To Desire a Duke: Dangerous Dukes Vol 8

by Wendy Soliman

  Troy somehow resisted the desire to pull her into his arms and comfort her in the manner that sprang spontaneously to mind. She was fragile, unsure of herself, and it would be a grave error of judgement to take advantage of her at such a time.

  Or indeed at any time.

  ‘If Gilliard is the traitor then he fooled me as well, since I never seriously suspected him.’

  ‘You told me when I arrived here that you were convinced it was not him.’ She turned to glower at him, using him as an outlet for her anger. ‘I suppose you were patronising me; telling me what you thought I wanted to hear.’

  ‘I was trying to dissuade you from involving yourself in a dangerous mission, and still cannot bring myself to apologise for attempting to keep you out of it.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose you were. It’s all right for Evan’s mistress to risk her neck, but I am presumably far too delicate to involve myself in such a tawdry business.’

  Troy gave a gentle laugh. ‘Self-pity does not become you.’

  Instead of exploding with anger, as he half expected that she would, she let out a long breath, her shoulders sagged and she sent him a rueful smile with a little more warmth behind it. ‘No, I suppose it doesn’t, but I still think I am entitled to feel just a little wronged and exploited.’ She paused. ‘How did Evan support his family? I will have my accountant check, but as far as I am aware, no regular payments left his account when he was still alive.’

  ‘Which is why you think he could be the traitor?’

  She conceded the point with a brisk nod. ‘Since learning the truth about him, the possibility has crossed my mind.’

  ‘In which case we are never likely to find out.’

  ‘Perhaps he and Ana were working for both sides. If so, she will be living well.’ Brione paced up and down as she articulated her thoughts. ‘If I’m right, and her first pregnancy caused her family to disown her, she would have been forced to make her own way. Can we find out where she is now and how she lives?’

  ‘I can speak with my contacts at Whitehall, but they will only tell me what they want me to know.’

  ‘But you are a duke. They have to be frank with you, surely?’

  Troy chuckled. ‘You underestimate their covert natures, but I will see what I can do.’

  ‘How could I not have known?’ she muttered, still pacing up and down, watched impassively by Shadow, who had yet to move from his place in front of the fire.

  ‘You still haven’t told me who enlightened you.’

  ‘Lieutenant Vaughan,’ she said, scowling.

  ‘Damn it!’ Troy thumped his fist against the surface of his desk. ‘He should have known better.’

  ‘Don’t blame him. If you had told me yourself then he would not have been able to take me by surprise.’

  ‘I wonder why he felt compelled to—’

  ‘I might have mentioned to him that Evan knew the identity of Conrad,’ she said in a casual aside.

  Troy’s eyes bulged. ‘You did what?’

  Chapter Twelve

  Brione blanched at the ferocity of Troy’s forbidding expression. It was not wise, she belatedly realised, to defy such a powerful and authoritative man, even though she wouldn’t tolerate a trimming. Not from him or any other man.

  ‘What the devil have you done?’ he asked in a monitory tone. ‘I specifically told you not to say anything controversial.’

  His arrogant assumption that he could tell her how to behave overcame Brione’s momentary disappointment at having…well, disappointed him. Her desire to impress him concerned her. It stirred up dangerous feelings that she struggled to identify, unsure if they were a welcome distraction or an unnecessary intrusion. Brione, who always knew her own mind, had never been less sure of herself. Even so, she was damned if she would allow this calculating sophisticate standing before her in a stance that conveyed power, strength and an absolute need to be obeyed to dictate her behaviour.

  ‘I do not answer to you, your grace,’ she replied, tossing her head defiantly.

  ‘Have you any idea what you have done?’ A muscle in his jaw flexed and hardened.

  She planted her fisted hands on her hips. ‘I don’t have the slightest doubt that you will enlighten me.’

  ‘Oh, Brione!’

  He shook his head, temporarily lost for words, and the anger appeared to drain out of him. He touched her shoulder and briefly cupped her chin in his hand, fixing her with a prolonged look before turning away. Her own temper cooled the moment his fingers made contact with her overheated skin. This library was far too warm, she thought, which would account for the heat that travelled through her bloodstream and sent an unfamiliar kernel of sensation streaking through her.

