The Last Duke (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book)

by Deborah Wilson

  Though she was attracted to the Duke of Cartelle, she’d always had his lack of sound judgment to cling to.

  Now it was gone.

  So where did that leave her?

  Did she dare to consider any sort of relationship beyond friendship now that she knew the truth?

  She bit her lip as she rubbed her hands together. Staring at her fingers, she listened to the noise from the theatre’s orchestra pit.

  From the corner of her eye, she noticed that he didn’t move. His body remained still.

  Finally, she lifted her gaze. “Why didn’t you say so days ago when I accused you of sleeping with married women?”

  He shrugged one massive shoulder. He had an arm over the couch’s back. The other leaned on the chair arm. “I’m used to the judgment, Valiant. I don’t usually bother defending myself.”

  “Yet you do so now,” she whispered.

  He took a moment and nodded. “Things are different now.”

  “You mean, people are treating you different,” she said.

  He adjusted himself in the chair as though growing uncomfortable with the subject. “They no longer fear me and are more inclined to listen to truth.”

  “I never feared you,” she told him. “And I always believed you.” Had that not been clear by her pushing her way into his carriage and his home? Twice?

  He moved against and then leaned forward. “You’re right. I should have told you otherwise.”

  “So, you’ll be faithful to your wife?” she asked.

  He held her eyes. “If that is what she wants.”

  She looked away. “Good.” It hadn’t been what she’d wanted, but then again, she’d not loved Noah in the way a wife should love her husband. Her situation was different, yet the matter was still important to her.

  He touched her chin and turned her eyes back to him. “This seems to have a great significance to you.”

  She said nothing as her heart charged blood through her head.

  He stroked her chin gently and then he let her go and stood. “I shall return to my party. I’d escort you to yours, but…”

  “I understand.” She stood as well. “It is best we part here.”

  He looked her over for another minute and then bowed before departing.

  Valiant waited a few minutes and then left the room.

  As she slipped into her seat in her brother’s box, no one in her family said a word about her late arrival.

  But Beatrix grabbed her hand and as she looked over at her friend, she gave her a tight smile, unsure if she’d uncomplicated or further complicated her life.

  * * *

  “Let’s go over the lords again,” Anthony said aloud to the men who’d gathered. Three were his private investigators. Three others were gentlemen. Usually, Benedict was the only lord who was present at these meetings, but since the week’s beginning, one other lord and one gentleman had joined their group.

  Lord Colby Harris and Mr. Thomas Amdon.

  Anthony had met both men during the ball where news of Mr. Goody’s visit to the hatter in Luton had been spread. Both men were related to one of the claimed missing lords.

  Yesterday, Anthony had thought to drop his private investigation entirely. If John Goody were alive then who was to say that the others were not simply living their lives away from London as well? Why spend any more time or money looking for them?

  Valiant believed him and that alone had settled the matter for him.

  He’d been contented by her words. Soothed.

  He’d discussed the end of the search during a conversation with a group of men at the theatre during the intermission.

  But Lord Colby Harris had passionately changed his mind.

  Colby’s brother was one of the missing lords and he’d been glad to know someone had been looking for his brother besides himself. It became apparent to Anthony that the families of the missing men had been holding small meetings about the matter, but no one seemed inclined to do much.

  Thomas was cousin to yet another lord and had also participated in the meetings.

  And both men had volunteered to help Anthony find their missing relatives.

  “Marley Bing, Duke of Astlen,” Benedict said from his seat at a table in the corner of the room. “Missing three years according to the rags. Clive Dendrick, Marquess of Fawley. He’s been missing since last summer. Kent Harris, Earl of Ganden. The rags say he’s been missing for two years. Garrick Amdon, Viscount of Coalwater.” Benedict looked up. “Coalwater has been missing for four years.”

  Every time Anthony heard the names, he found it hard to believe such members of society had seemingly fallen from the world. Where had they gone?

  Benedict leaned back in his chair and looked at Lord Thomas, Coalwater’s cousin. “I’m surprised there was no more fuss about these men being gone.”

  Thomas stood erect in the middle of the room with his hands behind his back. “Most of the families doubted their loved ones dead or that Lord Cartelle actually took them.”

  “It would have been nice if they’d said as much aloud,” Anthony said from where he stood by the window. “I’d not have been ostracized all these years.”

  Thomas turned to him with an indignant look down the bridge of his thin nose. “Ostracized? Society adored you.” There was a hint of bitterness in his tone and in his dark eyes. “They enjoyed making much ado about how mysterious you were. You were invited to every party. Surely, you didn’t suffer so greatly.”

  Was that what the families truly believed? Anger twisted and burned in his belly. “People feared me.” Young women, the sensible ones, had kept their distance. Lords had treated him like a circus animal, like a beast who simply happened to pull off the trick of playing at the gentleman. Everyone had endlessly doubted his words, twisting them until he no longer cared to defend himself. His thoughts, until of a violent manner, hadn’t mattered. He, Anthony Balfour, Earl of Cartelle, had not been invited to a single party. The Dark Angel had been. And everyone had waited with bated breath for him to show what they thought to be his true self, a wild being that only thought about blood and death.

