Cheers to the Duke

by Sally MacKenzie

  There was no need for any of his habits to change when he married, especially not if his wife was Lady Susan. She’d likely thank him to take his male lust somewhere beside their marital bed.

  And he was going to marry Lady Susan—if she would let him edge a word in. He’d never met a woman who could talk so fluently about nothing.

  Do I really want to wed such a jabberer?

  No, he didn’t, but he didn’t have much of an alternative. She was the best of a bad lot.

  His mother had laid the matter out quite clearly the moment he’d set a foot back in Darrow Hall after almost ten years abroad. He had to marry and get an heir as soon as possible.

  He’d been in Paris when he’d got word that Walter had broken his neck going over a jump. Zeus, he’d never forget how he’d felt when he’d read that letter. It had been as if someone had administered a flush hit to his breadbasket and followed it by dumping a load of bricks on his head.

  I never expected to be earl. I never wanted to be.

  He’d liked the life he’d built for himself. He’d spent the last decade in Portugal, Spain, France, Austria, living by his wits, dealing in ideas, in stratagems and politics, not in crops and drainage ditches and leaky roofs.

  But he was the earl now and with that came the duty to continue the succession. And Walter’s death had proved all too conclusively that no one was guaranteed another day on this earth.

  Which Mama had pointed out most emphatically. He needed an heir, she’d said bluntly. There was no time to delay. Walter had been only thirty-five, and here he was, dead. And, as Walter had also illustrated all too well, Harry couldn’t be assured of having a son on his first attempt. Or his second. Or third. His sister-in-law, Letitia, had produced a baby a year: Adrianna, Bianca, Cassandra. Likely she and Walter would have carried on through the alphabet until they’d got a boy if she’d been able, but she’d lost the last three pregnancies and then, if rumor was to be believed, had refused to let Walter back into her bed.

  So, Mama had handed Harry a list she’d made of eligible women, young females with the proper pedigree and several brothers. All he needed to do was choose one, marry, and get down to swiving his brains out.

  Well, Mama hadn’t said that last part, at least not in so many words. But her message had been painfully clear: the sooner he got an heir and a spare, the better.

  She’d wanted him to make his selection on the spot, picking a name off the list, but he’d insisted on meeting the women first. They’d all still been in the schoolroom when he’d left England. So, they’d compromised. Mama had agreed to let him take a Season to shop the Marriage Mart without constantly badgering him. And he’d agreed to make his choice once the Season was over.

  The Season had ended in June. He hadn’t encountered a single woman who made his heart—or even his baser organ—long for a closer relationship, but he’d given his word. He had to choose one.

  Lady Susan would do as well as any other. Better, perhaps. At least she was in her early twenties, older than most of the others on the list. Mama would have preferred he choose a debutante—she’d argued that he’d get more breeding years from a girl in her late teens—but he couldn’t stomach the thought of taking what to him felt like a child to bed. And since, as far as he could discern, Lady Susan harbored no tender feelings for him, she wouldn’t be offended by his inability to feel any affection for her.

  He only hoped he didn’t go deaf from her constant chatter.

  At least she was pleasant to look at. And Darrow Hall was a big place. It wouldn’t be hard to avoid her there, and when he was in London, he’d spend all his time at his clubs. Except for the obligatory swiving. With luck, he’d get her with child on their wedding night, and their first two children would be male.

  Lady Susan’s fashion commentary showed no sign of abating, but time was marching on. He could feel his mother’s and his sister-in-law’s eyes boring a hole in his back. It was the last day of the house party. He was supposed to invite the woman for a stroll in the vegetation where he would perhaps steal a kiss and discover if she was agreeable to him asking her father for her hand in marriage.

  Of course, she was agreeable. She wouldn’t be at this infernal party if she wasn’t. Her father was likely sitting in a room somewhere, waiting for him to make his appearance.

  His stomach twisted, and he took a settling swallow of brandy. He’d faced worse assignments during the war. At least he wouldn’t die from their trip to the garden—unless he drowned in her never-ending stream of words.

