Regency Romance: Duke’s Forbidden Love (The Fairbanks Series - Love & Hearts) (Historical Romance Fiction)

by Jessie Bennett

  “I agree, Drake.” Lord Duprey nodded. “Duke Doughtery is feeling guilty, I would surmise, and his reaction was to challenge Duke Watson to a duel.”

  “I do not think Duke Doughtery has a chance of defeating Duke Watson, grandfather. Do you?”

  “I cannot know who would win.” Lord Duprey looked out the window, wishing he was not talking about such things. The look on Anna’s face told him she didn’t like the talk either.

  “Someone must be defeated,” Drake said. “We might as well accept that now before we get there. That way, we will not be too disappointed.”

  “Will you be disappointed if Duke Doughtery loses?” Lord Duprey sounded somewhat surprised.

  “I will not be disappointed, grandfather. I would like for Duke Watson to succeed over his opponent. I have never had a problem with Duke Doughtery. But, I prefer Duke Watson over him.”

  “Why?”

  Drake laughed. “Grandfather. Duke Watson is closer to my age. We are able to relate much better.”

  Lord Duprey looked directly at Anna, as though Drake’s words meant something more than they did. She frowned and shook her head.

  “Father, what are you trying to do? We have been over this. I do not see either one of us changing our minds about the situation. Must we drag poor Drake into this mess?”

  Drake lifted his eyebrows. “No one is dragging me, mother. You needn’t worry. I can handle these ‘adult things’, too. I am nearly a grown man myself.”

  “You have some time to go, young master.” Lord Duprey said to his grandson. “Just as Duke Watson has time to go.”

  “Please cease and desist with this, father.”

  “Love is not always good enough to sustain, Anna. You must think of this.”

  “I am being logical, father, do not say I am not,” Anna could feel her blood heating up. Her temples throbbed and her hands clenched in her lap. “I am being reasonable and logical and all of the other words you can think of to describe me right now. I will not back down, father. This means too much to me.”

  “Grandfather, do you take an issue with Duke Watson and mother courting?”

  “I do.” Lord Duprey nodded, not making eye contact with his grandson.

  “But why?” Drake looked genuinely confused. He blinked several times, glancing at his mother. “After you have seen them together and seen how the gentleman treats her, why would you object? He makes her very happy, grandfather.”

  “I know he does,” Lord Duprey admitted. “But it simply isn’t good enough. There are too many differences between them.”

  “I have heard that two people who are nothing alike can join to make the perfect union because they balance each other out.”

  “That is a good way to look at it.” Anna smiled at her son, thinking how smart and compassionate he was. He smiled back at her.

  “Regardless of that, which I admit is a good point, they are too far apart in age. She could be his mother.”

  “But she is not his mother.” Drake pointed out the obvious.

  “That does not make a difference.”

  “It should.” Drake shook his head. “Grandfather, you are being stubborn and refusing to see how this is mother’s life and not ours.”

  “She could easily be hurt by someone so young, who does not understand the complexities of life, of living with someone else, of being a partner to someone else. It is a constant give and take. There are compromises that must be made.”

  “That is so in every relationship, father.” Anna said. “No matter what age the two might be.”

  Lord Duprey pulled in a deep breath and said nothing. His eyes were still directed out the window. He was blinking rapidly, his thoughts overwhelming him. Anna could tell he was conflicted. It came as a relief to her. He was an intelligent, kind and sympathetic man. Surely, he would come to her side eventually. He loved his daughter. She loved him. They would come to a mutual conclusion at some point.

  Anna could only pray it was in her favor.

  They would soon reach the convent and the three of them would need to exit the carriage, as the only way to get to the riverbank where the Dukes were on foot. She leaned out to see through the windows, but it was steadily growing dark and she could see very little. She kept her eyes on the riverbank. After a few moments, as they got closer to their destination, she spotted four tall lanterns, the flames lifting into the darkening sky, licking the air with heated precision.

