To Trust a Duke
Page 1
To Trust a Duke
Soldiers & Soulmates
Book 3
Alexa Aston
© Copyright 2020 by Alexa Aston
Text by Alexa Aston
Cover by Wicked Smart Designs
Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. is an imprint of Kathryn Le Veque Novels, Inc.
P.O. Box 7968
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Produced in the United States of America
First Edition March 2020
Kindle Edition
Reproduction of any kind except where it pertains to short quotes in relation to advertising or promotion is strictly prohibited.
All Rights Reserved.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Additional Dragonblade books by Author Alexa Aston
King’s Cousins Series
The Pawn
The Heir
The Bastard
Knights of Honor Series
Word of Honor
Marked by Honor
Code of Honor
Journey to Honor
Heart of Honor
Bold in Honor
Love and Honor
Gift of Honor
Path to Honor
Return to Honor
The St. Clairs Series
Devoted to the Duke
Midnight with the Marquess
Embracing the Earl
Defending the Duke
Suddenly a St. Clair
Soldiers & Soulmates Series
To Heal an Earl
To Tame a Rogue
To Trust a Duke
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Publisher’s Note
Additional Dragonblade books by Author Alexa Aston
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Epilogue
About the Author
Prologue
Dunbury—May 1808
Ashlyn Clarke awoke with a start, her cheeks damp with tears. She’d dreamed again of that fateful night.
And how one kiss had changed the course of her life.
Falling asleep would be impossible so she used the bedsheet to dry her face and remained in bed. Her thoughts drifted to five years ago. At eighteen, she’d been on the cusp of her first London Season and already eagerly trying out her dancing skills at the local weekly assembly. A regiment newly stationed in the area had attended the week before and its soldiers and officers were back again. Ashlyn had danced with several of the men, including a young, handsome officer named Daniel Clarke.
After a lively reel, Clarke had fetched them each a cup of punch and then they’d strolled just outside the assembly rooms to catch their breaths and a bit of fresh air. He’d told her of his suspicion that Britain would soon declare war on France and his reluctance to go. He then asked her for a kiss, saying he’d never given one before. Ashlyn hadn’t seen any harm in the gesture and had obliged him. The kiss had been brief and very innocent.
Then her world came crashing down.
Her stepmother, jealous of the close relationship Ashlyn had with her father, appeared from nowhere. She raised such a fuss it brought several others outside, including Ashlyn’s father. Her stepmother insisted marriage was the only thing that would save Ashlyn’s reputation and her father reluctantly agreed.
The banns were read and three weeks later, she pledged herself to Daniel Clarke and then spent one night with him. They’d both fumbled about, trying to consummate the marriage, neither of them knowing what to do. She found the experience painful and unfulfilling, not to mention embarrassing.
The next day, Daniel left with his regiment for additional training while Ashlyn was packed into a carriage. As the vehicle drove away, she saw the triumphant smile on her stepmother’s face. She arrived two days later at Dunbury, home to the Earl of Dunwood, Daniel’s older brother. She explained that she’d married Daniel and he’d sent her to his childhood home as his regiment shipped out. Ashlyn found herself living among strangers—and soon found herself with child.
She smoothed the bedclothes, thoughts of Gregory filling her mind. Her son, now four, was the only good thing to have come from the brief physical encounter with Daniel, who still remained a stranger to her. His letters came sporadically and gave her no sense of who he was as a man. She worried about the day he finally came home to her. She didn’t know his favorite food or color. If he enjoyed sports or music. Where he’d gone to school. She couldn’t even remember whether his eyes were blue or green.
The door opened and Dilly sailed in. Her lady’s maid was usually full of gossip. Ashlyn knew she shouldn’t encourage Dilly but she was lonely. Her in-laws, whom she’d never felt comfortable around, spent a majority of their year in London and were there now for the Season. She never went with them, not feeling right about dancing until the wee hours of the morning while her husband faced danger every day of his life. Because of that, she and Gregory remained at Dunbury and had created a life separate from the others. Their time together, along with the hours she volunteered tutoring local boys at the nearby parsonage, gave her purpose in life.
“Lord and Lady Dunwood returned late last evening, my lady,” Dilly began.
