“What the devil’s going on?” said Devenish, standing up as he spoke.
“Out of my way, Lacey! I’ve helped make your career and I’ll damned well break it if you get in my way!” raged a voice from the corridor beyond.
“Uncle Edmund?” whispered Cassandra in shock.
The Duke shrugged, but the door was flung open in that moment, hitting him hard across the shoulders and sending him down to his knees. The short, stout form of Sir Edmund Scott, noted politician and want-to-be Man of Letters, came striding into the room.
“On all fours are you, Your Grace? As it should be, you damned cur! I should horsewhip you, peer or not, for what you’re trying to do to my brother’s offspring!”
“Uncle! No!” Cassie tried to call out, but her uncle’s rage only grew as he took in the fact she was wearing an ill-fitting night gown and tucked up into a bed.
He turned his anger back onto Devenish, who had managed to clamber back to his feet.
“How dare you dishonor my niece, you philandering wretch! Couldn’t wait until my boy Ferdy was locked away, eh? Thought you would force her hand by threatening to lock her brother in an asylum? Well not on my watch, you damned rogue! Ferdinand Scott is as sane as I am, and whatever you’ve done to my poor Cassie, I’ll hang you for it myself!”
“Sir Edmund, whatever you think is happening here, you have it all wrong,” said Devenish, but he was making the entire situation worse with the fact he was laughing.
“Listen to His Grace,” said Lacey, rubbing at his jaw as he came stumbling into the room. “Cassandra fell ill a few days ago, and I’ve been attending to her while she rests.”
“Not well enough to protect her from a wretch wanting to trap her into marriage,” snapped Sir Edmund. “Get her some clothes at once, Lacey; I will take her home with me. As for you, Your Grace, name your seconds! You will pay for this insult to the Scotts with blood, by God, and unless my nephew is returned to me unharmed, I’ll run you through with my swordstick, consequences be damned!”
“I do hate to intrude, Uncle Edmund, but is there a reason you are insulting our host?”
Sir Edmund spun on his heel to face Ferdinand, who was standing in the doorway looking far more amused than he had any right to be.
“Ferdy, my boy? Are you well? Have they threatened you?”
“Who?” asked Ferdy, looking as confused as everyone else in the room. “Do you mean the suffragists? I was only teasing you in my last letter, Uncle. I have no intention of surrendering my fortune to their cause. Well, not yet, anyway.”
“You’re safe,” said Sir Edmund, glancing at Ferdy and then at Cassandra. “You’re both safe and well.”
“Yes, Uncle,” Cassandra croaked. “What is this all about?”
But Sir Edmund, overwhelmed with the discover that both she and her brother were in no danger, did the last thing either of them expected.
He placed a hand to his forehead, and swore violently.
CHAPTER TEN
A few hours later, the whole party gathered in the parlour, where the Duchess had ordered a light repast and large glasses of French brandy for everyone, so long as no questions were asked about the origins of the amber spirit.
Cassandra, wrapped up in her brother’s Banyan, had taken the chair beside the fireplace and even allowed Devenish to drape a blanket across her knees. Ferdinand was beside her, but had somehow found the time to change into his mustard yellow frock coat, even if it was paired with plain black trousers. Lacey sat quietly to their side, looking as though his mind was somewhere else.
The Duchess had wasted no time at all in soothing Sir Edmund’s nerves. She’d listened to him sympathetically, plied him with drink and some cold meats, and managed to calm the worst of his temper by the time everyone else had composed themselves enough to join him.
“I owe you an apology, Your Grace,” was the first thing the politician had said once the butler had closed the doors to allow the group some privacy. “It seems that Oscar got quite the wrong end of the stick during your meeting with him.”
“Our brother?” croaked Cassie.
Devenish winced. “It’s why I went to London. I thought that with the support of Major Scott and Sir Edmund, I could find a way to ensure that Ferdinand had the support he needed while we travelled abroad for a few months. Not that I’d asked you about travel, of course, but I assumed that you would not wish to do so if you were worrying about your brother.”