  The four lanterns made a large square. Inside the square, four men were standing. Her heart thumped in her chest. The duel had not yet begun.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  BRYAN DOES THE RIGHT THING

  BRYAN DOES THE RIGHT THING

  The three of them jogged down the slanting hill to the river bank. Anna held up her skirts so that she could move as fast as her male companions. She noticed when Bryan spotted her, his face fell and he looked disappointed. He shook his head and moved to leave the lantern square.

  “Where are you going?” Duke Doughtery cried out. “You cannot leave. I have challenged you! If you do not…do not duel me, you will…will be considered a coward and a…and a…” The Duke didn’t finish. He looked at his manservant in a daze. Gerald just looked back at him with a sad look on his face. “Why do you look so sad, Gerald?” The Duke slurred his words as he spoke. Anna realized with horror that he was extremely drunk. She turned wide eyes to Bryan.

  Bryan shook his head, pressing his lips together. “I cannot get him to stop talking about this. I finally agreed to come down here, since he was making such a huge scene in the pub. It was drawing eyes. If he had spoken much louder; everyone in Fairbanks would know of our current financial problems and the deception that has been perpetrated here.”

  “He has drunk too much alcohol.”

  Bryan nodded, giving her a soft look. “Yes, my dear. He has.”

  “You cannot kill him.”

  “I must duel him, unless I can convince him to withdraw the challenge. So far, he will have nothing to do with it. He is determined to carry on with this ridiculous plan.”

  “There is no way he will be successful in this. You will put him down like a dog.” Drake said, his eyes on the drunk Duke.

  “It is nothing to joke about,” Bryan responded.

  Drake moved his eyes to stare at him. “I was not joking, my lord. He cannot duel you in this condition. It would be wrong for you both. You will end up the winner and everyone will say you took advantage of the Duke while he was drunk.”

  “Yes, I cannot kill him when he is drunk. I cannot afford the scandal that would ensue.”

  “Are you coming to duel with me?” The drunken Duke Doughtery issued a dire warning. “I will kill you and I will take the Lady Anna home with me.”

  “It is unlikely that will happen.” Lord Duprey spoke up. “You will not be taking Anna anywhere. I have never seen you in such a condition, Your Grace. What has happened to you?”

  “There’s nothing…nothing wrong with me, Duprey. You must be mistaking me for someone else.”

  Lord Duprey closed his eyes and pinched the end of his nose between two fingers. “Duke Doughtery, you have crossed a line. You cannot demand the hand of my daughter, especially when you are drinking excessively. You are drunk! It makes you brave, but it also makes you stupid. You, sir, are reprehensible. I cannot allow you to force my daughter into marriage with you. You will not make her happy. She would suffer, if she was to live with you for the rest of her life.”

  Anna’s heart sang with happiness when her father said the words she’d been longing to hear. She and Bryan shared a wide eyed, hopeful look. They smiled at each other. Anna was even more pleased when she looked to the side and saw Drake smiling at them, as well.

  “Duke Watson! I am calling you to come back and duel me.”

  “I’m waiting for you to sober up before we do this, Duke Doughtery.” Bryan responded before turning his back on the Duke to speak to Anna in a quiet voice. “This was the way I found him, e
xcept he continued to drink. Because of this, we have ended up here. I would not have confronted him had I known he was not capable of holding an intelligent conversation.”

  Anna tried not to smile. The situation was too sad for such things. She wanted to grab the man standing in front of her and run away with him. She didn’t want there to even be the slightest chance that he would be harmed in any way.

  She made a move to get closer to Bryan, but he backed away, shaking his head. “I must see to this now, Lady Anna. Please understand.”

  “I do understand, my lord. I do wish you the best of luck and my prayers are with you, my lord.” She looked around him and then took a few steps closer to Duke Doughtery. She looked up defiantly into his drunken eyes. She tried to keep a calm and smooth voice when she spoke. “My lord, you must understand that you will not win me with this challenge. I will not marry you and my father will not force me to marry you.”

