Page 13 of Denying the Duke (Lords and Ladies in Love 3)

“I guess we should be bowing and scraping and calling you ‘Your Grace.’” Hawk stood and slapped him on his back. Then he lowered his voice. “Seriously, I’m sorry about your brother’s death.”

Should he accept condolences when he wasn’t sorry his brother had suffered from an early demise? The man who had hated him, tortured him, and made his life miserable from the cradle until he’d walked out the door for the last time? Rather than go into all of that, which he’d kept from his friends, he merely nodded.

He took a seat across from Cam and signaled for a footman to bring him a brandy. Cam and Templeton nodded their condolences, and Alex was happy to be done with it.

“So, what has kept you busy until you gained the title? And with all your new duties, what are you doing in London?” Templeton leaned back in his chair, crossing a booted foot over his knee.

The tall lanky friend had always been the bane of the ton’s existence. Handsome, charming, wealthy, but with no title, the daughters loved him, and the mothers just wanted to pass him by. In the marriage-minded mamas’ eyes, nothing surpassed a title. The higher, the better.

“After Waterloo, I spent some time in France cleaning up a few things, then a year ago, I was dispatched to America on a special mission. I was returning from there when I received word of my brother’s death.” He nodded his thanks to the footman who handed him a drink. “I headed to the Abbey for the funeral, but still had to tie up military business here in London, as well as meet with solicitors and my brother’s man of business.” He took a sip of his drink. “I also needed a breather. I wasn’t ready to delve into all of it right away.”

“And how does the lovely Lady Patience fare?” Cam asked.

“You mean the Duchess of Bedford?” He snorted. Even saying the words tightened the muscles in his stomach.

Cam frowned. “No. Not your mother. Lady Patience Browning, your brother’s betrothed.”

“Betrothed? They were married!”

Hawk and Cam exchanged glances. “No. They were not married. I take it you did not hear the story of the late duke’s demise?”

Alex was stunned. They were not married? After four years? What had happened to delay the nuptials? True, Patience had not yet been out when they were betrothed, but certainly in the last two years since she had become of age, a wedding would have taken place.

He shook his head, as if to clear it. “As I say, I received word of his death and immediately left to arrive at the burial. I’m afraid I did not stick around long enough to hear any tales.” He gulped the last of his drink. “What story is there of Cyrus’s death?”

Alex signaled the footman, and once the four men held fresh drinks in their hands, Hawk spoke. “The story goes that even though your brother and Lady Patience had an agreement between them fostered by their fathers, for various reasons, a formal announcement only happened at a ball the night of his death.”

“The night of his death?” The story grew more confusing. “How?”

Hawk continued, “A betrothal ball was held at the Abbey, and once all the guests left, the duke returned to London. To his mistress’s bed.”

Bloody, bloody hell. The man was worse than a bastard. The night of his betrothal?

“Continue,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Apparently, all the activity caused some sort of strain on his heart, and your brother expired, right on top of…”

Shocked into silence for a moment, Alex groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

Chapter Four

Patience stared at her father in disbelief. “Lord Alex was never my lover. I was a mere sixteen years when we met. I have not seen him since the night he walked out of this very house, never to return.”

“Whether he was your lover matters not. You will marry him. You were to be the Duchess of Bedford, and by God, that’s what you will be.”

Patience raised her chin. “I imagine the new Duke of Bedford will have something to say about that. No one has heard from him for four years. He may very well be married…or betrothed.” No matter how hard she tried, she could not quell the kernel of excitement that grew in her middle. Was it possible that what she and Alex had planned years ago could come true?

Father waved his hand. “Nonsense. He returned alone. He’s been in the military where most men do not marry. Believe me, he is available, and he was panting after you four years ago.” He stopped at her sharp intake of breath and pointed his finger at her face. “Don’t give me that look, daughter. I am not blind, nor was I blind four years ago. Had that visit lasted two more days, your virtue would have flown out the window, causing all sorts of trouble.”

He backed up and sat in the chair across from her. “This time you are free to do as you please with the man. If he is such a gentleman, he will marry you once he’s had you.”

Her face flushed at being spoken to like this from her own father. Patience stood. “I will leave you now. I find I have a megrim.”

Before he could stop her, she turned and hurried from the room. What a horrible day this had been. Pretending to feel remorse for a man she had loathed, watching Alex ignore her after what they’d meant to each other, and now her father speaking to her as if she were a trollop.

Truth be known, she was sick to death of being pushed and pulled by men. Marry this one, marry that one, don’t talk back, do as you’re told. Beatings, banishments. She was so very weary of it all.

She did, truly, have the beginnings of a megrim. She would retire to her bedchamber and have Polly bring her a cool cloth sprinkled with lavender.