“Oscar hates me,” said Ferdy with a matter of fact air that suggested he was nonplussed about the matter. “He’d rather toss me in a ditch than suffer my company. Did just that when we were children, as it happens.”
“I had assumed the animosity between you to be exaggerated, and for that I truly apologise,” said Devenish. “Your brother, however, did not strike me as the type of person I would trust to have your interests at heart.”
“Wanted to lock me away in an asylum, I trust?” sighed Ferdy. “Good old Oscar. He’s nothing if not predictable.”
“He wished to do what to you?” rasped Cassandra, and it was her brother’s turn to wince.
“Ah, forgot you didn’t know about that.”
“Oscar has not been careful with his fortune,” explained Sir Edmund. “When Ferdinand first began to show tendencies towards ill health, his brother suggested that he would be better off locked away from society, with Oscar, naturally, in charge of the purse strings, and with control over Cassie’s inheritance until she came of age last year.”
“How horrid,” said the Duchess, and by the way she rubbed at her upper arms, Devenish was sure that his mother was reliving some unpleasant memories of her own.
“I struck upon the idea of having Lacey reside with Ferdinand and Cassandra, ostensibly to research my nephew’s condition, but also because I knew that his father is a man of incorruptible moral values, and so I assumed his son would be as well.”
“So if Oscar ever tried to have Ferdinand committed, Lacey would be there to refute his claims,” said Devenish. “Very clever of you.”
“Wait a minute,” said Ferdinand, twisting about so he could stare at the doctor with the full force of his displeasure. “Do you mean to tell me that you’ve been in my uncle’s employment this whole time?”
“I was perfectly honest that Sir Edmund recommended me to you, Ferdy,” said the doctor, not looking in the least bit ashamed.
“I thought that was because he didn’t like you or your father!”
“I don’t like the Lacey’s in the least,” said Sir Edmund, not caring that one of those gentlemen was present in the room. “They’re pompous, sanctimonious, and damned poison-pushers like the rest of their profession. But they are men of high moral standing, so I knew that Oscar could not bribe them.”
“I also didn’t lie when I said there is no love lost between your uncle and I,” added Lacey.
“You worried me when you removed to Bath, in case you decided to hire a different physician to tend you,” continued Sir Edmund. “However, my qualms were put to rest by a letter I received from Lady Fitzburgh, describing Cassie dancing with the doctor.”
“She did write to praise me,” said Cassie with a triumphant smile.
Her uncle set her with a stare that implied she was a ninnyhammer.
“She used the word “hoyden” three times, crossed her lines with dire warnings of the collapse of civilization, and warned me against the terror of mulatto babies,” said Sir Edmund. “Personally, I never thought I’d see you married off at all, so would have accepted an offer from the doctor.”
“Good grief, no!” exclaimed Dr Lacey. “I’m sorry, Cassie; I am forever your servant and exceedingly fond of you, but marriage – I doubt either of us would survive!”
“First sensible thing I’ve ever heard a Lacey say,” said Sir Edmund before taking a long sip of brandy. “I thought the matter closed, but then yesterday evening my idiot eldest nephew strolls into my club. He’s drunk as a wheelbarrow, and telling anyone who
will listen that his sister’s marrying the Devilish Duke and his brother’s fortune will be transferred to his hands. I assumed that you were conspiring with him, Your Grace, to force Cassandra into an unwelcome marriage. I had no choice but to come and rescue her.”
“Wait, I thought you wanted to see me married off,” said Cassie.
“Indeed I do, my girl, but I’m not such an ogre that I would see you wed against your will, Duke or otherwise. Half of them are loose screws anyway, and the others are the dashed Royals!”
“You are aware there’s a Duke in the room, Uncle,” said Ferdy.
“A Whig!” Sir Edmund snorted. “But I should have known it would turn out to be nothing but a hum, considering the tall tales the two of you spin in your letters to me. Except for Her Grace’s hospitality, I’ve wasted my time and energy and seen no positives as a result!”
