for at least another fifty years.

  She sank beneath the frigid water again, almost back to the spot where her feet would touch, but too weak to move that far. Almost immediately she surfaced again, buoyed up by a strong pair of arms.

  ‘Where the dickens did you learn to swim so well?’ Marc asked.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  ‘My father taught me,’ she said, plastering Marc’s battered and bloody face with kisses as he carried her from the river. ‘I tried to tell you that at dinner the other night but Charlotte interrupted me. After the incident with Tom, Papa said I must conquer my fear of water and spent hours teaching me to swim. It was our secret.’

  ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes. What about Freddie?’

  ‘He’s fine.’ At the sound of his name, a wet bundle of fur bounce

  d into her line of vision. ‘Although, I doubt whether he will chase the ducks again.’

  ‘What happened to Binstead?’

  ‘He won’t be going anywhere in a hurry.’ Marc’s jaw hardened as Harriet followed his gaze to the prostrate Binstead, who appeared to be out cold. ‘I shall take you back to the house, then deal with him.’

  ‘It was Katherine and Sanderson,’ she said. ‘They intended to kill us both.’

  ‘Tell me about it inside.’

  As Marc carried her back to the house, he called to Swift and a footman to guard Binstead. Marc’s features were arranged in an uncompromisingly grim expression. She was aware of the rapidity of her heartbeat and trembled violently as she dwelt upon the narrowness of their escape. He seated her in her chamber, helped her into dry clothing, and forced tea laced with a generous measure of brandy on her.

  ‘Now tell me everything,’ he said, taking her hand in his.

  The account of her ordeal tumbled from her lips in disjointed bursts. Learning that they had been manipulated by Katherine and Sanderson all along was, Harriet could see, almost his undoing.

  ‘I shall deal with them while you go back to bed and rest.’

  Exhausted, for once she didn’t argue. Harriet slept soundly and didn’t dream of raging rivers or murderous relations. When she woke again, Marc was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her.

  ‘How do you feel?’ he asked tenderly.

  ‘You seem to ask me that a lot.’

  ‘That’s because you can’t stay out of trouble.’

  ‘It was hardly my fault this time.’ It hurt to move, it hurt even to smile, but she did so anyway. ‘What have you done about Katherine and Sanderson?’

  ‘First things first.’

  He pulled her into his arms and crushed her lips with a harsh possessiveness that sent a thrill spangling through her entire body.

  ‘Katherine and Bingham have gone from here for good.’ Marc expelled an elongated sigh. ‘I shall never forget the expression on her face when I entered her chamber. I was able to gauge the exact moment when she fully appreciated the consequences of her folly. You were right about Bingham. He’s not an astute person when it comes to money and he relied upon my largesse. They know they will get nothing more out of me now. I’ve never seen Bingham roused to such anger with his wife. Anyway, I am severing all ties with the rest of the family and have told Katherine that my aunt and her retinue must leave my town house and take up residence with her instead.’

  ‘Is that not rather harsh? Your aunt wasn’t involved.’

  ‘Not directly perhaps. But she knew Katherine intended to make mischief for us and made no effort to prevent her.’ Marc took her by the shoulders and she saw the hunger and passion that burned in his eyes as he took in every inch of her pale and troubled countenance. ‘They planned to kill you at Matlock House and when that failed they decided to do away with us both. And they almost succeeded. I grossly underestimated them.’ He shook his head. ‘It frightens me to contemplate what violence I might have been capable of if they had harmed you in any way.’

  ‘Don’t look so fierce.’ She touched his face. ‘They didn’t harm me, and that’s all that really matters.’

  ‘But if you really couldn’t swim, you wouldn’t have survived.’

  ‘Which is why I am so thankful to Papa.’

  ‘Bingham’s financial situation, to say nothing of his sanity, will not improve when he has the dowager duchess living constantly beneath his roof. Still, that’s his misfortune for not keeping better control of his wife. And as for her, you may be sure society will take my side.’ He twisted his lips into a cynical smile. ‘To be shunned by the ton, whose favour she values about all else, will be a worse punishment for her than gaol.’

  ‘Yes, I do see that.’ She smiled at her husband as she drank in the sight of his battered yet still ruggedly handsome features. ‘And Sanderson?’

  ‘The magistrate has taken him in charge and you have my assurance that he will not escape. He stands accused of your attempted murder. In order to try and save his miserable neck, he named the man whom he recruited to assist him. The one who actually wielded the knife that harmed you. But it won’t help him.’

  ‘What will become of Sanderson?’

  ‘He will most assuredly hang; he and Binstead both.’

  Harriet shuddered but said nothing more. Marc was right. Such evil couldn’t go unpunished, and the law must be allowed to take its course. She watched her husband strip off his clothing and crawl into bed at her side. His countenance was grey with fatigue but she sensed he wasn’t yet ready to sleep.

  ‘What happens now?’

  ‘We can resume our marriage along the lines we previously agreed,’ he responded a little too casually.

  ‘No, I don’t think so, Marc. A marriage of convenience is no longer…well convenient, at least to me.’

  ‘You can’t avoid it.’

  ‘I can’t avoid the marriage. Indeed, I have no wish to. But I think I have earned the right to know what is in your heart.’

  He sighed but avoided her gaze. ‘As I have already told you, that is a pointless question.’

  ‘Because harm might befall me if you admit to your feelings?’ He nodded. ‘But, don’t you not see? Twice harm has come calling but has not achieved its end. I am still here.’

  ‘Because we have been fortunate. Next time it might be a different story.’

