The Theft of a Dukedom

by Lyndsey Norton

  ‘Probably too hot for me as well.’ Robin replied and snorted out a small laugh.

  His carriage dropped him off at the wharf and Robin stood there looking at a very bleak future.

  ‘I’d hoped to find you here.’ A very silky feminine voice said from behind. ‘I had a feeling the Duke would buy you a ticket on the first ship to leave these shores.’

  ‘What do you want Emily?’ He asked softly. At one time he’d found his sisters friend attractive, but that had faded as he’s recognised the venal streak in her.

  ‘I think it’s more of a case of what I can do for you.’ she said and laid her hand on his arm. ‘He’s disinherited you, hasn’t he?’

  ‘Yes.’ He gasped as the realisation of exactly what his father had done finally sunk in.

  ‘Then I think Thomas Stafford should pay dearly for his folly.’

  ‘What do you want?’ he asked a little more firmly.

  ‘I want you to come and have a drink with me at that Tavern.’ She said and pointed up the wharf at The Anchor public house.

  Robin indicated for her to lead the way and he followed this slip of a girl, wondering if he would just make matters worse, if he didn’t go to Jamaica.

  It was a typical rough riverside tavern. She ordered wine and they sat in a window seat.

  ‘You’ve always been devious, Emily. So what is going through that idiot brain of yours?’ he asked deprecatingly.

  ‘There’s no need to be rude.’ She said and smiled coyly, making him shiver. ‘I have a plan to redeem your titles and the financial security. But my fee is non-negotiable.’

  ‘What do you want? Half of the money?’ Robin asked disparagingly.

  ‘No. I want to be Mrs. Robin Stafford.’ She said coldly.

  Robin was just taking a sip of his wine and it sprayed across the table, as he choked in shock.

  ‘I want to be your wife, so that I can become the Duchess of Durham.’ She said coldly and as he looked at her profile, he didn’t like the expression in her eyes.

  ‘Why?’ he asked softly.

  ‘I’ve been the butt of your sister’s contempt for a few years now. Ever since Millicent married and became a Marchioness, the Frilly Five have looked down their noses at me. They are all of a higher rank than me; I’m just the daughter of an Earl.’ She finished vitriolically.

  ‘I thought Louise is just the daughter of an Earl?’ Robin ventured and was surprised at the frigid look she turned on him.

  ‘Westbrook’s Earldom is on mainland England, my father’s Earldom is a puny little Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and when he dies and leaves the title to my idiot brother, I won’t be allowed to live there. I need a good marriage and even though I’m this season’s incomparable; I’ve still to receive an offer.’

  He wondered whether she was mad. ‘Why would marriage to me help your cause?’ he asked stupidly.

  ‘Because then I would end up the Duchess of Durham and even Millicent won’t be able to look down her nose at me.’ He definitely didn’t like the evil look in her eye or the dead sound of her voice.

  ‘And just how are you going to get me reinstated as the Marquis? My father is going to disinherit me.’

  ‘It won’t matter. You are his first born son and the title is rightfully yours.’ She turned and looked at him coldly. ‘Make your choice. Marry me and get your titles back or climb aboard the ship and sail to the tropics for the rest of your life!’

  Chapter 18

  As he hung over the saddle of the horse, Robin thoughtmy father was right. I’m a fool and I should have sailed away when I had the chance, instead of getting mixed in with that greedy witch and allowing her to feed and stoke my hatred. Jesus! I killed my father! And the shock he felt that he’d been so skilfully manipulated was terrific. A carriage disturbed his train of thought as it pulled up beside them.

  ‘Ah, Your Grace.’ George said happily. ‘Lady Amelia said we’d catch up with you before we reached the outskirts of London.

  ‘George! Thank god! Help me get this bastard inside the coach and then I can have some sleep.’

  The coach slowed and suddenly the door was flung open and Kitty was there. ‘I see you got him!’ she spoke coldly and Robin knew what that meant. She had treated him like a leper, because of one stupid moment, when he did something he shouldn’t have done. He closed his eyes and thought over all the incidents that had occurred and wouldn’t have done if he’d thought before he acted. He should never have tried to interfere with Kitty, but he was curious about her, just like he should never have gotten involved with Harriet, but she was irresistible. The gambling, the women and the drinking. It was all a road to the ruin his life had become.