“You really hared down here from London to save us?” said Ferdy, after sharing a long look with Cassie.
“And much good it’s done me!” snapped Sir Edmund.
“You would really have taken in Cassie if she’d been compromised?” pushed Ferdy. “You would have really dueled with the Devilish Duke to secure my freedom?”
Sir Edmund glared at them both, and then looked back down into his brandy. “Don’t read too much into it, my boy. You’re still Scotts, after all. You are still all the kin that I have.”
“And Oscar?” said Cassie, but by the tears in her eyes, Devenish guessed she had never realized how much her uncle loved her.
“Don’t you worry yourselves about that idiot,” said Sir Edmund, a truly wicked gleam in his eye. “When he wakes up the ship will be too far out at sea for him to worry about either of you.”
“Bravo, Uncle Edmund!” announced Ferdy, raising his glass for a toast. “To the best of the Scott family!”
“To the best of the Scott family!” echoed the rest of the group, and Sir Edmund’s cheeks grew rosy.
Cassandra took a sip from her glass, then spluttered out the brandy in surprise. Her brother laughed and thumped her on the back, but the spirits brought on a coughing fit.
“It is time Miss Scott rested,” said Lacey, and Cassandra offered him no argument. “If you will be so good as to send up your maid to tend on her, Your Grace, then I think it is best that she sleep.”
“At once, Dr Lacey,” smiled the Duchess, before ringing the bell to summon her maid.
Cassie glanced over her shoulder as Lacey helped her out of the room, throwing a sweet smile at Devenish that made the whole world seem better.
“Well it seems that we won’t need to implement our secret plan after all, Duchess,” said Ferdy with a sad shake of his head.
Devenish glanced over at him. “What plan is this?”
His mother smiled. “It seems that you were not the only one plotting, dear heart. Mr Scott and I, under the care of Dr Lacey, had decided that we should remove ourselves to Buxton for a time.”
“Buxton! Why the devil would you want to go there?” spluttered Sir Edmund. “Owned by Chatsworth, of all people, and that unbearable new wife of his!”
Devenish chuckled. “I suspect it was so that Cassandra and I would stop worrying about them, and instead start worrying about our hearts.”
“If that isn’t a load of sentimental claptrap, I don’t know what is,” sighed Sir Edmund. “I’m starting to think I should let you have my relatives, and good riddance!”
“Thank you, I just may take you up on that offer,” said Devenish, getting to his feet. “That’s assuming she’ll have me.”
“Devenish, you can’t propose to the poor girl just yet,” protested his mother. “She’s suffering with a horrid cold, and you’re not exactly looking your best, either!”
Devenish paused at the door, then turned to grin back at the three people in the room.
“I’ll do the thing properly again in the future, perhaps with enough flare to put Lord Arthur to shame, but I’m not going to wait another moment before I ask that girl to marry me. And as for you two,” he said, pointing first at his mother and then at his future brother in law, “if you think for a moment that our happiness would be complete without you in our lives, then you are sorely mistaken. You will both live with us for as long as you wish, and that is the end of the matter.”
“Darling,” said his mother, her eyes filling with tears. Ferdy didn’t say a word, but swallowed a few times before nodding his head in understanding.
“Good,” said Devenish. “You’re not a burden to either of us. You’re family, and more than that, I’m a dashed Duke and richer than Croesus to boot. We can afford to stick together.”
“You’re as mad as a hatter,” said Sir Edmund with something between disgust and resignation. “You’ll fit in perfectly with Ferdy and Cassandra – but I wash my hands of the lot of you!”
*
“So, you’ve always been our protector,” Cassandra said to Lacey as he came to give her a sleeping draft. Her Grace’s maid had helped her settle back down into bed, and her old friend had entered only once she was tucked up beneath the sheets with a lace cap tied over her short locks.
“In a manner of speaking,” he agreed. “Will you drink this, please?”