Surprise filled her. “They are at Dunbury? Why, the Season is barely a month old.”
“The earl is very sick,” her servant explained. “The pneumonia. His London doctor told him to get back to the country and fresh air.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“All below stairs are saying he’ll die. That he already looked like death warmed over,” Dilly continued. “Lady Dunwood is beside herself. She’s worried the earl will go and then she won’t be in charge of the household anymore. You would be the new countess.”
Ashlyn froze. Lord Dunwood only had one daughter, Eliza, a horribly spoiled brat who was three years older than Gregory and bullied him whenever she could. Ashlyn was always relieved when the Dunwoods left for London and hoped they would stay a good while so that Lady Eliza would be gone from the household. With no son to inherit, though, the earldom would fall to Daniel in the event his brother died. She wondered if her husband would come home from war if that occurred.
Maintaining her composure, she said, “We shouldn’t speak of such matters, Dilly.”
The maid sniffed. “Everyone in the household hopes you’ll become Lady Dunwood soon, my lady. You are kind to all and never have a cross word for anyone. Lady Dunwood constantly causes problems.”
She frowned at Dilly and the servant finally fell silent, putting the finishing touches on Ashlyn’s hair.
“I’ll tidy up here, my lady. You go have your breakfast.”
Making her way downstairs, Ashlyn entered the small dining room and was surprised to find her sister-in-law present.
She took a seat and said, “I’ve just been informed that Lord Dunwood is ill. Please let me know if there’s anything I may do for him. Or you.”
The countess glared at her. “Don’t pretend to be nice to me. I know what you’re thinking. You wish for my husband to die so that yours becomes Dunwood. Where will that leave me?” Bursting into tears, the older woman fled the room.
Her accusation stunned Ashlyn. She’d never thought of Daniel inheriting the title and estate. Even if he did, he would never turn out his sister-in-law and niece. Ashlyn might not know much about her husband of five years but she believed him to be a gentleman in every sense of the word.
She picked at her breakfast and decided to go to the nursery, where Gregory would be finishing his meal. They’d spotted a new group of ducklings on their walk around the lake yesterday and her boy was eager to visit them again.
The nursery was empty when she arrived. Dishes for Gregory and Eliza’s breakfast had yet to be cleared. She went to Gregory’s room and found his nursery governess there picking up his toys.
“If you’re looking for Master Gregory, he went with Lady Eliza and her governess,” the old woman said.
“Where were they going?” Ashlyn didn’t like the idea of Gregory in his cousin’s company.
“I couldn’t say, my lady.”
She left, unhappy with the nursery governess for allowing Gregory to leave her sight. Though Ashlyn had never specifically said her son was not to be in his cousin’s company, everyone in the household knew what a terror Eliza was and how jealous she was of her young cousin.
Downstairs, she asked the footman in the foyer if he’d seen her son.
“Yes, my lady. Master Gregory was with Lady Eliza and her governess. They were going to the kitchen, I believe.”
“Thank you.”
Making her way there, she found the governess having a cup of tea and a scone, laughing and gossiping with the cook.
“Where is my son?” she demanded.
“Oh, he and Lady Eliza went to play.”
Ashlyn frowned. “Where? And why aren’t you with them?”
“Lady Eliza had a special game she wanted to play with her cousin. I thought they would be fine on their own for a little while. Lady Dunwood encourages her daughter to be independent. Watching after her young cousin encourages this.”
“You’re wrong about that,” she snapped. “Lady Dunwood doesn’t seem to care what her daughter does—or whom she does it to.”
Anger sizzled through her as she left the kitchen. She regretted her indiscreet words but the governess should know better than to leave her charge alone, especially with a boy as young as Gregory. Eliza had started a fire recently. She’d been caught mistreating one of the barn cats. She’d broken a vase and blamed Gregory for it. Ashlyn longed to discipline the girl but had been given strict instructions that she wasn’t to involve herself in any way regarding Eliza.
Returning to the foyer, she enlisted the footman to help her search for the children.
“I’ll take this floor,” she told him. “You may start in the basement.”
“Yes, my lady.”