  Richard helped Charles lift Robin down and he was unceremoniously dumped on the floor of the carriage. George tied the two horses to the back of the coach and then they set off again.

  Kitty stirred Robin with her foot. ‘Did he put up much of a fight?’ she asked deliberately.

  Richard sniggered and Charles shook his head. ‘No. He wouldn’t have lasted five minutes in the Peninsular.’ Charles laughed coarsely, ‘the Frogs would have had him for breakfast! The stupid bastard wasn’t even galloping!’

  ‘Where’s Emily?’ she asked looking at Robin with cold eyes. Kitty was astonished when Robin started to cry. He buried his face in the crook of his elbow and let go of all the grief his heart was holding onto. The other three occupants of the coach exchanged looks of surprise.

  ‘What happened, Robin?’ Kitty asked gently.

  ‘Everything sort of got away from me.’ He mumbled around his arm.

  ‘This all started the day of the duel,’ Kitty said firmly. ‘Tell us why you did it.’

  Haltingly Robin explained just what had happened between himself and Harriet Farrington and just how much he loved her and how devastated he was after the duel learning of her suicide.

  He looked at Kitty through tear filled eyes. ‘I was just going to explain it all to father and ask for his advice. I know I shouted at you, Kitty and I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t have heard anything we were shouting about. I shut the door behind you and was going to try and calm down to talk to him, but instead he punched me, cut me off and told me to leave.’ He sobbed and closed his eyes. ‘I was angry because he didn’t even give me a chance to explain properly. So I took my bag and left for the docks.’ He sighed deeply. ‘And that’s where Emily was waiting like a spider!’ He shook his head. ‘Before I realised what I’d done, she was my wife and was calling the shots. I tried to control her, but she just threatened me with the runners.’ And he collapsed into gales of tears again.

  Kitty looked at Charles. He twitched and squirmed and then rapped on the roof. As the coach slowed he looked at Richard. ‘Will you keep an eye on my brother, please?’ he asked politely as if he was asking him to watch a child. Charles and Kitty got down from the coach and walked up the road.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Kitty asked softly.

  ‘He should hang!’ Charles said fiercely and paced away.

  ‘I know. But can you do it now?’ Kitty asked delicately. ‘Knowing that he’s grieving as much as we are?’

  ‘He shot father!’ Charles snapped as he came back towards her. ‘Can you possibly forgive him for that?’

  ‘No.’ She said calmly. ‘But then I won’t be able to watch him hang either.’ They were both quiet again. Kitty sighed. ‘Of course, we have the perfect solution.’ She said quietly, looking at her feet with her hands clasped behind her back.

  ‘We do?’ Charles said and looked at her quizzically.

  ‘Robin Stafford is already dead.’ She said and looked at her brother. ‘Colonel Bostwick has already buried his corpse in Kingston and will be erecting a headstone when we send him the money.’ She smiled brightly. ‘I’m sure as the new Duke of Durham you’ll be able to afford for him to visit the Americas.’

  Charles actually laughed at the cheeky smile on her face. ‘That’s got to be the stupidest idea y
ou’ve ever had!’

  She looked at him totally affronted. ‘Have you got a better idea, then? Clever clogs!’ She demanded haughtily.

  ‘Unfortunately, no!’ Charles said evenly, ‘But I don’t think we can just send him abroad. Somebody other than Emily must know he’s still in London.’

  ‘This will need careful planning, and you can leave Emily to me.’ Kitty said. ‘This time she has gone too far.’ Kitty turned back to the carriage and climbed in.

  Charles only waited a few minutes before he joined her and rapped on the roof again.

  ‘I can’t believe that Emily persuaded him to do all of this.’ Charles said suddenly.

  ‘You’d be surprised.’ Kitty said. ‘You didn’t hear her at Millicent’s wedding when she had Benjamin cornered in the library. He didn’t know which way to turn as she turned the screw, make love to her or she would tear all her clothes and accuse him of rape. She had Robin in a vice of his own making. The moment the word went out that the Runners were looking for him; she would have been ready to swing into action with her plan to become the next Duchess of Durham.’ She looked down at her eldest brother. ‘And you’re a stupid idiot for not thinking that Albany wouldn’t have the runners there to catch you if you should win.’ She looked at Richard and Charles opposite her. ‘All men are stupid, really, because you all think with your genitals!’ She put her foot on her brother’s hip and shook him. ‘What identity have you been using in London?’ Robin shook his head, still sobbing. ‘Make another choice, Robin, tell us everything or hang for the murder of two Dukes.’

