The Duke's Legacy: Dangerous Dukes Vol 2

by Wendy Soliman

  Abbey knew he was shamming it. His eyes were restlessly searching the walls with single-minded determination not to meet her gaze. Perversely this display of indifference offered her a glimmer of hope. Perhaps he did harbour feelings for her—feelings he was seeking to deny. Abbey decided to put her theory to the test.

  ‘I didn’t take you for a coward, Lord Denver.’

  That got his attention. No one, not even a lady, was likely to brand the infamous Lord Denver a coward and get away with it. Sure enough, for the first time since entering the room his gaze collided with hers. And locked onto it. Glorious sensation rippled through her as his smouldering gaze hinted at his own emotional turmoil.

  ‘I wonder why you would make such a suggestion,’ he said languidly, looking away from her again.

  She pretended surprise. ‘Why, surely you have not forgotten? We made a bargain, you and I, and you have yet to collect your final payment for the service you rendered me.’

  Sebastian appeared confused but she was watching him closely and was able to gauge the exact moment when her meaning registered with him. He was ruffled out of his complacent attitude and, shifting uncomfortably in his chair, appeared to find something to fascinate his interest in the picture on the wall above Abbey’s head.

  ‘Nothing to say in your own defence?’ she enquired sweetly.

  ‘I have already taken more advantage from the peculiarity of our situation than is seemly, Lady Abigail,’ he muttered, his gaze still avoiding hers. ‘Your debt is more than paid and you owe me nothing.’

  ‘Oh, but I beg leave to disagree.’ Her sensuous smile probably reflected her growing confidence in her ability to unsettle him. ‘A bargain is a bargain, Sebastian, and I always pay my debts.’

  He stood so abruptly he almost overset his chair. ‘I don’t know what you hope to achieve with this dangerous game. I think it would be better if I left now.’ He made a slight bow and turned towards the door. ‘I bid you farewell.’

  ‘No!’ She staggered to her feet, using the back of her chair as a support. ‘Not before you tell me what you intend to do about this situation.’

  This wasn’t happening. Sebastian berated himself for responding to her summons. He had been prepared to ignore it but Hodges kept telling him he couldn’t do that. Damn it, he should have stuck to his guns. If he hadn’t seen her again, hadn’t had to witness the desire in her beautiful eyes, the…perdition, he was in trouble!

  ‘About what situation?’

  He made no move to offer her his support when her ankle appeared in danger of giving way. If their hands so much as touched, what resolve he had managed to muster would be lost beyond recall.

  And so would he be.

  ‘It is all your fault I am now awake on every suit, so it is your responsibility to amend that situation.’ Her eyes flashed with a combination of frustration and steely determination. ‘You’re wrong about your work here being done. You cannot leave me like this and I wish to know what you intend to do about it.’

  He waved a hand in casual dismissal of her demands. ‘I don’t have the pleasure of understanding you.’

  ‘Why, Lord Denver,’ she said, smiling with awareness. ‘I’ve never seen you so discomposed before. Whatever can the matter be?’

  ‘Sit down before you fall down.’

  ‘I am well able to stand,’ she said imperiously. ‘And there’s nothing wrong with my brain, which is how I know you are a coward. You deliberately stimulated my passions, offered me tantalising glimpses of…well, of things, and then blamed me for being wanton.’

  ‘You don’t know what you’re saying, child.’

  ‘I am not a child.’

  She looked to Sebastian as though she wanted to stamp a foot in frustration, as well she might. After the courage she had shown in facing up to her murderous relations she definitely wasn’t a child. And Sebastian had never really thought of her as one.

  ‘No,’ he said softly. ‘You are no longer a child.’

  ‘Thank you. At least we agree on one thing. And so we return to the question of my debt to you.’

  She really didn’t intend to give up. The devil take it, Sebastian didn’t know what to say to her. His heart said one thing, his head another. Never had he felt more conflicted.

