Page 14 of Master of Games (The Duke Fraternity #4)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Tabbie gasped in a breath as she jumped out of the bed. “What?” she gasped even as Caden threw open the door.

John stood on the other side.

“How many?” Caden asked, drawing himself up.

“Five, we think,” John answered. “The footmen can see to the danger, but I wanted her ladyship to know.”

“Good man,” Caden slapped John on the shoulder. “But I’ll see to the interlopers myself.”

“Caden,” she gasped, shaking her head. He’d gone mad. “You can’t.”

“Of course, I can. What’s a man for if not for this?”

“But,” she looked down at his bandaged arm. And then she looked at her footman. “John, surely His Grace need not put himself in danger. Not so soon after his injury.”

John looked at her with sympathetic eyes but did not answer. Which she should have suspected. He was not arguing with a duke. “Caden,” she started, drawing in a deep breath. “John is not only the man who helped carry you inside, he is the one who pulled me from the tea house. He is—”

“Is that so, John? You are the man who saved Tabbie from the burning building?”

“Yes, Your Grace. It was my pleasure to do so.”

“As I was saying,” she huffed. “John is capable of taking care of the threat, I’m certain.”

Caden turned back to her, grabbed her arms, and pulled her in for a quick kiss. “I am your protector, darling.” And then he turned back to John. “I’d like you by my side.”

“I’d be honored,” John answered.

“And I’d like a few footmen to stay here with the mistress.”

Now she was getting mad. “Nonsense,” she huffed. “If there is a threat to my home, I should be by your side.”

Caden turned back to her. “Don’t be ridiculous, my love. You are far more valuable than myself.”

“You’re a duke. Of course, I’m not.”

He pulled her against his body. “You’re a woman. When we are wed—”

“We’re not yet wed.”

“When we are wed, you will hold the future in your body and then your hands. My one job will be to protect you as you complete yours.”

“But we’re not…” Her voice died as his face hardened.

“I am proving to you that I’m up for the challenge. I won’t hide, Tabbie, and you don’t want a man who would.”

Drat him all to hell, he was right. But that didn’t change the fact that he was not at full strength.

“I’m frightened for you.”

He kissed her one last time and then retrieved his shirt and boots. “John here is going to keep me safe.”

But as he tossed on his clothes and then disappeared into his own room, she couldn’t help but tremble with fear.

They’d only just found each other. And her heart…it was his to keep.

* * *

Caden strapped three pistols to his body. One on either hip and the third in the small of his back, tucked into his belt.

He already knew who made his way up the drive. Lord Whitehouse. He’d not told Tabbie because he didn’t wish for her to worry.

Fuck, he hoped he didn’t die. It wasn’t his own life he cared about but Tabbie’s. She needed him, even more so after what they’d done tonight.

Which was why he could not afford to lose.

He rolled his shoulders, turning to John. “If this is who I think it is, we’re in for a real fight.”

John gave a nod in return. “Understood.” They moved down the center stairs, fifteen men waiting in the entry by the front door.

John did not hesitate. “Hector and Alexander, station yourself outside her ladyship’s door. You five, out the back, disappear behind the trees that line the drive. Guns loaded and ready to fire. Make smoke even if you can’t make the shot.”

“Good thinking.”

Then he pointed at the rest. “Line up behind His Grace and myself and look formidable.”

Caden was impressed. “Where’d you learn strategy like that?”

“The army.” John began loading his own pistols.

Caden made a note. If he made it out of this, when he married Tabbie, John was joining his personal staff.

Drawing in a deep breath, they made their way out into the night. He caught sight of one footman slipping behind a tree before the clop of several horses interrupted the quiet of the night. Moving down the stairs, he stopped in the center of the drive.

“Halt.” His voice echoed through the night.

“Ironheart,” Whitehouse called back. “Who knew you had that kind of command in you? I’ve always considered you a clown.”

“And I considered you a fool, but never as much as I do tonight,” he returned as the footmen fanned out behind him, leveling their pistols. “You have to know this was a bad plan.”

Whitehouse stopped his horse, swinging down from the saddle. “My son is dead.”

“By your own hand.”

“My second in command is also gone.”

Ironheart didn’t comment. He’d been there when his friend Max had sent the imposter to the gallows.

“The queen hunts me, thanks to you.”

Caden gave a nod of acknowledgment.

“I want a death of honor. Not one at a public hanging.” Whithouse’s men swung off their horses as well.

“Meaning?” He knew it was a trap. Lord Whitehouse, despite his religious pulpit, rarely acted with honor.

“Duel. You and me.”

Caden’s jaw turned to granite. He ought to refuse. Whitehouse was a man headed for the grave and Caden ought not put himself at risk hastening the process. But he knew that Whitehouse would be devilishly difficult to apprehend, even with the sheer number of men here to help Caden.

And some of them would die in the attempt. “I accept.”

Whitehouse gave him a deathly grin. “Good. I call the weapon as pistols.”

“My man, John, will be my second,” Caden agreed. “Twenty paces, turn and fire.”

“Agreed,” Whitehouse gestured for the men around him to give him space. The horses were pulled to the side, the others lining up to bear witness.

Caden needed to win. If he lost, all of the men he was trying to protect would be in danger. He nodded to one of the footmen in line. “See the doors barred.”

The man nodded back, racing up the stairs.

Caden, drew his pistol and stepped up to Whitehouse. Subtly, he gave a small nod to John, who nodded back.

If Caden went down, John would need to fight like all their lives depended on it.

“My man will do the count,” Whitehouse said as he took his position behind Caden.

“One,” a gravelly voice boomed over the quiet of the night. Each man took a step.

It was a delicate balance. The larger the steps, the harder the shot would be when they turned.

The shorter they made their strides, the more danger they faced.

Caden knew one of them died tonight. So he kept his strides steady but not too long.

“Two. Three. Four.”

Each step moved him a little further down the gravel drive. He kept his hand light on his pistol. Tension only worsened his shot.

“Five. Six. Seven.” They’d endlessly played games like this at the Club. He’d thought them mad at times. Why unnecessarily put themselves in danger?

But right now. He understood.

“Twelve, thirteen, fourteen.” He drew in a long breath of cleansing air, keeping his ears open.

Whitehouse would try and cheat the count. That’s what men like him do.

He’d turn early. Attempt to fire at Caden’s back.

“Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen.”

His jaw flexed, every muscle going rigid as prepared for what he knew was about to come.

“Nineteen.”

He didn’t hesitate. Instead, he ducked down into a crouch, spinning on his heels even as the sound of Whitehouse’s pistol filled the night.

He heard the bullet whiz overhead, the ball too close for comfort but still missing him. Caden exhaled, preparing himself for what came next.

The smoke filled the air, making a shot impossible.

A muffled scream sounded from the house. Tabbie. Was she watching? Later, he’d have to tell her how foolish that was while he held her in his arms. But right now…

“Did I hit him?” Whitehouse screeched. “Let the righteous prevail, and the wicked be damned!” he screamed into the night. “I told all you men that God guides my hand and that I alone will redeem us when God has finished with our trials.”

Whitehouse’s outline became visible through the smoke. It was his right to take the shot. Leveling the pistol, he fired.

He didn’t need to ask if he’d shot true, he heard Whitehouse’s body hit the dirt.

But just in case, he drew his second gun, shifting it to his uninjured hand.

“John?”

“He’s dead,” came John’s steady reply. “Your shot was true.”

The men who’d accompanied Whitehouse scattered. “Stop them all,” Caden commanded, standing as he fired his second gun.

This ended tonight.

Tabbie would never look over her shoulder. Of that, he’d make certain.