Page 13 of Only a Duke (Ladies Who Dare #6)

The next morning

I f the Duke of Mortimer believed this was the end of the matter, he was about to learn a valuable lesson! Did he honestly believe she would just sit back and do nothing ?

How arrogant!

Louisa might be many things, but it wasn’t in her nature to be a shirker of responsibility.

The book had been swindled from them on her watch, and her brother’s actions were her responsibility as much as they were his.

More even—since he was just a child, she would take full responsibility for them.

Besides, she intended to look those men who had approached her brother in the eye and make it clear she was not the sort of woman to shrink from a few scars and menacing faces.

Men like that—men who wore darkness like a cloak—had no business speaking to a child.

The very idea of them circling Leo like vultures made her blood run hot.

If they thought they could frighten her family, they were gravely mistaken.

Let them try to cow her with their shadowy threats.

And the duke was hiding something from her.

Something important.

She could tell by the way... the way he.

.. She could just tell! Call it instinct or intuition or a woman’s unique senses, but she was sure of it.

But Louisa also knew that powerful men like the Duke of Mortimer, once they made up their minds about something, would not change them easily.

Therefore, she could only resort to craftier ways to get his attention.

Such as sending a threatening note to his lodgings to wait for her, or else she would travel to Brighton alone.

Grim satisfaction clawed up from her belly. She could just imagine his face, and what a face it was. Let him seethe. Let him fume. Because like it or not, Duke, she was coming.

Louisa leaned against the carriage, staring at the door of his establishment. Her brother’s head popped out of the carriage window. A tail she hadn’t been able to shake no matter what. Stubbornness seemed to run thick in all Talbot blood.

“What if he doesn’t come?” Leo asked.

“He will.” Or he would have already left. In which case, Louisa would set for Brighton after on her own just as she had promised in her missive. She had suspicions. She wanted them confirmed.

“You know that Papa will turn so many shades of red when he learns about you and the Bow Street Runner.”

“Oh, I think the color will deepen considerably if he learns about you and those scary men. Shall we make a wager?”

Leo’s mouth clamped shut, and then after a few beats, ventured again, “It is best if we keep this between us.”

Louisa curled her lips into a smile. “What a smart boy you have become!”

He pouted. “You are mocking me.”

“Only a little bit.” Louisa’s senses leaped to attention when a tall man strode from the establishment with a familiar, cold look on his face. What a delightful sight.

His gaze moved from her to Leo. “What is the meaning of this?” It was the tone of a man who always got his way. Lord, it should repulse her, honestly, but instead, her pulse leaped, and challenge rose in her chest.

“I am waiting for you.” She pushed away from the carriage, pushed Leo’s head back into the carriage, and opened the door. “Shall we set off?”

Amber eyes bore into her, hot and cold at the same time.

He said not a word, only nodded once, but she caught the slight tick in his jaw.

Without a word, he strode to the carriage.

Only then did Louisa glimpse two men emerge from the shadows.

One disappeared around the corner and the other entered the establishment.

They must be Mortimer’s men and would probably follow in their wake.

She turned and started to find the duke simply standing at the door waiting for her to enter. She smiled at him. “After you.”

He gave her a long, inscrutable look before entering the carriage. She followed after him, pleased as punch. Also, rather surprised that man would give in so easily.

“You brought the boy.”

“Why wouldn’t she bring me?” Leo asked before she could respond.

The duke arched a brow, but his gaze turned to her for an answer. What a morning grump! She almost repeated her brother’s response but thought better of imitating the duke’s surliness. “He refused to be left behind. I daresay he would have found a way to follow if I hadn’t brought him.”

“Like sister, like brother.”

“Of course,” Louisa said.

Leo gave a curt nod. “I must take responsibility for my actions.”

“That is commendable,” the duke answered, his expression unchanged. “So long as you keep out of danger, we won’t have a problem.”

“Oh, he shall do exactly as we say,” Louisa reassured. “Right, Leo?”

Her brother nodded. “I only wish to accompany you.”

Louisa caught the duke’s lips twitching. It wasn’t exactly in amusement, but she chose, in the spirit of smoothing his feathers, to interpret it that way. “Do you find something amusing, Duke?”

“No, indeed.” He followed her lead. “I was only imagining how my youth would have been if I’d had a sister such as you.”

