Page 47 of Second Duke's the Charm

Case took the glass she offered. He was swaying, and his lids were beginning to droop.

“Might sit down, actually,” he said with a nod. “Do you know, I can see two of you. Twice as nice.” He fell heavily into the chair, dropped his head on the backrest, and patted his knee with the hand that wasn’t holding the glass. “Why don’t you come sit on my lap?”

Tess raised her wine. “I’ll just finish my drink.”

He took a sip of his own, and let out a long exhale.

“So,” Tess said sweetly. “Tell me about your time in the Army. A friend of mine said you were in one of those dashing cavalry units.”

Case’s chest puffed out with pride. “The Eighteenth Hussars. Under General Sir Henry Murray.”

“Did you see any action?”

“Every battle between Vittoria and Tolouse.”

Tess widened her eyes. “That must have been very dangerous.”

“Very,” he said with a nod.

She pretended to take another sip of her wine. “Perhaps you knew an acquaintance of mine? A Captain Hesse?”

Case snorted. “Charles Hesse? Why, yes. He alwayswas popular with the ladies.” His lip curled in a slight sneer.

The laudanum was clearly starting to take effect—his lids had started to droop, and his pupils had narrowed to pinpricks.

Tess swirled her wine in the glass. “I heard a rumor that he was the illegitimate son of the Duke of York.”

“Could ’ave been. But I couldn’t say for sure.”

She leaned in conspiratorially. “Ialsoheard he had a secret affair with Princess Charlotte.”

Case let out a low chuckle. “Ah, now that I know to be true. The princess wrote ’im love letters.”

Tess feigned astonishment. “No! How terribly indiscreet! Did he ever show them to you?”

“No. He kept ’em close. But I read them, just the same.”

“You didn’t! Oh, you naughty boy. How?”

Case let out a jaw-cracking yawn. “Charlie kept ’em in a cigar box under his mattress.” He wrinkled his nose. “Full of girlish nonsense and silly love-talk, they were.”

Tess leaned closer. “What happened to them?”

“He burned ’em. At the princhess—princhesses—” His words slurred, and after several more attempts to sayprincess’she switched to, “Because she told him to.”

Tess pouted. “Oh. What a shame. I would have loved to read them. Iadoregossip.”

His blurred gaze focused on her protruding bottom lip. “You and the rest of London, love. The scandal rags would have given a pretty penny to get their hands on ’em.” A crafty look crossed his face. “Lucky for me, Hesse didn’t have ’em all to burn.”

Tess gave a scandalized gasp. “What do you mean? You stole some?”

He preened. “Maybe I did.”

Bollocks.He was still being cagey, despite his inebriation. Trying not to let her frustration show, she reached out and stroked his arm.

“Idolove a man who uses his own initiative. You know, we’re not so different, you and I. I wasn’t born with money. I only married the old duke because I saw an easy route to a fortune.”

Case yawned again. “Can’t say I blame you. A body’s got to do whatever it takes to get ahead in this world.”