  The sooner he married and got a son, the sooner he could reclaim his life. He wasn’t looking for a love match, after all. Hell, he wouldn’t know love if it bit him on the arse.

  What I’d had with Pen had felt very much like love....

  Ha. He’d been eighteen. What had he known of love? Nothing. His feelings had been lust, pure—very pure—and simple.

  This union with Lady Susan would be a typical marriage of convenience. A business arrangement: a title, prestige, and wealth in exchange for a son or two. It was a very common sort of thing among the ton. Once his wife—once Lady Susan—completed her side of the bargain, she’d be free to go her own way as long as she took sensible precautions.

  He just hoped he’d be more efficient than Walter at getting an heir.

  He stiffened his spine, metaphorically speaking. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. He opened his mouth to utter the words that would seal his fate—

  And then a bolt of lightning lit the room, followed by a great crack of thunder and a torrential downpour.

  God had saved him. There would be no stroll in the garden tonight.

  The Lord had even managed to stop Lady Susan’s chatter.

  Briefly.

  “My, that was a surprise. I don’t like storms. Why, last summer I was caught in a terrible one.”

  Was he now doomed to listen to an accounting of every raindrop that had ever hit Lady Susan’s lovely head?

  No. The Duke of Grainger came over to finish what the Almighty had begun.

  “Good evening, Lady Susan,” the duke said into the silence he’d created by his appearance. “I hope you don’t mind me stealing Darrow away, but I’m afraid it’s getting late and I have an urgent matter I must take up with him in private.”

  Harry glanced around, surprised to see that almost everyone else—except his mother and sister-in-law and old Lord Pembleton, sipping his sherry in a corner by the potted palm—had left.

  “Oh?” Lady Susan looked uncertainly at Harry. “But I thought . . . That is, I expected . . .” She frowned. “Lord Darrow, I was given to understand we had something of particular interest to discuss.”

  Then why did you drone on about dresses?

  Harry opened his mouth, not entirely certain what words would come out, but Grainger clapped him on the back and spoke before he could.

  “Well, there’s always the morning, isn’t there? I’m sure it will keep. Unfortunately, my issue will not. Please excuse us.”

  And with that he hauled Harry away.

  Harry had never been one to allow himself to be led anywhere, but he also wasn’t an idiot. He could see salvation when it was dangled before him. He went meekly—and quickly—along until they were in Grainger’s study with the door firmly closed.

  “Zounds!” Harry collapsed into one of the leather chairs by the hearth.

  Grainger laughed and went over to a cut-glass decanter. “Can I offer you some more brandy?” He grinned. “It’s even better than what you have there.”

  Harry tossed off the last drops in his glass and then held it out for Grainger to refill. “I should have finished my conversation with Lady Susan, you know.”

  Grainger chuckled as he took the chair across from Harry and put the decanter on the table between them. “Good luck at finishing any conversation with that woman.” He cocked a brow. “You weren’t about to suggest what I think you were, were you?”

  “If you mean was I goin
g to offer for her, yes, I was.”

  Grainger shook his head, a mixture of disgust and sympathy on his face. “Offer for that magpie? You’d be deaf before the ceremony was over.” He snorted. “I wager you’d have to gag the woman so you could say your vows.”

  Possibly. “She’s very beautiful.”

  “Then commission a painting of her and hang it in your study. Paintings don’t talk.”

  If only that would solve the problem. “I promised my mother I would find a wife this Season.”

  Grainger’s nose wrinkled in distaste. “And you picked Lady Susan?”

  Harry shrugged a shoulder as he took another swallow of brandy and stared into the fire. “I wasn’t going to marry a child just out of the schoolroom. Lady Susan will do.”

