Loving Lieutenant Lancaster (The Lancaster Family #4)

Chapter One

P

Only a fool would ignore an edict from the Duke of Kielder, and though Linus Lancaster was many things, he was not a fool.

Thus, as directed in a tersely worded note delivered to his rented London rooms, Linus reported to a very specific location in their club at the appointed hour, prepared to do whatever his universally feared brother-in-law required of him.

He was not afraid of the duke—indeed, he liked him quite a lot—but the tone of the summons portended ill, and Linus braced himself for the worst.

He arrived at the club with a moment or two to spare.

Nothing at all had changed in the month since he had last dropped in.

Adam, the infamous duke himself, had sponsored him for membership shortly after he’d ended his time in the Royal Navy.

The club had offered some diversions in those early days of adjustment, but having lived more than half his life at sea, Linus struggled to summon enthusiasm for hours of card games or pointless wagers.

While he enjoyed a game of billiards now and then and found some enjoyment in quiet reading, day after day of nothing but idle pursuits had quickly grown tedious.

He was, in a word, bored, a state of being he had nearly forgotten existed.

Adam was in the predetermined meeting spot: a somewhat secluded corner of the dark-paneled reading room. The web of scars marring his face pulled in sharp, disapproving angles. The Dangerous Duke, it appeared, was in a foul mood.

Seated beside him was another of Linus’s brothers-in-law, Harry Windover, who was as personable as Adam was prickly. Linus took the empty chair near them. He exchanged an abbreviated, silent nod with Adam, then shot a confused look at Harry. “Do we know why we’ve been summoned?” he asked.

“Adam has chosen to be mysterious,” Harry said.

“My theory is he wants us to play a guessing game. I’ll begin.

” He narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin.

“I’ve hit upon it. His Grace has grown so inordinately fond of the both of us that he wishes to form our own private club.

He will be providing us with matching hatbands and—”

“Shut up, Harry.” Adam said that often. Remarkably often, in fact. Anyone listening in for the first time would think Adam disliked his brother-in-law, though that was not at all the case.

“Your turn to guess,” Harry said, turning to Linus.

“I’ve fought more than enough battles in my life; I’ll not invite another.”

Adam nodded. “Wise.”

“I will, however, admit myself intrigued by your summons,” Linus said. “If you’re of a mind to elaborate, I won’t object.”

Adam’s expression hardened. “Your sister has accepted an invitation to a house party.”

“Which sister?” Linus had four, after all.

Harry chuckled. “Would we be having this conversation if it were any of them other than his wife?”

Only Persephone’s acceptance of an invitation required Adam to do the same.

There were few things Adam disliked as much as parties—they being filled with people, whom he did not care for; socializing, which he loathed even more; and the requirement that he be away from home, something he allowed only under extreme duress.

“I still don’t understand why Persephone’s plans have necessitated this meeting,” Linus said.

“Perhaps he means for us to kidnap him so he’ll not have to participate in the party,” Harry suggested, always one for lightening the mood no matter the necessity.

“You couldn’t manage a kidnapping even with your abductee’s full cooperation,” Adam said.

Harry poked his thumb in Linus’s direction. “I’d have the lieutenant, here, to help. He’s likely a dab hand at subterfuge and scheming. We’d find ourselves quite in demand amongst gentlemen wishing to escape Society. We could advertise our services, have a few adventures.”

“I could use a few adventures,” Linus admitted. “Anything to escape the monotony of this life of leisure.”

Harry lowered his voice and donned an overblown look of warning. “Do not tell Adam you are bored; he will find something incredibly miserable with which to fill your time.”

As much as Linus welcomed both the company and banter, especially since Harry was an expert at the very entertaining ruffling of Adam’s feathers, he suspected the duke was not patient enough for the undertaking just then.

“You have been known to skip invitations Persephone has accepted,” Linus said, returning to the topic at hand. “Why is this one different?”

“For one,” he said, “the party is more than two weeks long. I’ll not send her off to Nottinghamshire for a fortnight and not follow her there.

” Adam, despite his very real preference for solitude, never could bear to be apart from his wife for long.

“For another, she made absolutely certain I could not refuse.”

Harry’s grin grew. “How did she manage that?”

“She threatened to suggest the party be moved to Falstone Castle.” Adam’s expression grew blacker, something that struck fear into the eyes of everyone else in the room.

“Either you go to the party, or the party comes to you.” Linus couldn’t help but be impressed with his sister’s strategy. “You couldn’t refuse after that.”

