A Duke in Turmoil: Dangerous Dukes Vol 9

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘Where are you going?’ Maria demanded.

  ‘Home. It is clear that you have nothing of consequence to say to me. I don’t want to quarrel but am not willing to sit here and be harangued for wrongs that only exist in your imagination. Good morning to you, Maria. I shall not call again for a while.’

  ‘Oh, do sit down, Sophia, and stop being so melodramatic. I have no intention of berating you.’

  Which was, Sophia accepted, as close to an apology as she could ever recall Maria coming. She looked anxious and on edge as she peered more closely at Sophia’s face, frowning at whatever she saw there.

  ‘There is something different about you.’

  ‘Is there? In what respect? I feel just the same.’

  ‘The duke’s attentions have gone to your head. The gossip has reached me, even here in seclusion. Everyone is talking about you and him.’

  ‘Well, you know the ton. Its denizens must always gossip about something, but they seldom get it right.’ Even so, Sophia knew that speculation about her friendship with Ross was the subject of the latest tattle. The curious glances laced with envy that had been cast in her direction the previous evening had not escaped her notice, nor had the whispered asides. ‘The duke is most anxious to discover what happened to Andrew, which is probably why he has paid me a little attention.’

  ‘He thinks I am involved, which is an insult, and beyond endurance.’ Maria tapped her fingers restlessly against her knee. ‘I adored Andrew. We were planning a future together so why—’

  ‘I thought you had reached an agreement with Emily to hand your child over to them.’ Sophia fixed her sister with a probing look. ‘Which is it?’

  Maria looked sullen and couldn’t hold Sophia’s gaze. ‘Andrew still hoped to find a way for us to be together. I mean, if the child is a girl then Emily wouldn’t have wanted her, but Andrew said…well, let’s just say that he gave me certain assurances and I knew that his feelings hadn’t changed, even if Emily was making things difficult for us with her horrible threats.’

  ‘I see.’ And she did, all too clearly. Maria had taken the opportunity to reflect upon ways to show herself in a more flattering light. She was now the innocent victim who had fallen for a silver-tongued duke’s assurances. She probably knew that Ross would doubt her, but assumed that Sophia would not. ‘There’s more, isn’t there? Perhaps you were embarrassed to speak in front of the duke, but whatever it is that you’re holding back, you can be sure that he will find out by some means or another. I have never met anyone who is half as determined.’ Sophia paused to fix Maria with a long, level stare. ‘If there is anything else you have to tell, best tell me now. He will not spare you if he thinks you have kept secrets, and that will reflect adversely upon my circumstances.’

  ‘Just as I thought!’ Maria cried spitefully. ‘You think he has an abiding interest in you and you look upon my situation as an embarrassment.’

  ‘It is an embarrassment,’ Sophia replied calmly, refusing to be riled. ‘You are expecting a child outside of wedlock and are uncertain whom the father is. It doesn’t get much more embarrassing than that. It’s worth reminding you that when the circumstances become public knowledge I will be tainted by association and my future prospects will be ruined, yet I have never once taken you to task for your selfishness. So it’s time to repay the favour in some small measure and tell me what it is that you know or suspect about Andrew’s murder.’ Sophia paused but her gaze didn’t waiver from her sister’s face. ‘It wasn’t just a chance event that he was set upon, was it?’

  Maria sighed and slowly shook her head, backing down as all bullies tend to do when they meet their match. ‘I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure since I know better than to ask questions. I have been so scared.’ Maria squeezed out a few convincing tears. ‘What does the duke think happened?’

  Sophia realised that if she was transparent, there was more chance of Maria responding in like manner. ‘He is concerned about Greenacre,’ she said. ‘The fact that he went missing immediately after Andrew’s death implies that he is either dead himself or was somehow involved in Andrew’s demise. We know from you that he helped to arrange the illegal fights and that he was Emily’s ally. Andrew became a liability when he raised objections about the fights, and if he refused to have anything more to do with them then it’s easy to conclude that he needed to be silenced permanently.’