  ‘Abbey, I—’

  ‘I was perfectly content with the arrangements for my future until you came along and spoiled it all. Now you are not even prepared to accept a harmless kiss by way of payment.’

  ‘There’s nothing harmless about kissing you, and therein lies my difficulty.’

  He wished the words back as soon as they slipped past his lips, even if they were true. Kissing Abigail Carstairs was like nothing he had ever known before and if he obliged her now then the gossamer thin hold he had on his resolve would dissipate. Never had he wanted a woman more, but not for the usual reasons of bedding her to scratch a temporary itch. What he wanted with Abby he could never have.

  ‘You faced down a man who was pointing a gun at you and was likely to use it without a qualm. That took courage. But you creep away from my house like a thief in the night rather than wish me a civil farewell. What are you afraid of, Sebastian?’ she taunted. ‘What can a child like me possibly hold against a man of the world such as yourself?’

  ‘Abbey.’ He raked his hand distractedly through his hair. ‘I can’t remain here any longer. You know it and so do I.’

  She tilted her chin, a challenge in her eyes. ‘Then kiss me farewell and I will let you go.’

  He offered her a raffish grin. ‘Abbey, sweetheart, that wouldn’t be wise. If I were to kiss you now it would be a disaster.’

  ‘Is my kissing so very disagreeable?’

  He chuckled in spite of himself. ‘You know it isn’t.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘I’m leaving now and you will soon forget all about me. You will have your season, marry Evans at the end of it all and be perfectly content.’

  ‘No, I will not. You have sabotaged any possibility I might have had to be happy with such an existence. I admire Lord Evans but I don’t desire him. You have taught me too much about desire for me not to realise that.’

  He quirked a brow. ‘I have?’

  ‘Most assuredly, and one can’t ignite a fire without a spark. You see,’ she said, canting her head and sending him a glittering smile. ‘I am a very attentive pupil and learn quickly.’

  ‘Then you will find someone else.’

  ‘Oh, there’s no need for that. I have already found him. You and I could ignite a forest fire, could we not?’

  ‘Me!’ He stared at her. ‘You actually mean me?’

  ‘Certainly I mean you. And as for Lord Evans, he has already left, permanently.’

  ‘What made him go?’ Sebastian asked.

  ‘He no longer admires me.’

  ‘I can’t believe that.’

  She shrugged. ‘It is true.’

  ‘Even if it is, there will be many others anxious to take his place. You are a courageous and beautiful woman, Abbey, and few men could resist you.’

  ‘Except you, apparently.’ Her expression was rife with suppressed amusement, making it clear she didn’t actually believe it. ‘Many gentlemen pretend to admire me but how am I to know if it’s me or my fortune and position they desire?’

  ‘Wait until your affections are engaged. You will know when that happens.’

  ‘Precisely.’

  ‘The answer is no, Abbey.’

  He stood up but didn’t move towards the door, his head and heart conducting a full scale battle and preventing it.

  ‘Why pretend an indifference which doesn’t exist?’ she asked softly.

  ‘You are playing a dangerous game, my lady.’

  ‘It’s a game which you started, my lord, and I wish to know how it finishes. You awoke my passions when I was more than content to allow them to remain dormant. Do you not think you now owe me the opportunity to discover what comes next?’

  ‘Abbey, stop it!
That’s not possible and well you know it.’

  ‘I know nothing, Sebastian, which is precisely my point. But I very much wish to learn and you are going to teach me.’ She sounded supremely confident and took one wobbly step in his direction.

  ‘No!’ He parried her step towards him by taking a longer one backwards, sighing as he flapped his arms helplessly at his side. ‘You know very well only your future husband can indoctrinate you into the delights you seek.’

  ‘Ah, at last he understands.’

  Sebastian’s jaw dropped open. ‘Are you proposing to me?’ he stuttered.

  ‘How slow you are on the uptake, my lord.’ She tossed her head. ‘If you were even half the gentleman you make yourself out to be you wouldn’t leave me in the embarrassing position of having to do the proposing and would attend to the matter yourself.’