  ‘Perhaps I was a little impulsive,’ she conceded.

  He turned to face her again, greeting her concession with the suggestion of a mocking smile. ‘Is that so?’

  ‘Don’t flirt with me. It isn’t helpful.’

  ‘Where did you hear the word Conrad?’ he asked. The swirling anger in his eyes had first been replaced with a flirtatious look and now a softness that reflected anxiety.

  ‘I overheard Evan mention it several times in a conversation he had during a rare visit to my mother and me in Austria. A message had come from the regiment.’

  ‘Can you recall who delivered that message?’ Troy asked sharply.

  She shook her head. ‘Sorry. I only caught a glimpse of a tall man in a red coat that clashed with his hair.’

  ‘Fletcher!’ Troy breathed, scowling.

  ‘Evan said the message was from you and that he had to return to his duties.’

  ‘I sent no such message,’ Troy replied, rubbing his chin and frowning as he contemplated her revelation.

  ‘Evan wasn’t himself after the messenger left. He seemed very preoccupied. I said I had overheard the mention of Conrad, asked why it was important and he got very angry. Accused me of eavesdropping on his private conversation, which I did not. They were speaking in the library with the door open. I heard snippets as I walked past, and the anxiety in Evan’s voice worried me.’ She looked up as the elegant lines of Troy’s face compressed with anxiety. ‘Evan, for all his neglect, was never anything other than charming and attentive when we were together, and he had never raised his voice to me before.’ She sent him a wary look. ‘Conrad is something to do with the traitor, isn’t it? Evan was involved.’

  ‘Not necessarily.’

  Brione was aware of her resolve crumbling in the light of a possibility that she knew Troy was downplaying for her sake. Lost in thought, she let out a startled little gasp when Troy muttered something unintelligible and pulled her to him. His arms closed around her and he kissed the top of her head in a chaste yet oddly sensual manner. Her body collided with the solidity of his chest. She felt reassured by his strength and made no effort to extricate herself from a situation that she hadn’t anticipated. Feeling safe, the tears came, soaking his shirt as she rested the side of her face against his shoulder and gave vent to her emotions.

  ‘Hush,’ he said softly. ‘It will be all right.’

  Troy smoothed her back with sweeps of his hands as though she was a small child. But she could feel his reaction and knew that he didn’t think of her as such. She was a full grown woman grappling with revelations about the man she had married and thought she had known.

  ‘Was Evan the traitor?’ she asked in a tremulous voice.

  ‘Probably not,’ Troy replied. ‘Conrad was a code name that we used for the bad apple, and Evan knew it. But he wouldn’t have risked talking about it in a room with the door open, even to Fletcher. As far as we are aware, the traitor worked alone.’

  She nodded against his chest. The gesture loosened a strand of her hair, which she had put up herself in haste and hadn’t secured properly. It tumbled down to her waist in a corkscrew curl. Troy picked it up and ran it through his fingers, twirling it round and round until his knuckles touched her scalp. She gasped at the simple contact and looked up at h
im through eyes swamped with tears and clouded with curiosity. Her hands had somehow worked their way around his neck and she sighed with capitulation when he lowered his head and kissed her.

  His lips had barely covered hers before the door opened and Brione heard Kensley’s mumbled apology. Sighing, Troy released her and told Kensley to enter.

  ‘Sure I’m not intruding?’ he asked, winking at Brione.

  ‘Brione was just now telling me what she knows about Conrad.’

  ‘Right, I saw that was what she was telling you,’ Kensley replied, grinning at Brione’s embarrassment as she hastily took a seat, red-faced and wondering how on earth she had finished up in Troy’s arms, on the brink of being kissed by him. Feeling partially aggrieved because Kensley’s ill-timed—or perhaps well-timed—entrance had prevented that kiss from being anything more than a fleeting touch. Now she would never know how it would have felt, since her senses had been restored to her and she wouldn’t allow another situation of that nature to develop. She had Troy’s measure now and would be on her guard.

