Page 52 of Denying the Duke (Lords and Ladies in Love 3)

Hopefully, it would be resolved quickly.

…

The outside of the War Department building at Horse Guards stood dark and gloomy in the cloudy, rainy day. He entered the building and shook the water from his great coat. His appointment with the commander in chief of the Forces was in less than five minutes. He hurried up the steps, turned right, and entered the chief’s office.

A young soldier stood at attention near the inner door. Another soldier sat at the desk in the center of the room. The man jumped up as Alex entered. “Good morning, Your Grace. The Commander is awaiting you.”

Alex nodded and followed the soldier into the inner sanctum of the commander in chief, where major decisions, involving life and death situations, were made. The chief stood and offered a slight bow. “Your Grace, thank you for coming.”

A slight smile teased Alex’s lips. “That sounds remarkably humorous coming from you, Commander.”

The man waved to the seat in front of his desk, and Alex settled in.

“Bad business, this Loverly thing. I wished the man had done us all a favor and killed himself. We’ve managed to keep things as quiet as possible in deference to his daughter. However, the last we heard she has disappeared. I hate to think what her life would be like if she were here in London.”

Alex leaned back and rested his booted foot on his opposite knee. “I’m afraid the Loverly thing has hit close to home for me.”

The commander’s eyebrows rose. “Indeed?”

“As you know, I have just returned from my estate, where my wedding recently took place.”

“Felicitations, Your Grace.”

Alex nodded his acknowledgment. “Both at the church on my wedding day, and at one of the inns where my wife and I stopped on our way to London, Loverly made an appearance.”

The commander’s jaw dropped. “We have been searching for the man here in London. We’ve scoured all his usual haunts, former friends’ homes, and have a twenty-four-hour watch on his townhouse, which is now under the control of the Crown.”

“Somehow, he found a horse and managed to travel all the way to Bedfordshire, and back again.” Alex leaned forward. “What concerns me are his intentions. He obviously wants to contact me, but my major worry is my wife. I wouldn’t put it past Loverly to involve her in some plan to get what he wants.”

The commander pounded his desk with his fist. “The man is a dunderhead. He should save the House of Lords an extensive trial and a public execution, and take care of the business himself.” He let out a breath and shook his head. “There is absolutely no honor in the man.”

Alex shrugged. “It has been my experience that traitors have little honor.”

The commander nodded. “Yes. You are right. So, what are your suggestions?”

“I will put guards with my wife at all times and wait for him to contact me. Now that we are all back in London, I imagine it will be soon.”

“You know what to do if you encounter him?” The unspoken message was clear. If the man wasn’t willing to kill himself, it would be done for him.

Alex stiffened. “I am no longer in His Majesty’s service.”

“I am authorizing you as a citizen of the Crown.”

But he was not just a citizen, he was a duke. Only the Prince Regent himself could authorize such an act. Alex pushed it to the back of his mind. “What if I merely bring him in? Those were my orders when I was sent to America to rout him out.”

“We wanted him on British soil to question him. Learn his contacts.”

His taste for the brutal life he’d left behind had ceased. How could he kill a man in cold blood and then return to his wife and make love to her? That Alex was no more. He must be gone to move on with his life, assume his new role. He stood. “I have other business to attend to. I will keep you apprised of the situation.”

The commander stood and extended his hand. Alex accepted the handshake and left the room.

Holding a glass of brandy in his hand, Alex stared out the window of his study. It was well past midnight, and the sliver of a moon cast only a slight glow on the garden outside the window. Two days had passed since his meeting with the commander in chief. Two days of constantly watching his surroundings, two days of having footmen follow Patience, while trying not to alert her to the danger she might be in. He took a sip and jumped at a flash of something reflected in the window.

“So

we meet again, Your Grace.” Loverly stood in the middle of the room, a pistol pointed at Alex’s chest.

He cursed his foolishness in not being prepared. His pistol was in his middle desk drawer, nice and safe. But then, he’d never expected Loverly to appear in his house, either. “How did you get in?”