  ‘Abbey, I am honoured and flattered.’ He shook his head. ‘How could I not be? But I can’t marry you.’

  ‘Why ever not? You must marry at some time, surely?’

  ‘Indeed, but you and I would hardly suit, sweetheart. I am too old for you.’

  She sent him a scorching smile. ‘You’ll have to do better than that.’

  ‘Your uncle would be vehemently opposed to such a match. I’m hardly a man with a spotless reputation.’

  ‘My uncle would be more than agreeable if he knew it was what I wanted. You saved my life and my aunt has spent half the morning telling me you have Uncle Bertram’s undying gratitude. Besides, he has always made it clear the eventual choice of a husband would be mine alone to make. He wishes to see me happy and, for some reason completely beyond my comprehension, you are the only gentleman in a position to make me so.’ She managed another step in his direction and smiled determinedly. ‘You, Sebastian Denver, are my choice and I haven’t the slightest intention of permitting you to escape me.’

  Sebastian was speechless. She was actually serious! In an effort to gain a respite he paced the room, his mind in turmoil as he attempted to think of more compelling objections—objections which would only serve to deny him that which he wanted more than life itself. His mind refused to co-operate and he could think of none.

  ‘Why is it you appear impervious to my supposed charms?’ She lowered her lashes and hobbled a little closer to his position. ‘It’s not at all flattering to be rejected without a good reason. Am I so repellent to you?’

  ‘Abbey, oh Abbey!’ He sighed, disrupting his hair when he again raked a hand through it, shaking the resulting disarray absently out of his eyes. ‘You are enough to try the patience of a saint. Are you always so determined when there is something that you want?’

  ‘I cannot really say. I’ve never wanted something before as much as I want you, you see. I do intend to have my way and so it’s useless you putting up nebulous objections.’ Her saucy smile gave way to a serious expression. ‘I love you, Sebastian. There will never be another for me. If you reject me then my godfather will get his way in a manner he couldn’t have predicted, even if he’s no longer in a position to benefit from it, since I won’t marry another and the title will become extinct.’

  ‘That is not only nonsense but it’s also blackmail,’ he told her, all out of arguments and perilously close to capitulation.

  She smiled, a gurgle of laughter escaping her lips as she regarded him with her heart reflected in her eyes. ‘So it is,’ she agreed.

  Sebastian turned away from her, frustrated for more than one reason. Trying to dissuade a determined woman from her purpose, especially when their purposes coincided, was proving deuced difficult.

  ‘You hardly know me. What you feel is most likely nothing more than gratitude.’

  ‘Don’t tell me what I feel! I know my own heart, even if you aren’t willing to admit what is in yours.’

  ‘You cannot be so very sure, sweetheart. You’re only eighteen, and I am the first man to arouse your passions. Others might do a better job of it.’

  ‘Eighteen-and-a-half.’

  Sebastian’s lips quirked. ‘Ah yes, forgive me, I hadn’t taken into account the extra half-year. That would account for everything.’

  ‘Sebastian!’ She stamped her good foot in exasperation, almost toppling over. He noticed tears slipping from the corners of her eyes. ‘You are treating me like a child again. You will keep doing that and it’s most vexatious. Surely, after all that’s passed between us, I am at least worthy of your respect.’

  ‘I have seldom respected anyone’s courage more,’ he replied.

  And it was then, as he watched the trickle of tears turn into a flood that he stopped trying to fight her. She had hardly cried at all, even when her life had been in the gravest danger and she had discovered the full extent of her godfather’s evil. Now he had managed to reduce her to a watering-pot with a few flippant words. It wouldn’t do! She was everything he had always wanted in a wife. He had known it almost from the first. She was right too, the little minx, to say the passion which simmered between them was totally unique. He had certainly never known its like before.

  He retraced his backward steps, closed the gap between them and turned the key in the lock as he passed the door. He continued to advance upon her, his gaze locked upon hers, acutely aware of tension fuelling the air between them.

  ‘Come here.’