  Probably.

  Troy shook his head at his friend and smiled at Brione. ‘She rather foolishly mentioned to Vaughan that she knew about Conrad.’

  ‘Ah, I see,’ Kensley said, his jubilant expression giving way to one of abject concern. ‘How did he respond?’

  ‘By telling her about Ana,’ Troy said, scowling.

  ‘You knew as well, I suppose,’ Brione said, glowering at Kensley. ‘It seems I was the only person who did not.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Kensley said. ‘You didn’t deserve such shoddy treatment.’

  Brione shrugged, her feelings of ill-usage reasserting themselves.

  ‘Brione just asked me if I thought Gilliard could have been the traitor.’ Troy went on to explain about the envoy who had tracked Evan down in Austria and whom Evan had said had been sent by Troy. ‘From her description, it has to have been Fletcher, who is now dead.’

  ‘It doesn’t necessarily mean what you think it does,’ Kensley said. ‘Gilliard did covert work for the government as well.’

  ‘Wouldn’t his missions have come from you?’ Brione asked, addressing the question to Troy.

  ‘Not necessarily. There were several of us, and we were trusted with assignments of varying importance. It was thought best for us not to know what others were up to. That way, in the event of capture, we couldn’t tell the enemy what we didn’t know. As to your husband,’ Troy continued, ‘I had been told that he was involved in something dating back to his efforts before he purchased his commission—’

  ‘When he was busy scouring Portugal for markets for his father’s silk, and finding himself a common law wife?’ Brione suggested in a sweetly sarcastic tone.

  ‘It’s possible that he had been asked by Whitehall to instigate his own enquiries to track the traitor down,’ Kensley added. ‘Troy and I would have been suspects. No one trusted anybody, and the right hand very often didn’t know what the left was doing.’

  ‘I find it interesting that Vaughan responded to mention of Conrad by telling Brione about her husband’s other life,’ Troy said, leaning his backside against the edge of his desk and looking very worried.

  ‘Do you think he’s the guilty party?’ Brione asked.

  ‘It’s looking that way, or would but for the fact that he wasn’t a party to all the secrets that were leaked.’

  ‘He was your adjutant,’ Brione replied, ‘and you trusted him. Surely he would have access to everything.’

  ‘The most sensitive matters were not committed to paper.’

  ‘Vaughan was very close friends with Nathan Fletcher, the man who called on your husband,’ Kensley pointed out. ‘They were always together, but Fletcher perished in the same battle that took your husband. Vaughan hasn’t been the same since, but then I suppose few of us have. You can’t watch your comrades being struck down and carry on as though nothing had happened. If one of those comrades happens to be a good friend, it makes matters ten times harder.’

  ‘Would Fletcher have been in possession of the requisite information?’ Brione asked.

  Troy conceded the point with a nod. ‘Possibly, but he would not have told Vaughan,’ he said, sharing a questioning glance with Kensley.

  ‘If Fletcher is dead, we will never know. Nor are we any closer to clearing Evan’s name. I shall write to my attorney today and ask him if Evan provided for Ana and her children during his lifetime and if any arrangements have been put in place to continue providing for them after his death. If so, it will be helpful to know if the funds came from a legitimate source since it will lessen the likelihood of Evan being the guilty party. Despite the manner in which he deceived me, I really don’t want to live with that particular shame.’

  ‘You have nothing to be ashamed about,’ Kensley told her.

  ‘Even so…’

  ‘I am sorry you’ve been put in the position of wondering,’ Troy said with a softly intimate smile. ‘Write your letter and I will arrange for it to be hand-delivered today.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She paused for a reflective moment. ‘Actually, I am getting over the shock and am glad to finally know why I never really felt as if Evan was fully committed to our marriage. How could he have been if his feelings were already engaged elsewhere?’ She stared off into the distance, ruthlessly suppressing the self-pity that threatened to engulf her. ‘Helping you to uncover the traitor’s identity will give me a purpose.’ She smiled at each of them. ‘What would you suggest that I do next, gentlemen?’

