Page 2 of The Duke’s Hellion (Duke Dare #3)

S am, the Duke of Cadmore, sat in front of the fireplace waiting for his butler to enter. His jaw clenched so tightly it produced an erratic tick. Chris sat across from him, drumming his fingers lightly on the arm of his chair.

“Are you going to tell me why I’m here? Usually we frequent White’s, not your drawing room.”

“What I have to do, I’d rather not do publicly.” Sam scrubbed his hand down his face. If there were another option, he would like to consider it. But he trusted Chris. This was best. Even if he had to keep reminding himself of it, he would go through with this.

“Mysterious, is it?” Chris chuckled, unaware of the heaviness that would soon befall him.

“You could say that…” Sam let the sentence hang in the air, hoping it would sufficiently fill the silence he craved for a few more moments.

“Can you at least tell me why there’s a fire going in the middle of summer?” It was asked with a smirk, but Sam didn’t notice.

“I felt cold.” True. He felt cold. But not just his body. Something in his soul felt as though it were frosting over, whether for protection or for another reason, he wasn’t sure. He could only hope that this was the right decision.

“Your Grace,” the butler said when he entered the room with a small box in his hands. Making his way to the two friends, he stood stoically, awaiting a reply.

“Bixly. About time. Just place it on the table in front of the Duke of Saxby. Leave it closed and go. That will be all.”

“As you wish,” Bixly murmured blandly, doing precisely what his master instructed.

Bixly was loyal to a fault. It’s been said that every man has his price, but not Bixly.

He held his duties in his mind with the highest honor, grace, and dignity.

His family had been serving Sam’s family for generations, and there was no end in sight.

Once Bixly had exited the room, Chris raised his brows and asked, “What’s this?”

“You know what it is.” He couldn’t bring himself to say it. And he knew that Chris was intelligent enough to figure it out.

Chris’s eyebrows reached for the ceiling. “Really? Here? Why now?”

“My cousin is coming for a visit, and I don’t want him anywhere near them.”

“Rudolph?”

“The one and only,” Sam said in a way that indicated his disdain for his blood relative.

It was a wonder the two were related. Then again, familial relations often provided quite the disparity in personalities and values amongst its own.

And no two could be further from each other than Sam and Rudolph, who was next in line for the dukedom.

“Hmm…I can see your reasoning. But won’t you be here with him?”

“Sadly, no. Sally and Jacob are getting married, and they’ve invited everyone to a house party before the wedding.”

“And you’re going?”

“James insists we go. He claims he’s the mastermind behind the two getting together.”

“I heard it was Joan?”

“It probably was,” Sam said and the two laughed.

It felt good to relieve some of the tension in his face.

He could still feel his clenched jaw, but it wasn’t ticking anymore.

“Either way, I’m attending the house party, which means Rudolph will have too much time here all by himself. I don’t trust him.”

“So you want me to take these?” Chris pointed to the wooden box. The action was just as intense as Sam would want. He knew he had chosen the right man for the job.

“Guard them with your life. I know you have the safest place for them.”

Chris nodded solemnly, not asking the question that Sam knew he wanted to pose. Sam answered it for him anyway, “I can’t relinquish them to Wes yet.”

“Understood.”

“I know I lost the bet, but…something doesn’t feel right. I have to sort it out before I can pay up.”

“He doesn’t care.”

Sam let his head fall into his hands. “It doesn’t matter. I made the bet and lost. I owe him.”

“He wouldn’t make you pay up.”

“I’m an honorable man, Chris.” Sam could feel the heat racing from his heart center all the way through his limbs. “Even if I would never duel, I have my honor.”

“I never questioned it.” Chris’s voice was placating, as though speaking with a raging bear.

And in a second, Sam might get there, to be the raging bear that is.

But, no, he wouldn’t. Not today. Not ever, if he could help it.

He knew the stakes. He knew what it meant to keep himself in check and manage his emotions.

He would not accept the fate of his father.

If nothing else in life, Sam would not live like him.

It was just another way he competed. He made himself the polar opposite of his father. Always in control. Always reaching for his best. And more often than not attaining it.

When Chris spoke, it stirred Sam to realize that they had been sitting in silence. “I can’t believe that bastard is coming here.”

“He doesn’t know that I suspect anything.”