  He pulled her into his arms, her body colliding against his with a soft thud. The perfume he associated with her filled his head as he lowered his lips and covered hers with them.

  ‘Does this mean you are accepting my proposal?’ she asked before their lips fused.

  ‘You talk too much.’

  ‘Possibly, but…oh!’

  His hands wandered at will, distracting her, and cutting off her flow of words. He wiped the remnants of salty tears from her face with the tip of his tongue.

  ‘But I need to know, Sebastian.’ she said, her eyes wide open in expectation. ‘Are you accepting my proposal?’

  ‘It would appear so,’ he murmured.

  ‘Oh, but then I need to know—’

  Sighing, Sebastian silenced her in the only manner he could think of that was guaranteed to succeed.

  With his lips.

  The End

  About the Author

  Hi, I do hope you enjoyed The Duke’s Legacy. If so, please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon. I’d love to hear what you thought of this particular novel – what you enjoyed most about it and what you didn’t like. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

  Reach me at wendysoliman@rocketmail.com

  I’m a British author, brought up on the Isle of Wight, but now live in Andorra. I share my life with my long-suffering husband and a rescued dog of indeterminate pedigree named Jake Bentley after the hero in one of my books. Both Jakes are handsome mongrels with independent spirits and wild streaks.

  I’ve had over sixty books published, ranging from Regency romance, (my first love), to contemporary women’s fiction and marine crime mysteries.

  When not writing I walk miles with my dog, make half-hearted visits to the gym, read other people’s tomes…oh, and I’m on a one woman mission to keep the wine trade profitable!

  Check out all of my books, and learn more about me from my website: http:www.wendysoliman.com

  Or on my Amazon author page author.to/wendys

  Follow me on twitter @wendyswriter or on Facebook: Wendy Soliman - Author

  Also available from this Author

  Historical Romance

  Stand Alone Regencies

  Lady Hartley’s Inheritance

  Duty’s Destiny

  A Reason to Rebel

  Forgotten Heiress

  For Want of a Reputation

  Christmas at Castleray

  Ava’s Passion

  Lady Mysterious

  Disinherited

  Divided Loyalties

  A Scandalous Proposition

  The Perfect Impostor

  Lady Impetuous

  Sacrificial Bride


  Dangerous Dukes Series

  To Defy a Duke

  The Duke’s Legacy

  A Duke by Default

  Of Dukes and Deceptions

  Game of Dukes

  Dukes and Indiscretions

  Never Dare a Duke

  Mrs. Darcy Entertains Series Boxset

  Miss Bingley’s Revenge / Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Dilemma / Miss Darcy’s Passion / Kitty Bennet’s Despair / Lydia Wickham’s Journal

  Pemberley – The Next Generation Series Vols 1 – 3 Boxset

  Emma Bingley’s Romantic Nature / Naomi Sanford’s Compassionate Nature / Bella Darcy’s Impetuous Nature

  Pemberley – The Next Generation Series Vols 4 – 6 Boxset

  Eleanor Bingley’s Rebellious Nature / Rosie Turner’s Contrary Nature / Susie Darcy’s Tenacious Nature

  Simon Bingley’s Resolve

  Ducal Encounters Series 1

  At the Duke’s Discretion

  With the Duke’s Approval

  Portrait of a Duke

  For the Duke’s Pleasure

  In the Duke’s Estimation

  Captivating the Duke

  Ducal Encounters Series 2

  Reunited with the Duke

  Christmas with the Duke

  Representing the Duke

  Safeguarding the Duke

  Acting for the Duke

  Emulating the Duke

  Ducal Encounters Series 3

  Conspiring with the Duke

  Dedicated to the Duke

  Impugning the Duke’s Honour

  By Order of the Duke

  Supporting the Duke

  Protecting the Duke’s Interests

  Ducal Encounters Series 4

  As the Duke’s Agent

  Masquerading with the Duke

  On the Duke’s Authority

  Carlton House Cartel

  Chance

  The Forsters

  Compromising the Marquess