  ‘Emily wouldn’t have asked Greenacre to kill him. She needed him alive until after…’ She patted her belly and her words trailed off. ‘Although I wouldn’t have put it past him to do so once Emily had no further use for him. Their relationship had turned bitter. I never liked Greenacre. He gave himself airs and looked down his nose at me. How dare he when he lusted after Andrew’s wife. He was no better than me.’

  ‘I’m sure he was not. Anyway, since you now know everything that I do, kindly return the favour and tell me what you’ve been holding back.’

  Maria picked up her empty cup, played with the handle and then put it down again. ‘I told you about the tall man that I saw Andrew arguing with.’

  Sophia nodded. ‘Did you hear what was being said?’

  ‘Some of it. Curiosity got the better of me and I crept closer to them. Everyone was absorbed with the fight but it was so brutal that I couldn’t bear to watch. Anyway, no one noticed me.’ Maria paused, her eyes gleaming with an emotion that Sophia couldn’t recognise—a combination of fear and excitement perhaps. The windows rattled as snow pelted against them and draughts that crept around the warped frames caused the fire to smoke. ‘Anyway, the man spoke in a cultured voice but told Andrew he was in too deep to renege on his promises.’

  ‘What promises?’

  Maria lifted a shoulder. ‘How should I know? His agreement to supply the combatants, one supposes, but in fairness to Andrew he didn’t know what they would be required to do when he entered into that agreement. Anyway, he told the man that he wouldn’t be threatened and the man told him that he wasn’t indispensable. His tone made me shudder, I was afraid of being caught listening and moved away.’

  ‘Did they carry on talking?’

  ‘They did, for quite a while. When Andrew came back I asked him if anything was wrong but he said he’d come to an agreement with the man and that there was nothing to worry about.’ She sighed. ‘Two weeks later, Andrew was dead, I was left high and dry and that’s all I know.’

  ‘If you were that close to the man, you must have seen his face.’

  ‘I did.’ She reached onto the table where she kept her sketching equipment and handed a drawing to Sophia. ‘This is how I remember him.’

  Sophia took the drawing, examined it and gasped. Maria had produced a very good likeness of Ross’s old friend; the tall man he’d been in conversation with at the ball the previous evening.

  She stood and walked to the window, attempting to come to terms with what she had learned, not for once doubting that Maria was telling the absolute truth—at least about this matter. She absently gazed at the falling snow, wondering how to get home. Cabs would be hard to come by. Wondering as well how to break the news to Ross, whose friend, it seemed, had not been in Scotland all this time after all.

  She wondered why he had chosen to show his face at Miss Courtney’s ball, discounting the fact that he appeared to have the lady in his sights. How had Lady Courtney known he was in London and issued an invitation? Could Mr McIntyre also have been there with a view to finding out what Ross knew about Andrew’s death? Was Ross in danger? He had mentioned something about seeing his old friend again that day. Her heart quailed at the thought of him walking into a trap as unanswered questions rattled around inside her head. She needed to find a cab and go to him immediately, the proprieties be damned.

  As though in answer to her prayers, a conveyance pulled up outside the dwelling, but it wasn’t a cab. It was a private carriage and as she watched, Lord Purvis emerged from it. So that was the visitor whom Maria had been expecting. Sophia thought it rather exc
essive of Peg to run outside into the snow, rather than waiting to admit the gentleman at the front door. She watched unseen from the side of the window as Peg gesticulated wildly in the direction of the sitting room. Purvis followed the direction of her hand and shrugged, presumably not put out by knowledge of Sophia’s presence.

  ‘Lord Purvis is here,’ Sophia said, turning away from the window. ‘Peg is letting him in and so I will leave you to his fond embrace.’

  ‘Ah, Miss Sophia.’ Purvis stood in the open doorway, his usual amiable self. ‘I have just been told that you are here visiting your sister. Delighted, I’m sure. Maria will be glad of the company. She gets lonely.’

  ‘How can that be, sir, when you are such a frequent caller?’

  ‘Ah well, I cannot always be here, more’s the pity. Besides, ladies do so like to chatter about…well, about ladies’ interests, and we men are incapable of understanding half the things you talk about.’