She worried about the special game Eliza sought to play. The last time the girl had played alone with Gregory, it had been a game of hide and seek—with Eliza locking Gregory in the basement. Eliza had calmly returned to her governess and gone about her lessons while Ashlyn had panicked for several hours when her son couldn’t be found. Eliza finally admitted with a sly smile that Gregory could possibly be in the basement. Ashlyn rushed there and found him, cold and frightened. Of course, nothing had been done to keep Eliza from playing her games.
Gregory had promised her never to go to the basement again, which is why she started her search on this floor. Sending the footman was a precaution.
The children weren’t in either parlor so she went to Dunwood’s study and found the door locked. Moving away, she heard a high-pitched wail and then a scream—from within the room.
Pounding on the door, Ashlyn cried, “Open up at once!”
No one came. She beat on the door again and the butler appeared.
“Find the key for this lock,” she ordered and continued beating the heel of her hands against the wood.
The butler returned with the housekeeper, who pulled a ring from her apron pocket. It held dozens of keys and Ashlyn panicked, knowing it would take forever to figure out which one unlocked this door.
She turned to bang on the door again when she heard the lock thrown. Eliza opened the door, her face red as tears streamed down it. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of Ashlyn.
“I didn’t mean to. He wanted to be a soldier. Like his papa.”
Ashlyn pushed the girl from the doorway and rushed inside. Her footsteps faltered the moment she saw Gregory lying on the ground, blood soaking his chest. A sword rested on the ground beside him.
“Call for the doctor!” she shouted and ran to her son.
Falling to her knees, she lifted his head to her lap and cradled it. Blood bubbled from his lips.
“It hurts, Mama,” he murmured.
Helplessness swept through her, knowing she could do nothing to save him. “I know, my sweet boy. I know. Don’t talk.”
She stroked his hair, choking back sobs, and watched the light fade from his eyes.
“No!” she cried, hugging his still body to hers.
They finally pried her from him an hour later.
Ashlyn wished she were the one dead.
*
Ashlyn dragged herself from the bed, fighting the urge to return and bury herself in it. Gregory had sat in his grave two weeks now. He wouldn’t be coming back.
Neither would the Earl of Dunwood.
Her brother-in-law succumbed to his pneumonia the day after Gregory’s death. She’d sat in the church with two coffins at the front, one large and one small. The clergyman spent most of his time singing the praises of Dunwood, a man who spent little time at his country estate and probably hadn’t known the names of most of the servants and local people who attended his funeral. Gregory was mentioned only as an afterthought, which hurt Ashlyn more than she could ever have imagined. The light of her life had been
snuffed out.
All thanks to Lady Eliza.
The girl claimed they’d been playing at being soldiers. She’d even removed her father’s pistols from their case, though she hadn’t known how to load them. They’d played with the guns until she’d grown bored and then she’d removed the sword which hung from the wall, a weapon of some past family member. Eliza said she’d only held it out to show Gregory and that her cousin had wanted to hold it, charging toward her to take it away. Instead, he’d run straight into it.
Or so Eliza repeated every time she was asked about the so-called accident.
Everyone fawned over the girl and remarked upon the tragedy, believing the lies she told. Only Ashlyn knew the truth. That Eliza had deliberately stabbed her cousin and killed him. The girl and her mother had now gone to London, where they could be surrounded by friends. Ashlyn hadn’t known if she could look upon either of them and was grateful for their departure.
Mark Clarke, a second cousin to Daniel, had come and taken charge of the family. She barely remembered meeting him at the funeral and had taken to her bed once Gregory and his uncle had been buried. Clarke had visited her twice, sharing that he’d written to Daniel, informing him he was the new Earl of Dunwood and requesting he sell his commission and come home to his family.
Today, she roused herself. If Daniel was coming home, she didn’t need to be one of the problems he faced. Already, Dilly had told Ashlyn of whispered rumors that the previous earl had squandered much of the family fortune at the London gaming tables. Daniel might be returning to an impossible situation.
She could help if necessary. Before her wedding five years ago, her father had given Ashlyn a tidy sum, to be spent as she chose. He warned her never to tell her new husband of it since men controlled all property and monies of their wives. He’d given her the name of a solicitor who would see the funds held for her use. It had been her plan to save the funds for Gregory’s education. With her only child gone, she no longer cared about the sum. If the rumors proved true, though, she would give Daniel the money to help the estate survive.