&nbs
p; She traced the outline of his jaw with a delicate touch, dragging out the gesture until he groaned, captured her finger between his own and kissed its tip. ‘There will be no next time. No one else wishes us harm. Besides, it’s useless for you to deny you have feelings for me, so you might as well admit to them and be done with it.’

  ‘Harri, for the love of God, I—’

  ‘Your problem, Your Grace, is not that you don’t feel, but that you feel too deeply.’ Harriet chuckled, took advantage of his astonishment and stole a brief kiss. ‘Lady Calder noticed it first, and even Katherine was relying upon your feelings for me to lure you into her trap.’

  ‘Both ladies clearly mistook my desire to protect you for something deeper.’

  ‘I don’t think so.’ Supreme confidence underscored her tone. ‘If you want me to stop nagging, then you had best give up this ridiculous pretence and admit to your true feelings.’ She sent him a sultry smile. ‘Nothing less will satisfy me.’

  ‘I can’t bring myself to do it. You ask too much.’ He ran his hand through his hair, his expression tortured. ‘I’ve spent my life repressing my feelings and wouldn’t know how to express them in words, even if they do exist.’

  ‘Then show me,’ she whispered, tangling her fingers in the hairs on his chest. ‘Make your actions speak for you and I will be satisfied.’

  ‘Now that,’ he said, sending her a devastating smile, ‘I am willing to attempt.’

  He did so with such abandonment and raw, unguarded passion that Harriet’s spirits soared. She realised then what should have been obvious to her long since. Marc had no need to express his feelings in words. His actions more than made up for his lack of eloquence on the subject. She smiled, burying her face in her husband’s shoulder as her nerve endings tingled with the afterglow of fulfilment.

  He had just given her all the answers she would ever require.

  The End

  About the Author

  Hi, I do hope you enjoyed A Duke by Default. If so, please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon. I’d love to hear what you thought of this particular novel – what you enjoyed most about it and what you didn’t like. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

  Reach me at wendysoliman@rocketmail.com

  I’m a British author, brought up on the Isle of Wight, but now live in Andorra. I share my life with my long-suffering husband and a rescued dog of indeterminate pedigree named Jake Bentley after the hero in one of my books. Both Jakes are handsome mongrels with independent spirits and wild streaks.

  I’ve had over sixty books published, ranging from Regency romance, (my first love), to contemporary women’s fiction and marine crime mysteries.

  When not writing I walk miles with my dog, make half-hearted visits to the gym, read other people’s tomes…oh, and I’m on a one woman mission to keep the wine trade profitable!

  Check out all of my books, and learn more about me from my website: http:www.wendysoliman.com

  Or on my Amazon author page author.to/wendys

  Follow me on twitter @wendyswriter or on Facebook: Wendy Soliman - Author

  Also available from this Author

  Historical Romance

  Stand Alone Regencies

  Lady Hartley’s Inheritance

  Duty’s Destiny

  A Reason to Rebel

  Forgotten Heiress

  For Want of a Reputation

  Christmas at Castleray

  Ava’s Passion

  Lady Mysterious

  Disinherited

  Divided Loyalties

  A Scandalous Proposition

  The Perfect Impostor

  Lady Impetuous

  Sacrificial Bride

  Dangerous Dukes Vols 1-4

  To Defy a Duke

  The Duke’s Legacy

  A Duke by Default

  Of Dukes and Deceptions

  Game of Dukes

  Dukes and Indiscretions

  Never Dare a Duke

  Mrs. Darcy Entertains Series Boxset

  Miss Bingley’s Revenge / Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Dilemma / Miss Darcy’s Passion / Kitty Bennet’s Despair / Lydia Wickham’s Journal

  Pemberley – The Next Generation Series Vols 1 – 3 Boxset

  Emma Bingley’s Romantic Nature / Naomi Sanford’s Compassionate Nature / Bella Darcy’s Impetuous Nature

  Pemberley – The Next Generation Series Vols 4 – 6 Boxset

  Eleanor Bingley’s Rebellious Nature / Rosie Turner’s Contrary Nature / Susie Darcy’s Tenacious Nature

  Simon Bingley’s Resolve

  Ducal Encounters Series 1

  At the Duke’s Discretion

  With the Duke’s Approval

  Portrait of a Duke

  For the Duke’s Pleasure

  In the Duke’s Estimation

  Captivating the Duke

  Ducal Encounters Series 2

  Reunited with the Duke

  Christmas with the Duke

  Representing the Duke

  Safeguarding the Duke

  Acting for the Duke

  Emulating the Duke

  Ducal Encounters Series 3

  Conspiring with the Duke

  Dedicated to the Duke

  Impugning the Duke’s Honour

  By Order of the Duke

  Supporting the Duke

  Protecting the Duke’s Interests

  Ducal Encounters Series 4

  As the Duke’s Agent

  Masquerading with the Duke

  On the Duke’s Authority

  Carlton House Cartel

  Chance

  The Forsters

  Compromising the Marquess

  Beguiling the Barrister

  Finessing the Contessa

  Romancing the Runaway

  Victorian Vigilante Series Boxset

  Saving Grace / Heirs and Graces / With Good Grace / Fall From Grace / Social Graces / Elegance and Grace

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  Death of a Courtesan

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  Death of a Scoundrel

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  Death of a Recluse

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  Death of a Footman

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  A Sense of Belonging

  A Sense of Purpose

  A Sense of Misgiving

  A Sense of Injustice

  A Sense of Turmoil

  A Sense of Destiny

  Contemporary Titles

  English Contemporary Romance Boxset: Reinventing Radleigh/ Shalimar/Silver Lining

  English Contemporary Romance Boxset 2: Name of the Game / Downsizing / Topspin

  The Hunter Files Boxset: Unfinished Business /

  Risky Business/ Lethal Business