  Thomas waved it away as though the fact were of little consequence. “Fear is respect in the hands of a man who knows how to use it.”

  Anthony thought of a hundred ways he’d like to beat ‘respect’ into Thomas.

  “Let us return to the topic at hand,” Benedict said with a shaky voice and worry in his blue eyes. He knew Anthony. Thomas clearly didn’t. Just because he’d not killed four missing lords didn’t mean he hadn’t challenged and shot others.

  “I should have known no man could take down Kent,” Colby said as he looked Anthony over. “My brother would have torn you in two had you tried to kill him.”

  ∫ ∫ ∫

  1 9

  Anthony stared at Lord Colby Harris. The gentleman leaned against the wall opposite of the one Anthony leaned against. The young man was by the door, Anthony by the window that brought light in from the early morning.

  Colby looked much like his brother, Kent Harris, the Earl of Ganden, with dark hair and cold green eyes. He had everything except for the earl’s unusual build. No one knew where the earl gained his massive physique, but without question, the earl was usually one of the largest men when he walked into a room.

  Anthony was not a small man, yet even he’d have never challenged Ganden. Anthony hadn’t had the chance to speak to Ganden’s family. Only the servants. Now, he could. “Where was your brother going when he went missing?”

  Colby crossed his arms. “My brother was heading to a wedding of a friend from Oxford. He was to be his best man.”

  Anthony had learned the same from servants. “Is it possible that he left the country and simply decided to tell no one?”

  Colby shook his head. “My brother and I were close. Even if he’d have not told our mother, he’d have told me. Besides, he’d not have stayed silent these last two years by choice. He’d have written to me.”

 
Anthony sat down at his desk. “I’ll need the names of anyone he took issue with or who took issue with him.” He looked at one of the three thief-takers he’d hired as investigators on the matter. The man and Lord Colby moved to the table where Benedict sat.

  The list would be long, Anthony knew, since he already had a list of his own.

  As the rags had mentioned, none of the men who’d gone missing were the innocent sort… except for perhaps Viscount Coalwater, whose only offense was his awkwardness with society people.

  Thomas moved and took a chair across from Anthony. “You were right to think to end the investigation. I believe my cousin to be dead. He’d gone to France during the war. Anything could have happened to him.”

  Coalwater hadn’t been a soldier, yet no one knew exactly why he’d left. There had also been reports, rumors, that Astlen had gone to France as well. Were both men dead?

  “If you believe Coalwater to be dead then why help me?” Anthony asked.

  Thomas shrugged. “I represent all the families of the missing men.” He then lowered his voice. “Though, to be quite honest, most of the relatives, except for Lord Colby, don’t wish for their lords to return. However, they would enjoy answers and are willing to fund this little hunt.”

  Little hunt? Anthony had been hunting extensively for seven years, fighting to clear his name and also to deliver Lady Goody’s child back to her… even if the menace would be missed by no one else.

  He closed his eyes and leaned back.

  There was a knock on the door and Anthony looked up just as a footman arrived. A tray held a card on it. Anthony picked it up, read the name, and then stood. “If you all would excuse me.” He nearly rushed from the room.

  He arrived in his drawing room and came to a halt at the sight of Valiant.

  Yet it was not her beauty that caught his attention—though that was there in abundance as well.

  It was the presence of Lord and Lady Hero.

  Beatrix clung to her husband’s hand as she stared at a painting on the wall. “I recognize that piece from the country estate.”

  Anthony moved farther into the room. He tried to keep his disappointment from his voice and his expression. “I did some rearranging after my father died.”

  At the moment, it was not thoughts of his father that soured his mood.

  He’d hoped that Valiant would visit. He’d made plans to acquaint himself with her lips, yet now that was not to be so.

  Valiant wore a knowing gleam in her eyes and a tiny smile that teased his senses. She’d purposefully throttled his plans.

  After a round of formal greetings, Hero said, “You have a great collection.” He glanced around the room.

  Anthony barely gave the walls a glance himself anymore. He’d collected most of the pieces while he’d been trying to distract himself from the pain of killing his father. The house was filled to the brim with artifacts. He knew as little about them and their history as he did the women he slept with. Between the two categories, there’d been little distance. Both were attractive, and both had served their purpose well.

  “Thank you,” he said as he finally managed to move farther into the room. “I wasn’t expecting company. I’m currently hosting a search party of sorts.”

  Hero drew his brows together. “Search party?”

  “Lord Cartelle is looking for the missing lords. He has been for the last seven years.” There was a hint of pride in Valiant’s voice that could not be denied.

  Beatrix wore a slight smile.

  Hero straightened and turned back to Anthony. “Are the lords actually missing? Their families seem to think otherwise.”

  “Apparently, they pretended otherwise,” Anthony said. “As we all know, these were not men the ton liked very much. Few care that they are gone, including their families. But it’s true that no one has heard from any of them in quite some time. Formerly, I only had servants to ask questions of, but now a few of the family members are here to assist me. Lord Colby Harris and Mr. Thomas Amdon are upstairs in my office.” He turned to Beatrix. “Your brother is here as well.”