Harry sighed. “Ah, I love the Lancaster women.”

The Lancaster women. How often Linus had to remind himself that his sisters were grown, even the youngest, who had that year undertaken her second London Season.

In his mind’s eye, they were still as they’d been when he’d left home so many years earlier: little, struggling, and still quite attached to him.

“I know you too well to think you invited us here simply to bemoan your social obligations,” Harry said.

“If I have to go to this party, so do you two.” Adam glared at them both, lids lowered enough to render his gaze particularly sinister.

“I have not received an invitation to a house party,” Linus told him. “A life in the navy did not leave me so inexperienced with Society as to not know that I cannot simply arrive at a party unwanted.”

“You were included in the invitation that arrived at our home. It seems our hostess did not realize you have inflicted your sister with a months’ long bout of stubbornness by refusing to live at Falstone House whilst in London.”

It had been a point of difficulty between Linus and Persephone, but he’d refused to yield. In his sister’s home, he too often felt like a child still. More than that, he was unnecessary. He had no desire to spend every waking hour constantly bombarded with his own pointlessness.

“I am beginning to suspect I know what house party you are referring to,” Harry said. “Athena and I were invited as well.”

“Persephone has declared that this will be ‘quite the social event.’” Adam’s nostrils flared, and a breath growled from him as he quoted obviously verbatim his wife’s evaluation.

Another of Harry’s laughs began on a snort.

Linus couldn’t hold back his amusement any longer. “Our Persephone is quite brave to insist you attend in the same breath she explains why you will be miserable.”

“It is not her ready acceptance on my behalf that concerns me most,” Adam said. “She has warned me that if I maim or torture anyone in attendance, or otherwise cause any degree of unpleasantness, she will kill me.”

Harry’s eyes danced with merriment. “You’re a little afraid of her, aren’t you?”

Adam ignored the question.

“Do you suspect maiming and torture will be particularly difficult for you to avoid?” Linus asked.

“Knowing where the party is being held,” Harry said, “the answer to your question is an emphatic yes.”

Linus’s interest was even more piqued. He looked from one brother-in-law to the other. “Who is hosting the party?”

Adam’s mouth turned down in a severe frown.

Once again, Harry answered the question Adam refused to acknowledge. “The Dowager Countess of Lampton.”

“Adam intends to maim and torture a dowager?” Linus didn’t believe it for a moment.

“Do not be ridiculous,” Adam shot back.

“It is her son, the earl, who is in greatest danger, I would wager,” Harry said.

Lord Lampton. Linus cast his mind back. He had spent very little time amongst Society, so people did not pop into his thoughts easily. “He is the one who dresses in bright colors, I seem to remember.”

“I have never known anyone who preens and prances and generally annoys to the degree he does,” Adam said. “He takes delight in being ridiculous. I am required to summon every bit of self-control I possess to simply not run him through every time we meet in Lords.”

“I personally think marriage has mellowed the dandified earl,” Harry said. “He will always be something of a madcap, but he’s not nearly as flamboyant as he once was.”

“He wore lime-green pantaloons to Lords not a fortnight ago,” Adam said. “And I am absolutely certain he watched me, in particular, for my reaction. I don’t know if he was attempting to impress or annoy me.”

Linus inserted himself into the discussion once more. “Do you truly think this ludicrous lord will render you murderous?”

“Lampton is practically begging to be strangled,” Adam said.

“And you would be more than happy to oblige,” Harry added.

Adam nodded slowly and with emphasis. Linus wasn’t truly worried.

While Adam wasn’t overly fond of people and had a tendency to be very forceful when he was put out with someone, he generally knew how to behave, and despite his insistence that Persephone’s threats were the reason for his willingness to be civil, he had actually improved considerably over the years.

Harry whistled low. “Adam in the same house as Lord Lampton for a fortnight? We’ll never be victorious in this battle, Linus. There will be death and suffering, likely our own.”

“Then it is a very good thing for the both of you that you will have a military man on your side.” Linus was actually a little excited.

Preventing Adam from ruining Persephone’s stay in Nottinghamshire and keeping the dandified Lord Lampton from annoying Adam into truly unfriendly behavior would be a tremendous challenge. He needed a challenge.

“You believe we will succeed?” Harry still looked amused despite his obvious doubts.

“Or die trying.”

“Do not fret,” Adam said, rising from his chair, “if you fail, you will not be the one who dies.”

“Are you thinking of yourself now?” Harry asked. “Or Lampton?”

“Both,” Adam said. “Both.”