  ‘Emily knew of a young blood that needed to disappear.’ Robin eventually stuttered out. ‘We swapped identities. He went to Jamaica using my name and I stayed here and used his. He owed money, but the financier realised I wasn’t the same man so they left me alone.’

  ‘How on earth did you live?’ Kitty asked amazed.

  ‘Emily had put by some of her pin money. She is actually quite a wealthy woman.’

  ‘I always thought she was rapacious!’ Kitty murmured.

  ‘You have no idea, sweet Kitty, of exactly what that woman is capable of. I had no idea that hate could make you do such things.’

  ‘Who does Emily hate?’ Kitty asked softly and closed her eyes as he replied.

  ‘You.’ He sighed. ‘Millicent, Louise and Anne.’ He shook his head. ‘All of the Frilly Five. She feels the inadequacies of her title very deeply and her hate grows every day as she watches her friends marry into the higher ranks. Millicent becoming a Marchioness was the final straw.’

  ‘But that’s ridiculous! I’m the only one with an independent title!’

  ‘Precisely!’ Robin said. ‘You have the Earldom of Stainmore, as Aunt Agatha is the Earl of Stockton. But Emily is just an Honourable Lady and has no independent title. She wants to be a Duchess and be able to look down on all of you.’

  ‘But that’s madness!’ Kitty said in horror. ‘We each have the titles we were born with or given. I can’t help it that father made me an Earl on the day I was born, anymore than you could help being a Marquis or Charles being an Earl too. I do have the right to sit in the house, but my gender prevents me from doing so, otherwise I would have been a politician years ago!’

  ‘God forbid!’ Charles uttered. ‘That’s the last thing we need, female politicians!’

  ‘Really!’ Kitty spat. ‘I think women in politics would benefit the world immensely. At least we wouldn’t go to war over the size of our cocks!’ She blushed furiously at her brave outburst.

  ‘Kitty!’ Richard said in shock.

  ‘You’re going to have a job with her, my friend.’ Charles muttered under his breath. ‘She will sow the seeds of discontent in your household.’

  ‘But it will be heaven making up afterwards.’ Richard murmured back.

  ‘I just said you all think with your genitals and I wasn’t wrong.’ She turned back to Robin. ‘Why did it take you so long to get around to killing father?’ she demanded abruptly, but both Robin and Charles could hear the distress in her voice.

  ‘Emily was becoming obsessed with causing you as much trouble as she could.’ He looked up at Kitty and down again. ‘I’m sorry about the punch bowl. I had no idea that you were the target.’ Robin sniffed. ‘I’d spent the day there as a footman...’

  ‘A footman?’ Kitty yelped, shocked.

  ‘...hired for the event.’ Robin stopped and looked at his sister. He smiled quite mischievously. ‘How many times do you look at the footman with a tray at a ball? I served you and Louise twice and you never once lifted your eyes off the tray!’

  ‘Impossible!’ Kitty spluttered.

  ‘Anyway, I managed to saw through the table leg just enough so that if you gave it a firm push, the whole thing would collapse. I was horrified when I heard the crack and watched the bowl fall towards you.’ He looked at Richard. ‘You have fine reflexes, sir. Thank you for saving my sister from certain injury.’

  ‘Emily did that?’ Charles asked incredulously.

  ‘She did.’ Robin confirmed. ‘She pushed the table and it went, just like it was supposed to.’

  ‘But Constance Beresford was standing there. Why didn’t she stop her or say anything?’ Kitty asked bewildered.

  ‘Because Emily has an agreement with Rochdale and you’re the prize.’ Charles said coldly.

  ‘What?’ Kitty snapped in horror.