  “I didn’t go through all the trouble of changing those numbers, so that you would end up in the hands of this young boy!” Duke Doughtery slurred out.

  Anna felt a chill of anger run through her. “My lord, you are admitting to the misdeeds that caused the books to be in disarray today? You inflicted the havoc that followed?”

  “I didn’t see much inflicting of havoc going on, my lady,” Duke Doughtery moved closer to her and leaned forward, a little off balance.

  “What did you hope to gain by doing what you did, my lord? Surely, you knew that it would not work.”

  “I…I don’t know to what you are referring. I am here to duel!” He said the last word with such force, he nearly fell forward when he exclaimed it. “I am here to duel and to win! Come, Duke Watson, let us settle this here and now!”

  “I do not wish to do this, my lord.” Bryan shook his head. He was picturing Anna’s reaction, if he were to pull out his pistol and end Duke Doughtery’s life. He couldn’t do it and he knew it. If she had not shown up, he may have been able to. But, not with her standing right beside them, watching everything that was going on. “I do not wish to harm you.”

  “You will not harm me! Come! Let us duel!” Duke Doughtery waved his long arm in the air, his fingers splayed out. Bryan felt lucky he did not have his pistol in his hand at that moment. He turned and looked down at Anna, thinking how beautiful she looked in the flickering lamplight. She looked frightened and cold. He wanted to grab her, pull her to him and hold her until she was warmed all the way through.

  “I must do this, my lady.” He murmured, reluctantly. “I do not wish too. What do you suggest I do?”

  Lady Anna surveyed the situation. She flicked her fingers toward Bryan, who leaned close so that she could whisper in his ear. When he pulled away, he looked at her with eyes filled with love and compassion. He took her hand in his and squeezed it briefly, before turning back to the drunken Duke.

  “All right, Duke Doughtery, take your position.”

  “My lord, you can’t…” Matthew had come to support him. He looked shocked and frightened. Bryan shook his head and slapped the other man on the shoulder.

  “Matthew, please do not fret. Everything will be well, I promise.”

  “You will not be well when…when I am done with you.” Duke Doughtery swayed slightly as he moved back toward the middle of the four-post lighted square. Gerald shook his head, practically having to hold the man upright. “I want to do this right, Duke Watson. You take…your spot and I will take mine and we will turn at 20 paces. Is that satisfactory?”

  Bryan didn’t say anything for a moment. Anna could tell he was stalling for time. He walked slowly into the square. Matthew was shaking his head, grumbling under his breath.

  “This is absolutely ridiculous, my lord. You cannot possibly be thinking of dueling this drunken man. You know what this will do to your reputation. You have your business at stake.”

  Bryan turned to his cousin and gave him a reproachful look. “Cousin, you must be silent. I cannot concentrate if you are constantly grumbling in my ear.”

  Matthew didn’t take offense at the statement. He simply shrugged and closed his eyes for a moment, as if he didn’t want to see what was about to happen. “The way I see it, he can get lucky and shoot you. Either fatally or not, or you can shoot him, fatally. He will be six feet under the ground. Is that truly what you want? It does not seem to me like anyone gains by this duel.”

  “No one gains from a duel in any situation. Ours is not so unique.”

  The two men took their stances and at Gerald’s call began to take their paces. At twenty, both men turned and fired. Bryan remained standing, unhurt by the bullet that whizzed far past him, not even coming close.

  His bullet had penetrated exactly where he wanted it, which was the right shoulder of his opponent. The impact caused Duke Doughtery to drop his gun and recoil in pain. He made loud noises, sounding like a wounded bear, as Gerald went to assist him.

  Out of the shadows came several nuns from the convent, ready with bandages and salve.

  Duke Doughtery called out insults toward Bryan until one of the nuns shushed him. He sat in a drunken heap on the ground, tears running down his face, blood running down his arm.

  Anna had to turn away from the scene. It broke her heart to see someone she had always considered at least a friend; crumpled in a defeated, humiliated heap on the ground, nuns attending to his injured shoulder.