“She’ll be lucky to have you,” said Cassie, taking the cup from his hands.
He coughed, and looked at the floor. Cassie paused, and cocked her head to one side.
“Have you asked her already?” she demanded, her elation rising as Lacey began to smile. “And she has accepted your suit?”
“Yesterday when I went to collect a new draft from the apothecary I bumped into her. Cassie, she looked so beautiful, I asked her to walk with me to Sydney Gardens, and there I laid out my heart before I knew what I was saying.”
“I’m so happy for you,” she said, meaning every word. “Will you write to your father?”
“And to hers as well,” he said, “although Lady Seraphinia stands our friend, as I know you will. Now, drink that sleeping draft, Cassie! There is plenty of time for you to harass me for details when you are well again, but for now, sleep is the best medicine.”
She did as she was bid, and had just drained the last few drops from the glass when Devenish entered.
Lacey took one look at the Duke’s face, smiled, and left the room without a word.
“I’ve taken a sleeping draft,” she said in a moment of stupidity.
Her heart was racing in her chest, and although her headache still lingered, her thoughts were clearer than they had been since the moment she’d bumped into the Duke and called him a foolish man.
He smiled, dropping to one knee beside the bed and capturing her hands in his. “This won’t take long, my love, but I find I cannot wait a moment longer to know for sure. Cassandra Scott, I have loved you from the moment I saw you, and beg that you do me the honour of becoming my wife.”
“Is this what love feels like?” she asked him, her eyes filling with tears. “Being so happy that you could cry, and never feeling quite whole when you are apart, even for a brief time?”
“It’s what it feels like for me,” he replied, reaching out to rest his hand on her cheek. “I doubt we shall ever be alone, though, not with a Ducal household, my mother and your brother all living with us. I haven’t mentioned it before, but this townhome is not our principle Bath residence. I recently purchased something much larger, on the Crescent.”
She choked with laughter. “We will all be together?”
He nodded. “If that’s what you want.”
“I’ve never wanted something so much in my entire life,” she replied. “I love you, Devenish. I love you will all of my heart.”
He leant forward to kiss her, gentler than she would have wished under other circumstances, but there was a lifetime of kisses waiting for them once she recovered from her cold.
“Wait, there’s something I need to know,” she said as he finally pulled away.
“Anything, my love.”
She almost felt emb
arrassed to admit her ignorance in the matter. “I’m afraid that I don’t know your Christian name.”
He sat back a little, studying her face in silence for several moments.
He gave a weary sigh.
“Aloisius,” he said eventually. “My father named me Aloisius.”
Cassie blinked.
“Oh. I see,” she said. “Um, would you mind awfully if I continue to call you Devenish?”
The Duke let out a deep roar of laughter, and Cassie knew beyond reason that this was the man she loved.
Notes From The Author
Thank you for reading the Devilish Duke!
This is perhaps the hardest book I’ve written so far in the series, because Devenish has been a favourite character of so many people, including myself, so finding him the right woman to fall in love with was something of a challenge.
It wasn’t supposed to be Cassie.
I’ve started Devenish’s story on three different occasions, and those of you who saw the early blurb for this novel will have noted the original heroine was named Georgina. She was a very different character to Cassandra, and try as I might, I just could not convince her or Devenish that they were in love.
One very observant reader emailed me a while ago, asking if Jane was going to fall in love with the Duke. I confess that I thought it would work out between them as well, but however I tried to write it, there was just no chemistry between the characters.
The fictional people in my brain can be annoying that way.
Then Cassandra appeared, and Devenish fell in love with her on the spot. Not everyone believes in instalove, but I can only talk from personal experience when I say that it can and does happen – even if only one party realises it at the time.
Cassandra brought Ferdy along with her for the ride, and I had so much fun putting his outfits together (all based on real clothing from the late 1780s!) that I promise you will meet him again, if only so he can pontificate on the state of England while reclining on a sofa in a pink velvet banyan.
The Devilish Duke: Book eight in the Regency Romps Series Page 18