  ‘Exactly!’ Robin said. ‘Emily knows everything about all of us, including father’s incautious night with Connie last season.’ He sighed. ‘I tried to warn him off, but he wouldn’t listen and Connie is not known for her discretion.’ He shook his head. ‘Rochdale was beside himself with rage and beat her senseless for it. Emily knows all of his dirty washing too and his desperation to get his hands on Kitty.’ He turned his eyes back to his sister. ‘So, she approached Rochdale with a proposition and asked for his assistance and when I am Duke, you will end up Rochdale’s new Countess.’

  ‘But what about Connie?’ Charles asked and looked Robin firmly in the eye.

  ‘Rochdale asked for me to kill her, but I refused. So Emily has said she will do it.’

  ‘This is incredible!’ Richard said suddenly. ‘Nobody would believe it!’

  ‘This needs careful thought and planning.’ Kitty murmured and turned her head to look out of the window. ‘We need to slow George down, so next stop let’s have a substantial break and make some plans.’

  ‘I take it you would like to avoid the scaffold?’ Charles asked his brother.

  ‘I don’t deserve it. I think you should just send me to bedlam.’ Robin rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. ‘I think I’ve been there since Harriet died.’

  ‘How violent is Emily?’ Kitty asked softly.

  ‘Very. And with you it would be uncontrollable, her hate is so strong.’

  ‘Is she still afraid of her father?’

  ‘Yes, that’s one of the reason’s she insisted on marriage first.’

  ‘Does her father know that you are married?’

  Robin shook his head and started to laugh helplessly. ‘It was the only way I could protect myself from her.’ He spluttered out in between guffaws. ‘Viscount Allen was king of the stage at Cambridge and he has a few friends in the theatre.’ He took some deep breaths to calm himself. ‘Once I realised Emily wanted my blood too, I had David get one of his friends to dress up as a parson and with a fake special licence I “Married” Emily!’ He laughed again ‘She isn’t Mrs. Robin Stafford, just plain Honourable Lady Emily Blunt, daughter of the Earl of Alderney!’

  ‘That is going to cut her to the quick!’ Kitty said in satisfaction. ‘There is just one question you must answer for us now.’ Robin nodded his head incautiously; not remembering his sisters cut throat personality. ‘Why did you kill father?’

  ‘Because I was stupid.’ He whispered. ‘Ever since the morning in the study I have tried to tell myself that it was my own doing in the first place, just as father said, but Emily is en
ough to make you insane with her constant nagging and harsh demands. She has stoked my anger and played me like a harp and I didn’t even realise it until I heard the shot, felt the gun jerk in my hands and watched my father fall on his face.’

  ‘Where were you hidden?’ Charles asked softly and Kitty looked at him sharply.

  ‘The poplar stand.’ Robin was suddenly silent as he stared at the roof of the coach. ‘I think you should hand me over to the Runners.’ He continued softly. ‘I don’t know as I can live with the fact that I murdered my father because I was overpowered by a girl!’

  ‘Nice shooting.’ Charles said softly still, ‘I’m not sure I could have done better. You definitely should get your arse over to Spain.’

  ‘Perhaps you would buy me a commission, Your Grace?’ Robin asked politely.

  ‘Perhaps I will.’ Charles sighed. ‘There are worse places to be. All I have to do is see a friend at Horse Guards and I could probably get you a place in the Household Brigade by the end of tomorrow.’

  ‘We need to see the Earl of Alderney as soon as possible.’ Kitty muttered as she contemplated the view again. ‘He’ll need to hear all of this and we need to be able to let him hear Emily condemn herself.’

  ‘What will happen to her?’ Richard asked softly.

  ‘Her father will probably send her abroad for treatment; after all, she’s mad!’

  ‘What happened to Timothy Dean?’ Robin asked suddenly.

  ‘I take it that was the man you exchanged identities with?’ Charles asked softly and Robin nodded. ‘He was killed in a duel for cheating at cards within a week of arriving at Kingston!’

  ‘So you see, brother, you’re already dead and Emily can’t be married to a dead man!’ Kitty said and smiled happily.

  ‘Everybody at Mickleton believes your brother is alive.’ Richard stated. ‘Just how are you going to convince the magistrate that you were wrong?’

  ‘A case of mistaken identity.’ Charles said and looked at his friend. ‘Will you support this action?’

  ‘Charles, I owe you my life. I will say nothing of this matter.’