  “For what? To drive you mad? She’ll manage that in short order, I assure you.” Grainger pulled a face. “I’ve had the misfortune to be seated next to her at more than one meal. The lips move and words come out. They even make sense most of the time, but they are so soul-sucking boring, you want to pick up your knife and stab her to make her stop—or slit your own throat to end your misery.” He shook his head. “And she doesn’t listen. Ever. I wouldn’t wish her on my worst enemy.”

  Grainger leaned forward and waggled his index finger at Harry. “Marry her and I’ll never invite you here again. I value my sanity too much. Good God, man, I swear I lose a little more intelligence with every word she utters.”

  Grainger was making rather too much of the matter.

  “So then why did you invite her to this house party?” Granted, this had not been the usual ton country gathering. The guests were older—none of the just-out-of-the-schoolroom girls here. A few were widows with young children in tow, which would make sense if Grainger was considering remarriage. Grainger’s wife had died several years ago, just days after their son was born.

  “I was afraid I could see the way the wind was blowing with you. I don’t want to have to cut your acquaintance. I was hoping extended exposure to her would bring you to your senses.” He grinned and said hopefully, “And has it?”

  Harry’s senses had never been at issue. “You seem to be missing the point here, Grainger. I need an heir. Ergo, I need a wife.”

  “But perhaps not this particular wife.” Grainger poured them both more brandy. “What’s the rush? You’re not even thirty yet.”

  “True, but my brother’s sudden death—Walter was only thirty-five, you know—has made me—” Might as well lay it all out on the table. “Well, mostly my mother and sister-in-law acutely aware of the uncertainty of life. I could overturn my carriage leaving here and break my neck.”

  “Which might be preferable to marrying Lady Susan.”

  Harry almost snorted brandy out his nose. “I wouldn’t say that.” Though if he were being brutally honest, he didn’t completely disagree with Grainger.

  I can’t really prefer death to marrying Lady Susan, can I?

  No, of course not.

  Grainger cocked a skeptical brow, but didn’t argue the point. “Don’t you have a cousin or some relative who will inherit if you should meet an untimely end?” he asked instead.

  Harry nodded. “Yes. A very distant cousin in my great-grandfather’s brother’s line.”

  “Ah. Now that would be quite the calamity, wouldn’t it?” Grainger said with a perfectly straight face.

  Of course, Grainger wouldn’t see the problem in letting . . . Harry wasn’t even sure of the fellow’s name who was next in line to be earl. Searching among the distant leaves of the family tree was precisely how Grainger had succeeded to his title. Until early this spring, he’d been merely Edward Russell, London solicitor—and then the fourth Duke of Grainger, along with his wife and children, had died suddenly and unexpectedly of influenza.

  Harry shrugged, acknowledging Grainger’s point. “Perhaps it wouldn’t, but Mama and Letitia aren’t eager to have their comfortable lives upended.”

  Grainger’s other brow rose as well, and then both settled into a frown. Clearly, he was biting his tongue.

  Well, Grainger wasn’t saddled—er, blessed—with female relatives.

  “Don’t make it bleed,” Harry said. Grainger grinned.

  “And it’s not just them, of course,” Harry continued. “I have a responsibility to all the people on the estate.” He might not have given a thought to being earl, but his years in the army and working for the Crown had impressed upon him the need to look out for the people who depended on him.

  Grainger still looked unconvinced. “I see. Well, then, I am very sorry to have put a spoke in your wheel. I hope—well, I don’t actually hope because I think it’s a dashed bad idea, but if you’re really set on it, then I imagine you can propose to Lady Susan in the morning.”

  Harry grunted and took another swallow of brandy. He’d never been enthusiastic about offering for Lady Susan, but now suddenly he felt trapped.

  Blast Grainger for cracking open the door to his prison. He was very tempted to bolt. It must be the brandy’s fault.

  He took another swallow. “So, do you have an urgent matter of some sort, Grainger, or was that just a ploy to get me away from Lady Susan?”

  Grainger poured them more brandy. If Harry were the suspicious sort, he’d suspect the duke was trying to get him drunk enough to disregard the urgings of his better, more responsible self.