  In his case, Sophia suspected that he wouldn’t understand very much at all, and wondered how Maria could bear the prospect of spending the rest of her life with a man of such low intellect. But there again, what choice did she have? There would be battles to come with his mother but she would find that she had met her match in Maria, and Sophia suspected that her sister would have the final say. She would gain a very stupid husband, a title, wealth and respectability—all the things she had aspired to when first presented—disregarding the fact that she had gone about it in a very unorthodox manner.

  ‘Well then, I shall leave you to enjoy one another’s society,’ Sophia said. ‘Peg, be so kind as to hail a cab for me please.’

  ‘No need,’ Purvis replied. ‘They are impossible to find in these conditions, and Maria will not like the thought of you travelling alone, I’m absolutely sure of it. Is that not right, my love?’

  ‘Oh, absolutely,’ Maria said half-heartedly.

  ‘That’s the spirit! Standards must be maintained,’ he scolded. ‘I can’t allow a young lady of quality to venture out alone, especially in such conditions. Allow me to take you.’

  ‘You are very kind, sir, but I couldn’t put you to the trouble.’

  ‘It is absolutely no trouble whatsoever to be of service to Maria’s sister. I absolutely insist. Pray excuse us, my dear,’ he added, turning to Maria and addressing her directly for the briefest of moments. Maria responded with a scowl, clearly displeased that Purvis was showing more attention to Sophia than he was to her. ‘I shall not be long.’

  Sophia accepted his offer with good grace, having little other choice. It would mean being deposited back at home and then immediately going out again in order to tell Ross what she had learned. Be that as it may, it couldn’t be avoided. She bent to kiss Maria’s cheek without committing herself to calling again.

  ‘Thank you, Lord Purvis,’ she said as he escorted her to the door that Peg opened for them. ‘This is most obliging of you.’

  ‘Not at all,’ he replied with a jovial smile. ‘Not at all. Have to take care of the ladies, don’t you know.’

  He handed her into his carriage, gave his coachman directions to her aunt’s abode and then climbed in behind her, courteously taking the seat with his back to the horses. The conveyance moved off slowly in the treacherous conditions, and Sophia stared out at the falling snow, struggling to think of a suitable subject of conversation to fill the awkward silence.

  ‘Maria tells me that you are to be married once the child is born,’ she said, cringing at the banality of her words. ‘Congratulations.’

  Purvis beamed. ‘I usually get what I want, one way or another.’

  There was something about the harshness in his tone that made Sophia look at him with mild suspicion. She had avoided him as much as possible when he was paying court to Maria, thinking him vacuous and…well, embarrassing when he made facile comments, which happened frequently. Always affable and polite, he now seemed curt to the point of rudeness, and the coolness in his expression was in direct variance to his customary affability. There again, she was preoccupied and perhaps her imagination was getting the better of her.

  She glanced out of the window again and noticed that the carriage was travelling in completely the wrong direction, away from the better part of town. A chill that had nothing to do with the weather travelled through her body and she knew then that she had underestimated Purvis.

  ‘You,’ she said slowly, pointing an accusatory finger at him. ‘You arranged for Andrew to be killed.’

  ‘How very astute of you,’ he said in a harsh tone she’d never heard him use before. The vagueness had left his expression as he drilled her with a look of arrogant disdain. ‘Even if it did take you a while to realise that the dimwit wasn’t as dim as he’d have the world believe. Don’t feel too badly about that, my dear. You are a long way from being the only person who was fooled.’

  ‘You have certainly perfected the simpleton act,’ she replied, refusing to show the fear that rippled through her as the carriage made its way into unfamiliar territory. The streets were lined with tightly packed slum housing, and dour individuals trudged about their daily business despite the blizzard. They watched the equipage pass by with incurious looks.

  ‘Thank you.’ He chuckled as he took her words as a compliment, but there was no humour in the sound. ‘It more than served its purpose since no one took me seriously or assumed I could string two coherent thoughts together, much less mastermind anything the slightest bit sinister.’

  ‘Where are you taking me and what do you hope to achieve by kidnapping me?’ she asked, elevating her chin and lacing her fingers together to prevent them from trembling.

