No Duke of Mine (Scandalous Brides #5)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

“Now, Jasper. Here is a list of everything I want done while I’m away,” Algernon Sweet murmured. “If the weather permits, get them all done as quickly as possible. Otherwise, some of the more complicated matters can wait until my return.”

Jasper flicked through the three pages. “Are you sure this is enough for the two weeks you’ll be away?”

“Well, there are four more pages in my desk drawer if you have too much free time,” he complained.

Jasper glanced over at his wife, Sophie, who was waiting to bid Algernon goodbye as well, and grinned. “No chance of that happening, now I’m a married man.”

Algernon laughed at him. Jasper was smitten, and it showed. He had liked his brother’s wife before their marriage, and now even more so.

Now that his brothers were all together at Ravenswood, it was easy to see that all his siblings were happy in their marriages, albeit in different ways.

They hadn’t been in such good spirits since their childhood.

But now that his brothers were settled, he had things to do without their involvement.

He had a woman to woo and marry, expenses to be repaid that were pressing on his conscience, and somewhere in there, he fervently hoped he could find some joy in his endeavors.

Making a marriage because you are forced to it for the money was quite different from choosing to do so of your own free will. His brothers had been very lucky not to have shared his burden.

“Your Grace,” Nash called as he ran into the entrance hall. “One quick question. Do you mind if I borrow the globe for the children’s lessons?”

He sighed in relief that his request was nothing serious. “No, I do not mind.”

“Good, good. It’ll be back in its place by the time you return, I promise.”

Algernon highly doubted that. Everything that went through his brother’s new apartment seemed to never come back immediately. There was always some excuse for taking a book from the library again, and some reason for the delay in its return.

Nash was determined that all of his children were properly educated on every matter under the sun, but thankfully, his wife was prone to ferrying the children outside when something did not come naturally to one of them.

The young family played a great deal, for which he was grateful and proud.

Algernon had a hand in making Nash and Laura get along again, and much better than before.

“Your Grace, you are late leaving,” Laura Sweet, his sister-in-law, complained with a smile on her lips and an hourglass in her hand. “Your carriage has been standing outside for the last fifteen minutes, and your men and horses are growing restless out there.”

Lady Laura Sweet often commented about his tardy behavior, which he probably deserved. He’d harassed her to sit and fix her marriage to Nash, and now she felt justified in bossing him about.

But she was right. He’d dragged his feet more in the last six months making this decision since inheriting the title than he had in his entire life. He held up his hands in mock surrender rather than admit that out loud. “I’m going, I’m going.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That is what you said yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. I’m starting to think you can’t bear to be parted from us.”

“The London season could arrive before he does, at this rate,” Jasper teased. “Do you want the carriage put away again?”

“No.”

“Do you think we should travel with him? Make sure he doesn’t get lost or waylaid,” Stratford asked, adding his voice to the harassment.

“Yes, all right, I am going today. I’ll be back in exactly two weeks.”

Laura drew close and gently laid her hand on his sleeve. “We’d come with you for moral support if you want us to, you know.”

“I know.” If his family came with him to London now, though, he might as well ring every bell in London to announce that the Duke of Ravenswood was in pursuit of a bride. “I can do this alone.”

“As you wish, but remember we’re only a letter and a fast horse away,” Laura promised, patting his arm. “We’ll prepare the duchess’ chambers discreetly while you are gone as well, so don’t worry about that.”

Algernon may be a duke, but in a house full of women, he had discovered that he rarely had to worry about the running of his home.

This was, perhaps, a kind of preparation for the day when he was a married man.

His wife would rule the roost, and he would not even be told of what she might do.

His duchess would make all the decisions for the household in the future.

Nash returned, baby Isabelle in his arms and his sons hard on his heels. “Aunt Violet wishes to speak with you before you leave.”

“Again? Damn her. What now?”

“It’s your own fault for trying to keep this trip a secret from her,” Nash explained.

“Seymour probably told her. There will be no secrets left in this household soon,” he complained. But Algernon squared his shoulders. “Best see what the old dragon wants before I go.”

The last time he’d been summoned like this, the dragon had insisted he make haste to marry. He fully intended to if he could ever leave the estate.

He found Aunt Violet in the morning room, tea, a London newspaper, a pile of fresh correspondence at her elbow, and his butler waiting to do her bidding.

She squinted at Algernon. “About time, boy.”

“You wanted to see me, Aunt?”

“Yes,” she said, and then glanced at the butler pointedly.

She did not tell him to leave, but it was clear she wished to have a private word without the butler listening in. “Seymour, would you be so kind as to have the coachman walk the horses again? I will be there as soon as I can, and we can be on our way.”

When he was gone, he glanced at his aunt with a brow raised. “We’re alone now.”

She gulped. “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Beyond giving our butler an assistant of his own?”

“I should like you to dismiss him from your service,” she announced. “Dismiss Seymour today, before you leave.”