  Bryan returned the pistol to its case. Matthew closed the lid and locked it. He held the box under his arm, staring directly at the mess of the drunken Duke, shaking his head.

  “That was a wise thing to do, my lord,” he said. “What made you think to do such a thing?”

  “It was Lady Anna’s suggestion,” Bryan responded. “She could see how I was upset, that Duke Doughtery wanted so much to have this challenge. I did not want to kill him, nor did I want him to kill me. Therefore, his gun had to be rendered useless. Instead of killing him, I took away his gun. He cannot dispute that I took up the challenge.”

  Matthew nodded. “Very wise. Very wise, indeed.” He looked at Anna. “Wise, compassionate, and beautiful. You have all things going for you, my dear.” He smiled at Bryan. “And you are a lucky man. I am pleased that you found such a woman.”

  “Why, thank you, Lord…” She stopped, not knowing how to address him. Bryan had always called him by his surname when in Anna’s presence. They were such familiar cousins, they did not worry about titles often. She noticed that Matthew only used the proper terms when there were many people around or anyone directly listening.

  “Come let us use our strength to help Duke Doughtery get to the convent, so they can properly bandage him.”

  The nuns were struggling with the tall, lanky Duke, who had suddenly lost all his strength. He was practically being dragged to the convent. They were struggling with his body weight. As well as the fact that he was not very helpful to them. He moaned and wailed about his injured shoulder, snapping at the nuns to stop hurting him.

  “Please do help the sisters,” Anna said, watching them struggle with the drunken man. “They will not be able to do that on their own.”

  Matthew, Drake, Lord Duprey and Bryan all moved quickly to help the Duke reach the convent so he could get medical aid from the nuns living there.

  EPILOGUE

  A MARRIAGE LIKE NO OTHER

  A MARRIAGE LIKE NO OTHER

  “You realize you must get used to getting looks from others whenever you and Duke Watson travel together.”

  Anna smiled at Elizabeth. “I don’t know that I will notice the looks we get. I don’t believe I will care much.”

  “I know you are happy that spring has arrived, aren’t you?”

  “I am. Winter was carrying on much too long this year!”

  Elizabeth laughed. “I am pleased that you started out this year with something so brand new and fresh to make your life happier.”

  “You have an eloquent way of putting things, cousin. Where is Shawn?”

  “He is ove
r there, chatting with your husband.”

  Anna grinned wide at the words. “He is not my husband yet.”

  “He will be soon enough. We are talking mere hours now, Anna. And you will be married to him! How do you feel?”

  “Like I am on a distant star far away. Pleased, happy, contented, loved, and blessed. Mostly, I am blessed.”

  “Yes, my dear. You are.” Elizabeth tilted her head to the side, a look of delight on her face. “I am pleased your father finally agreed to let you have your way in this. I’m sure it was much easier with Duke Doughtery out of the picture.”

  “Yes. I do not wish Duke Doughtery any harm. That is why Duke Watson and my father did not pursue any charges against him.”

  “You asked them not to?”

  Anna nodded. “It would have done nothing but harm everyone involved. He admitted his wrongdoing. He will not be able to repeat his mistake. He is not to be trusted. It is a well-known fact now that he has been exposed.”

  “It is a tragedy. Shawn and I have known the Duke for some time. We never would have thought he would do something so naïve. Specially to ensure he got the woman he desired. And to challenge Duke Watson to a duel? Ridiculous. Everyone knows the lord is a dead shot.”

  “Yes, Drake was telling me about it. They went skeet shooting on the Watson Estate just last week.”

  “Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your day, my dear.” Elizabeth stood close to her cousin and gave her a hug, kissing each of her cheeks afterward. “You are very special to me.”

  “And you to me, cousin. That is why I asked you here, to stand by my side as I marry my young man.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “You will be saying that a lot, won’t you?”

  “I may tease the Duke about it every now and then, yes.”

  “What is this?” They both turned to see Bryan grinning at them, a glass of champagne in one hand. “You will tease me? About what?”