  ‘Your courage is admirable, if misplaced.’ He glowered at her. ‘I have no quarrel with my future wife’s sister—or I wouldn’t have, had you not interfered in my affairs.’

  ‘I wasn’t aware that you had anything to do with Andrew’s death. I was simply suspicious about Maria’s involvement.’

  ‘Don’t you dare bring her name into this sordid business!’ His face turned puce as he leaned towards her and slapped her face hard enough to make her head snap backwards. She cried out and nursed her injured cheek in her gloved hand.

  ‘How brave of you to strike a helpless woman,’ she said scornfully, and was rewarded by a brief glimpse of guilt flashing through his eyes. ‘As to your stupidity, you had me completely fooled.’

  ‘And now you know better than to provoke me,’ he said tartly.

  ‘Does Maria know?’

  ‘Not yet.’ He indulged in an expansive stretch. ‘I had no intention of falling in love with her. It’s dashed inconvenient, but what can I do? I am in too deep now and there’s no help for it.’ He spread his hands. ‘She will discover soon enough that she is marrying a man of vision and purpose.’ His expression hardened. ‘She will enjoy the privileges of my rank, which I know is important to her, but she won’t be running the rings around me that she imagines, and she will not stray from the marital bed.’ His expression hardened. ‘Not ever.’

  ‘Why do you do it?’

  ‘Play the dimwit?’ Sophia nodded. ‘You’ve met my mother?’

  ‘She is quite the force to be reckoned with.’

  ‘Indeed, and somewhat frustratingly my father permitted her to keep control of the fortune she brought to the marriage. Her own father insisted upon it, in actual fact. Mother fell heavily for the pater, but her father thought he was a fortune-hunter. He was, of course, much good it did him, since Mother soon became disillusioned with married life and kept a careful hold on the purse strings as an act of petty revenge when she caught him in the affectionate clutches of an actress. She made the most terrible fuss, so Father told me when I once asked him why Mother was so cold. Seems she didn’t understand that married men regularly have dalliances. They mean nothing and wives have a duty to turn a blind eye.’

  ‘I can quite see that it would become irksome, the financial aspect, I mean,’ Sophia said conversationally, trying to tamp down the fear she
felt at being held captive by this most unstable of men. ‘A man is not a man if he doesn’t rule his own fiefdom.’

  ‘I can see that you understand the dilemma I was faced with as soon as poor old pater turned up his toes. Mother decided that she would take over the responsibility of running our estate, leaving me with nothing to do other than to twiddle my thumbs and supposedly be guided by her. She had fallen for the dimwit routine as well, you see, so I suppose I can understand why she took that decision and I knew I couldn’t confront her over it without showing my hand. She is a bitter woman who hadn’t recovered from the humiliation of Father’s dalliances twenty years after the event, so she was never going to change her character or accept that she’d been hoodwinked by her own son.’

  The carriage jolted and she grabbed hold of the window strap to stop herself from being tossed into Purvis’s lap as it slowed almost to a halt. They heard the driver indulging in a colourful exchange with a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction that had blocked his path. Sophia glanced at the door, wondering whether she would be able to escape before Purvis realised what she intended.

  She abandoned that idea when she noticed the indolent smile gracing his lips, and realised that he had anticipated her making a bid for freedom. She really must stop thinking of him as being slow-witted since he was clearly awake on all suits. Besides, she had no idea where they were and if she escaped she would put herself at the mercy of the men loitering in the street. Better to stay with Purvis and see what he had in mind for her. She had to believe that he wouldn’t seriously harm her—not if his feelings for Maria were as intense as he implied.

  ‘Mother doesn’t have a high opinion of me,’ he continued as the carriage moved forward again. ‘My school reports were never good, you see. Learning came naturally to me and I bored easily in lessons that were beneath me, preferring to turn my attention to more pleasurable pursuits. I knew I would never find what I needed to learn within the pages of any book and soon discovered that being considered a dullard had its advantages. People gave up on me, underestimated my understanding and…well, all sorts of interesting snippets were and still are spoken of in my presence on the assumption that I won’t understand one word in ten.’