Algernon gaped. “I cannot dismiss him. Seymour is essential to the running of the estate, especially when I am away. I thought you liked him.”

She huffed. “Oh, I do. Just not as a servant.”

Algernon stared at her in confusion. Her expression seemed vexed, and then he noticed her cheeks turning red. Embarrassment? The suspicions about his aunt and butler suddenly had her request making a strange sort of sense. “You like my butler, but not as a butler.”

Her eyes flashed with an emotion he’d never seen there before. Fear.

He and his aunt were not close. She criticized him and how he ran the estate constantly since her return. However, he was not her enemy, and Algernon debated how to reassure her of that. “What can I do?”

“Do what I want.”

“I cannot, but perhaps I could simplify matters upon my return.” He paused. “I will be making a call to the Archbishop of Canterbury to obtain a special license to marry Lady Kent while I am in London. Perhaps I could secure a second for you.”

Her eyes widened. “Yes, that is what I want most of all.”

He nodded. “Consider it done, Aunt.”

She let out a shuddering breath and smiled hesitantly. “Safe journey, boy, and a fast return.”

He bowed and swept from her presence, bemused that he was about to play matchmaker again when he returned to Ravenswood. A marriage to a butler for a noble-born lady was bound to make waves in society and in the family. But if he approved, others would not be difficult.

Surely, having two very old people marry respectably was better than sneaking around after dark to see each other and risking broken bones.

He found everyone waiting at the front door still, even his butler. He gave the older man additional instructions. “Keep a close eye on my aunt.”

“Yes, of course,” Seymour promised.

“Make sure she doesn’t become too tired with the children sitting on her knee,” he warned. “Shoo them away and lock the door.”

“There is no stopping her when it comes to the young ones,” Seymour told him.

“Find a way to keep her happy until I come back,” he insisted.

Algernon nodded to everyone else, took one last glance around him, and sighed heavily. There was nothing left to keep him from his duty now. No reason to delay in the hope of a last-minute rescue from marriage. All his instructions had been delivered and would be executed in his absence.

Algernon climbed into his carriage, resigned to leave at last. Sims, his valet, was there already. Once Algernon was settled, he waved to his family, and the driver set off for their destination.

A stack of papers was immediately passed to him—a first draft of a marriage contract between himself and Lady Stephanie Kent to review.

He was sure she would say yes. He was certain he would get the money he needed from her. And he was also positive that she would have a great many demands and would want changes made to the contract, despite his diligence.

He went through each page for at least half an hour each, studying them intently, willing the time he needed to spend in the carriage to fly by.

The fastest he had ever traveled to London was four days and four nights, stopping at coaching inns, hotels, or the homes of friends along the way. This time, he intended to make the journey nonstop, changing horses at each posting house before proceeding on.

It was an insane rush, but given how much he had left behind at home to do, he still needed time to woo Lady Kent when he got there.

“I don’t like the look of that,” his valet mumbled, breaking into his gloomy thoughts sometime later.

Algernon glanced at the man opposite and noticed the direction of his gaze. His valet’s face was fixed toward the horizon. Algernon looked too and saw dark clouds in the distance. Perfect.

He hated traveling in the rain. He hoped those clouds stayed far away.

But within an hour, the carriage and horses were pelted by a heavy fall, and their speed slowed as the horses struggled with the suddenly slick roadway.

Algernon and his valet had to brace themselves as they careened down a steep hill that led to a crossing.

The banks were already licking at the roadway as they crossed, but they made it through without incident and pressed on to the next posting house.

Knowing that the bad weather could change to good in an instant, he resumed his study of his papers.

But just as they reached a small village, the rain came down even harder still. The inn was shut up against the wild weather, and they pressed on for the next bridge.

“It’s getting bad out here for the men and horses, Your Grace,” the coachman called down.

He checked his pocket watch. They hadn’t traveled nearly far enough for the first day, but there was no excuse for mistreating horses or men.

“Keep going,” Algernon shouted up to the coachman. “If we can clear the next bridge, we’ll stop for the night at the first village after that.”

“Right you are, Your Grace,” the coachman answered, cracking a whip over the horses’ heads.

The next bridge was old, made of stone but low. They should have no trouble crossing it in normal conditions, but the carriage pulled to a rough halt.

“It’s underwater,” the coachman called.

Algernon poked his head out the door, cursing as he was instantly soaked. The chill seeped quickly through his shirt to his skin. “How deep do you think?” he yelled, to be heard over the drumming on the carriage roof.

“Above the axle.”

That wasn’t good for the horses. They were already struggling, and the water would be bitterly cold this close to winter. Losing even one horse would be disastrous for his plans.

Suddenly, there was a great blinding crack of lightning, and the horses jerked the carriage sideways, tossing Algernon out the doorway. He landed face-first in a river of cold mud and muck.

He cried out an oath and sprang to his feet, but the horses, spooked by a lightning strike, plunged toward the bridge, dragging the broken carriage—and his men—along with them.