  “Benedict has been aiding you?” Beatrix asked.

  Hero took a step toward the door. “I’d like to see what you’ve done so far and see if I can lend my assistance. I’ve been known to find important men in the past.” Hero was currently the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, but previously he’d led the hunt for Napoleon during the war. It was how he’d become a general.

  “Your assistance would be most appreciated.” Anthony led the way to his office and Beatrix immediately parted from Hero to seek out Benedict.

  “I didn’t know you’d been helping Anthony all these years?” She hugged her twin.

  Benedict smirked. “There is some good in me, Trixie.”

  She held her brother’s arm and leaned into him with a grin. “I always knew there was.”

  Hero had gone over to a wall that held a map of London. Each of the missing lords had their own color. The map was marked with where people claimed to have seen them last.

  There were other things on the walls. Sketches of the missing men, their likes, dislikes, attributes. With everything he’d collected on the lords, Anthony often felt as though he knew these men personally.

  Hero looked at Anthony. “Well, I’m impressed. Once you’re done here, you should think about a position in government. We could use a man like you.”

  Anthony’s lips twitched. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had asked him for anything besides money or sex. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  One of the thief-takers went over to Hero and began to explain the map to him. Lord Colby greeted Hero and joined them.

  Valiant moved to stand by him and said, “This is quite impressive. I had no idea just how much effort you’d put into this.”

  He looked at her and couldn’t help but think about the effort he was putting into having her. He touched her arm and led her into a corner of the room. He kept his voice low. “You didn’t come alone.”

  She bit her lip and shook her head. Her curls danced across her cheeks. “I thought it best I didn’t. Though you might not care for your long-lasting happiness, I do. You’ll be more pleased with a wife than with a night with me.”

  Anthony still wasn’t sure he agreed, but he was moved by her wish for his happiness. There had only ever been two other women who had. His mother and Beatrix. Benedict’s epithet for his sister Trixie was spot on. The woman was a sharp and could do various illusions with her hands.

  Whenever Anthony or anyone had seemed sad, Beatrix would lighten the mood by surprising them with a trick. She’d done it for him on many an occasion. It was why he’d wanted her for his wife. She’d cared, and he’d needed someone who cared for him.

  Yet here was Valiant. She cared.

  Anthony shoved that course of thought from his mind before he went too far.

  He could not marry Valiant.

  For starters, her brothers loathed him. Well, Anthony may have just won Hero over, but not Asher. Asher would block the match, and Anthony was sure the duke’s opinion meant a great deal to her.

  Was he really considering a marriage to Valiant?

  No, he couldn’t. He couldn’t love her back. He’d already decided not to trust her again.

  Though that was becoming hard.

  She was smiling at him as though there was nothing else in the world she’d rather do. Her eyes held a contentment that seemed to wrap about him. She was dangerous, and he was a glutton for her.

  “Did you enjoy the rest of the play?” she asked.

  “All I could think about was you.” He leaned a shoulder against the wall. “I can’t recall a single thing about it.”

  She laughed. The sound of it seemed to set something free within him. Who could resist this woman? “I missed the beginning. What happened then?”

  He held her eyes. “Again, I wouldn’t know. Once I saw you in the lobby before the play began, I could think of nothing else.”

/>   Her smile slipped from her lips.

  Perhaps, he’d confessed too much?

  The tenderness in her eyes shook him at his core.

  ∫ ∫ ∫

  2 0

  He was going to make her love him.

  Valiant could sense it. The feeling clawed at her skin, asking her why she simply didn’t relent and give in to his wishes. She wanted to lean close to him and rub herself against him. She remembered the way it felt to be pressed into his warm body. She recalled the taste of his mouth.

  Her mind became lethargic, seeming too tired to work properly, to think.

  Anthony’s eyes became nearly jet and he leaned closer. “Hold onto that thought. Once we’re alone, I plan to fulfill your every desire.”

  Desire.

  The word brought as much heat as it did coolness.

  The coolness won, draining the wanton poison from her mind and allowing her to think again.

  Fear took hold. She couldn’t let Anthony touch her. She couldn’t let him near her. He couldn’t learn how much of a failure she was.

  He grabbed her arm suddenly, his eyes filled with concern. “Valiant, what’s wrong? What’s the matter?”

  She lowered her gaze. Her eyes stung. She was upset that she’d ruined the moment and distraught that she’d had to.

  “Valiant.” Hero’s arm came around her waist. “Are you all right?”

  Valiant looked up and found her brother glaring at Anthony.

  Anthony had taken a step back. His face was neutral.

  Valiant put a hand on Hero’s chest. “I’m all right. We were discussing something that made me sad, is all. Lord Cartelle has done nothing wrong.”

  Hero continued to stare at Anthony, but slowly he relaxed and turned to her again. “Are you certain?”

  She nodded and put on a smile. “I’m quite certain. Really, you’ve no reason to worry.”

  Hero watched her a moment longer and then nodded before he turned to Anthony again. “I’ve noticed more sightings of Lord Goody than anyone else on the map. Also, according to the stories you’ve collected, many of the men were seen in the same area.”