  “I do, actually,” Grainger said, “though it’s not really urgent.”

  Harry might have growled, because Grainger smiled.

  “It requires some discretion,” Grainger said, “and I know you’ve done some discreet inquiries for the Crown.”

  I shouldn’t rise to the bait....

  He couldn’t help himself. “Tell me.”

  Grainger reeled him right in, though at least the duke permitted himself only the smallest smile as he did so.

  “I’ve been going over the estate books,” Grainger said. “They are a bit of a mess.”

  Harry nodded. Darrow’s books hadn’t been that bad, but it was always a challenge to jump into the middle of matters with which one had no previous experience.

  “As far as I can make out, for over a decade the estate has been supporting someone or something in a village called Little Puddledon.”

  Harry frowned. “Never heard of the place. And what do you mean, someone or something?”

  Grainger shrugged. “The entry just lists the recipient as JSW. It could stand for Joseph Samuel Withers or the Just Society of Weasels.”

  Harry snorted. “I’d say that unless the previous duke had an affinity for weasels, JSW must be his bastard.”

  The duke grimaced. “Yes, that thought had occurred to me.”

  “What did the old duke’s man of business say it was for?”

  Grainger ran his hand through his hair. “That’s the devil of it. The fellow was at the estate when the influenza hit, and he, too, died of the disease. No one else seems to know anything about the matter.”

  Harry frowned. “That’s odd.”

  Grainger nodded. “Very. However, it is only a small sum, paid out once a year, so perhaps it’s understandable that it was overlooked. I certainly haven’t felt it a priority to sort out before now.” He shrugged. “This year’s payment was to go out two weeks ago, but I stopped it until I could discover the particulars. I was planning to go down to Little Puddledon as soon as this gathering was over to see what I could find out.”

  It was Harry’s turn to cock an eyebrow. “The Duke of Grainger is going to visit an obscure village? That will get tongues wagging at record pace.”

  Grainger laughed. “I doubt anyone will recognize me, but I hadn’t intended to announce myself. I was going to ride down on horseback and use my family name instead of my title. However”—he gave Harry a hopeful look—“I freely admit I have no experience in skulking about.”

  “And I do.” Harry could see where this was going.

  “Precisely. It could get rather awkward, depending on what
I find, if my identity was discovered. So, I thought, given the fact that you do have experience with, er, sneaking about, you might be a better person to investigate.” He grinned. “And it would give you a break from Lady Susan and the entreaties of your female relatives.”

  True.

  “Though I’ve often wondered how you managed not to call attention to yourself on the Continent.” Grainger gestured at Harry’s temple. “With your silver blaze, you might as well have a placard with your name pasted to your forehead.”

  His silver strands, contrasting starkly with his dark hair, did make him stand out in a crowd, though he would be surprised if anyone in Little Puddledon knew of the Graham streak. “It’s not a problem that a little blacking won’t fix.”

  The thought of getting away from Mama and Letitia—and Lady Susan—and getting back to a semblance of his old life, even for a short time, was extremely appealing.

  It will only be for a few days. Lady Susan won’t marry someone else that quickly.

  It was rather telling that the thought she might came with a jolt of relief.

  I’ll take this one last frolic and then I’ll settle down to be a model earl.

  Harry hesitated only a moment longer. “Very well. I’d be happy to see what I can discover.” Elated might be a more accurate adjective. “I’ll leave in the morning.”

  Grainger raised his glass. “Splendid. May I suggest departing early, before the women are up? I’ll tell them you went off on an urgent matter for me”—he grinned—“and I promise not to reveal your destination.”

  Turn the page for Chapter One

  of

  THE MERRY VISCOUNT

  Chapter One

  Caroline Anderson gave up her attempt to protect her space and shifted closer to the stagecoach wall, away from the beefy thigh pressing up against her.

  The owner of the thigh spread his legs wider.

  Blast! She glared at the cloth-covered appendage, her fingers itching to pull her knife out of her cloak pocket and prod the encroaching body part back into its own—