Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
‘What of him?’ he barks, squaring an expectant look at me.
‘I’m worried for his well-being.’ I shake my head to myself. ‘I have not seen him for some days.’ I shall omit the reason for that. ‘I fear he is on a path to self-destruction, and I wish to stop it.’
‘He is a grown man.’
‘Nevertheless…’ I pick up the bottom of my cloak. ‘I am worried for him so if you will excuse me, Your Grace.’
I get precisely nowhere, the Duke blocking my path back to the door with his imposing body and moody expression that dares me to defy him. I dare. He knows I dare. ‘He is not in there, Eliza.’
‘What?’ I look past him to the plaque, pointing. ‘Gladstone’s. Mama said he was here at Gladstone’s.’
Johnny points across the road. ‘Your mama is incorrect. He is actually at Kentstone’s.’
‘Kentstone’s?’ I question. ‘I’ve never heard of such a place.’
‘Not many have,’ he mutters in return.
‘It’s exclusive?’
‘Something like that.’
‘Then I shall rescue him from there.’ I march across the street and approach the building.
‘You are not entering that establishment.’
‘Says who?’ I challenge with a strong voice, taking the steps up to the quite unassuming door.
‘Me!’ he barks, unceremoniously swooping me off my feet and striding away. Once again, I am bobbing up and down upon his shoulder. ‘And every other person in the country, for that matter.’
‘It is but a gentleman’s club, Your Grace,’ I sigh tiredly, not squirming or fighting, but accepting my position atop his shoulder which, I admit, I rather like. ‘I will be in and out very quickly. I hardly think all of this warrants such a strong reaction.’
He growls. It’s primal and, frankly, it makes me a little wary, as he sets me on my feet once more. ‘I will get him.’
‘You can’t!’ I protest, pulling my cloak into place. Frank will surely wonder what business the Duke could possibly have with him and undoubtedly refuse his request to step outside. The only option would be for Johnny to advise my brother of my presence outside the establishment, and that will lead to too many questions that I would rather not answer. It will also probably elicit suspicion. I need no one being suspicious of mine and the Duke’s acquaintance. If the Duke is insistent on maintaining the conversation between us that he speaks of, then we must be practical. Frank will burst a blood vessel when he knows I am here. He will burst two if he learns who I am with, without a chaperone no less. My last thought has me pausing for a moment. ‘Did you follow me, Your Grace?’
‘Of course I followed you. I was hardly going to leave you to venture into the darkness alone, now, was I?’ He rolls his eyes. He does that a lot, a sign of how exasperating he finds me to be. Well, I find him rather exasperating too.
‘I am quite capable of removing my brother myself ––’ a door flies open up the alleyway and a woman appears dressed in… ‘Bloody hell,’ I breathe, as the Duke steps in front of me, concealing me, I suspect. She was half naked! And not by accident! I find myself craning my head around the Duke’s big body. My curiosity will be the death of me. His arm comes up, warning me to remain behind him.
‘Oh,’ the woman says, amusement in her tone. ‘You need not resort to the filth of an alleyway with a baggage, Your Grace.’
My mouth falls open, and I step out from behind the Duke, ready to protest her assumption. Once again, I get precisely nowhere, Johnny turning and slapping a hand over my mouth to silence me. ‘You must be quiet, Eliza,’ he whispers, his head tilting in that expectant way I am becoming familiar with. It prompts a lock of his dark blond hair to fall across his forehead, and my hand, damn my treacherous hand, twitches with the need to push it away. I am becoming all too attached to his touch, the contact between us.
The imploring in his gaze shoves me back into submission and I nod as well as I’m capable as he gently frees my mouth, his eyes never leaving mine, not for eight long seconds. I know of the exact amount of time because I count. ‘I will deal with this.’ He finally frees me of his burning eyes and faces the half-naked woman, who, apparently, knows him.
Your Grace.
He has been here before? Oh my. Perhaps naïvely, I assumed this establishment was a sophisticated gentleman’s club, where gentry drank, chatted, discussed business and smoked. That woman, who seems to have misplaced her clothes, suggests otherwise.
Frank.
Oh, what trouble is he getting himself into? I cannot bear it. I pick up my cloak and hurry past the Duke and the woman, slipping through the door that, conveniently, is still ajar.