Louisa jolted.

A sister like her? She shivered at the prospect, her mind immediately rejecting the idea as she shifted her gaze to her brother, seated next to her and opposite Mortimer. Much better to have a younger brother! “Be glad you did not have one like me.”

He shrugged before his whole countenance turned all serious again. “Since you’ve taken charge of our arrangements, do you have a plan?”

Louisa paused. “I rather thought you had one. I just planned to join you.”

He suddenly chuckled. “Very well.”

Was he teasing her? No, mocking her? The rascal! “Well, I also have another motive for wishing to accompany you, but I shall only tell you once we arrive in Brighton.”

His brows furrowed but smoothed out again. “I look forward to learning this motive, then.”

“Me too,” Leo piped up.

“You shall learn nothing but patience,” Louisa retorted, her voice stern. “And perhaps more importantly, why you should never indulge strangers or accept sweets from them!”

“What would you have done, Louisa?” her brother exclaimed. “They said the book was dangerous. I...”

“It’s all right,” Louisa shushed her brother, patting his head, regretting her tone.

He was not to blame here. She was the one on that ridiculous list that derided her childbearing hips. She was the one who had played a part in what transpired in London. Her friend had entrusted the book to her.

“I would have done the same as you, Leo.” It was the only reassurance she could give her brother. Who was to judge another’s reaction in fright? Certainly not she. If anyone was truly to blame, it was the duke. Waiting so long, waiting until the book came to her. He should have known better.

“That’s right, Master Leo,” Mortimer murmured. “You were never in the wrong.”

The duke’s features almost turned sheepish. No, that couldn’t be right. Sheepish? She inspected his face. He returned her gaze with a magnetic one of his own.

Why on earth do I find it breathtaking instead of alarming? And why don’t I find it alarming that I don’t find it alarming?

She supposed alarm was a relative term at this point.

But he did possess some sort of pull...

“Intrigue.” If she had to describe that pull, it would be summed up in that one, punchy word.

“I beg your pardon?” Mortimer asked, shifting back into his seat.

“Oh, do not mind her,” Leo answered for her. “She does that sometimes.”

“I do what?” Louisa questioned.

Her brother gave her an odd look, as though she’d gone mad. “Mutter single syllables or words that make no sense.”

I beg your pardon. “I don’t do that!” Heat flushed her cheeks.

Her brother’s brow arched alongside the duke’s.

“Whatever you are speaking of, it’s called a slip of one’s tongue.” Perhaps several slips, but did he have to make her sound like a madwoman?

“You talk to yourself,” her brother said. “Admit it, Louisa.”

“Why should I ever admit to that?” That would just be madness, and she wasn’t mad.

Her brother huffed out a breath and looked away. Heh! She should have left him at home, the cheeky brat. And yet, she’d come to accept the undeniable truth: she was one of those sisters who doted on their brother beyond reason.

She caught Mortimer’s gaze. She couldn’t decipher what she saw in their depth, but the flush on her cheeks spread through her whole body.

Louisa quickly averted her gaze.

Why was her heart pulsing in her chest, her belly, and her throat all at the same time?

*

Oliver leaned against the outside wall of The Trotting Horse, observing as Lady Louisa chastised her brother for a misstep.

Little Leo had followed a stable hand into the stables without so much as a word to her, or to him—and without either hesitation or suspicion.

Too trusting, this lad. He lacked the skill his father should have taught him—awareness of the dangers that might lurk in his surroundings.

Ill intent did not always wear a villain’s sneer.

A wandering child, unaware of the risks, was an easy mark. A boy of his station, even more so.

Lady Louisa certainly recognized the danger, and he couldn’t fault her for reprimanding her brother.

The boy needed to learn that trust given too freely could lead to consequences far graver than a scolding.

That still hadn’t stopped the young man from acting haughty afterward at breakfast, prompting another reprimand.

These two were truly amusing to watch.

The trip to Brighton had proven far more uneventful than Oliver expected. The angel had been surprisingly well-behaved and even unusually quiet during their trip. Not that he wanted it any other way, but he couldn’t help but wonder when the next blow might land.

It was sure to leave a mark when it did.

A stuffy feeling entered his chest. It rather felt like he was traveling with family, and not the daughter and son of his family’s enemy. He could just imagine Talbot’s fury if he ever discovered these events.