Chris scoffed. “He is truly that unaware? He doesn’t know that you suspect him of wanting to kill you? He thinks he is that discreet? You must be joking.”

“Unless he’s a better actor than most, he knows nothing. He thinks we’re on friendly terms. I know it’s hard to believe, but I don’t want him to know that I know.”

“For obvious reasons.”

“Exactly.” Sam brought two fingers to his cheek and held his jaw up with his thumb. His lips rested against the knuckle of his fourth finger. If there was a way to think long enough and hard enough to predict the future, he would be attempting to do so now.

“Why is he coming here?” That was precisely the question Sam wanted to answer in his attempts to be a seer.

“I wish I knew. He says he wants to visit.” Chris laughed knowingly and Sam continued. “We both know that’s a lie. But I can’t figure out why he would be here now, other than to make another attempt on my life.”

“Perhaps it’s best that you do attend the house party.”

Sam nodded in agreement. “At the very least, it buys me time to secure more protection.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard.”

“It’s always a challenge to know who to trust. I can pay several men to protect me, but if even one leaks out some information, even unwittingly, that could be it.”

“At least you have Bixly.”

“That’s true. I can always trust him.”

“Why bother with letting Rudolph stay at your place at all then?”

“I don’t want him to know that I’m onto him. At this stage, I think I have the advantage, but I can’t be sure. If I reject him, or avoid him, I might give myself away.”

“True…” Chris mirrored the thinking pose that Sam still held. “What’s the plan?”

“Right now the plan is to attend the house party and draw it out for as long as possible. Secondary to that, I’ll surround myself with people I trust. And I’ll avoid Rudolph as much as I think I can without it being noticeable. The rest I’ll have to figure out as I go.”

“Is there anything else I should know?”

The answer to that question felt almost ridiculous to say aloud.

That a man should fear his cousin. A power-hungry, money-seeking, status-hunting lout.

But he wasn’t the only man in the history of the world who had ever been on his guard around family.

Sadly, it was a more common occurrence than it should be.

Taking a deep breath, he said the words aloud, “All I know is that he is up to something. I don’t know what it could be other than to obtain the dukedom for himself. ”

Without flinching, Chris asked, “What are we going to do about it?”

And that right there, that one word— we —that was enough to let Sam breathe a sigh of relief.

He wasn’t in this alone. That’s all he needed to know for now.

“When I know, you’ll know.”

“All right. Well, this is one less thing you have to worry about, Sam.” Chris stood, taking the box under one arm. He slapped Sam on the shoulder. “I’ve got this. You worry about the rest.”

Despite not being a very physically affectionate man, he couldn’t stop himself from standing and giving Chris a quick embrace.

“Thank you.”

When the two separated, Chris waved and exited the room, leaving Sam alone to ponder everything. It was exactly where he thought he wanted to be, except now that he was here, the contemplations were more abundant than he expected.

Rudolph would arrive in a couple of days. Sam would already be gone. He had briefed his servants on how to handle his cousin, and so long as he could trust them, which he was fairly certain of, everything should work out fine. So really, all he needed to worry about was the upcoming house party.

There, he would be surrounded with people he liked.

For the most part. Really, there was only one person he wasn’t too eager to see.

But surely she would fade into the background.

Who was he kidding? She was not the fading type.

In fact, she might be the least fading type that he knew.

That was part of the reason he wasn’t too eager to see her.

Fade? No. Display? Dissect? Dramatize? Yes, yes, and yes. If she caught wind of anything going on, she would be the one to interrogate everyone until she found what she was looking for. Even if she had no clue what she was really looking for.

Sam shuddered. All the more reason to maintain his status quo and keep his secrets.

No sense in letting her see anything—even a small thing—was off.

It was easy enough to stay away from her…

well, that wasn’t true. Chris was going and Nobi was going.

And since Mimi would be attached to Nobi’s hip, and Sam would be attached to Chris’s hip…

well, the four would definitely be in community.

Sam scrubbed his face again. Perhaps the house party wasn’t the best idea. But he had already accepted the invitation, and if anything, he was a man of his word.

As long as their host, Sally, organized a few activities. Challenges. He should be all right. A challenge. That’s exactly what he needed. If he could sink his teeth into a challenge that would keep him distracted and would give him purpose.

It was settled. And really, it was quite simple. That’s all Sam ever needed. A challenge.