  ‘A very good question.’ Troy exchanged a look with Kensley and then sighed. ‘But will you at least be guided by me this time and not do anything reckless?’

  ‘Me? Reckless?’ She adopted an innocently speculative expression. ‘I am sure I have no idea what you mean.’

  Kensley threw back his head and roared with laughter. ‘You’ve met your match this time, Troy,’ he said.

  Troy rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t I know it.’ His expression sobered as he took a seat beside Brione. ‘Since you have mentioned Conrad to Vaughan, I suppose you had better do the same with the other two and gauge their reactions. My sister is depending upon the weather to remain fine today and has arranged outdoor activities. Bowls, archery, that sort of thing. It will give you the ideal opportunity to cross paths with both men and strike up conversations. Either Kensley or I will be watching you the entire time so you will be perfectly safe.’

  ‘How reassuring.’ She leaned down to give Shadow’s ears a soft tug, and then stood up. ‘But now, if you will excuse me, I promised Rachel that we would walk in the grounds together this morning. I believe there is a very pretty lake that I can show her,’ she added, with a provocative smile for Troy.

  ‘Be careful,’ he said, fixing her with an intent look as he opened the door for her. ‘And do not under any circumstances allow yourself to be caught alone with any of our suspects.’

  Troy closed the door on Brione’s retreating back and then turned to face Kensley, as ready as he would ever be to endure the inevitable.

  ‘Well, well,’ Kensley said, grinning like a lunatic. ‘How the mighty have fallen.’

  ‘I was comforting the lady. She was distressed.’

  A mocking smile lit up Kensley’s features. ‘Of course you were.’

  ‘You have an over-active imagination.’

  ‘I know what I saw, and can guess what would have happened if I hadn’t interrupted you. Not that I blame you for that. She is truly exquisite. You should have allowed me to withdraw gracefully.’

  ‘I forgot myself, just for a moment, but knew I could depend upon you to keep me honest.’ Troy fell into his chair, leaned back and lifted his booted feet onto the surface of his desk. ‘She is the most infuriating female I have ever encountered,’ he said, throwing back his head and closing his eyes. ‘She is independent, disobedient, reckless, more challenging than she has any right to be, insubordinate…’

  ‘She isn’t one of your soldiers.’

&
nbsp; ‘So she took pleasure in reminding me.’ Troy chuckled. ‘There would likely have been a rebellion in the ranks had she enlisted, and she would have been its ringleader. She doesn’t understand the meaning of obedience.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad in a way that Vaughan told her about Ana.’ Kensley grinned. ‘If nothing else, it gave you a justifiable reason to offer her a shoulder to cry on.’ Troy fixed his friend with a glower than only served to widen his smile. ‘Perhaps now she will see Gilliard in his true colours and stop pining for a dead man who was anything other than the paragon she’s made him into in her mind.’

  ‘Right.’ Troy nodded decisively. ‘She has now gone from defending Gilliard and insisting that he would never betray his country to wondering if he’s the guilty party. What do you think?’

  ‘It’s certainly a possibility,’ Kensley conceded. ‘But we have always known that, given his devotion to Ana and his financial responsibilities in that regard. That’s why the rumours started. Your Mrs Gilliard was the only person who didn’t know about his double life.’

  ‘We will have a better idea when we get a response from Brione’s attorney regarding the distribution of funds both before and after Gilliard’s death, which is why I offered to have her note delivered today.’

  ‘Ah, this is all to do with unearthing the traitor’s identity then.’ Kensley flashed another irreverent grin. ‘Nothing to do with your desire to be of service to a particular lady so that she will see you in a heroic light.’

  ‘Don’t be an idiot!’

  Kensley continued to grin. ‘It’s beyond time that you found a female worthy of you.’

  ‘Whoa!’ Troy held up both hands, pushing the palms towards Kensley in a defensive gesture. ‘You’re reading too much into what you think you saw. It’s one thing admiring her courage, but entirely another to think along the lines that you clearly are.’