Read A Duke in Danger for Free Online Page B

written to you. I realise that now.”
    She did not reply, and he smiled.
    “My only excuse is that I had really forgotten you had grown up, and I was thinking of you as the little girl I had last seen when I was here at Richard’s twenty-first-birthday celebration.”
    As he spoke he thought it was tactless to remind Alvina of her brother’s death, but she said:
    “It was kind of you to write to Papa after Richard was killed, but he would not read ... any of the letters he ... received or allow me to ... reply to them.”
    The Duke did not quite know what to say to this, so, feeling it might be somewhat embarrassing, he walked away from Alvina towards the window, saying as he did so: “It was impossible for me to return before now. Now that I am here, I realise there is a lot for me to see and a great deal for me to learn.”
    “A great ... deal,” she said, and her voice seemed to falter.
    The Duke told himself that she was afraid because of her behaviour in pawning the family treasures.
    When he thought of them, his anger rose in him again, almost like a crimson streak in front of his eyes.
    Yet, because he had disciplined himself to have complete control outwardly over his feelings, he merely said in a cold, icy voice:
    “What I need to have explained, Cousin Alvina, is why you have dared to pawn some of the treasures in this house, which I thought any Harling would regard as sacred.”
    As he spoke he thought he heard a little gasp and told himself she was surprised that he had learnt so soon what she had done.
    He turned round and saw that she had taken off the duster which had protected her hair and also the apron she had been wearing.
    She was very slim, and now he could see that her hair was fair and somewhat untidy. But she looked very young, little more than a child, and certainly not the age he knew her to be.
    She was standing very still, holding the apron and the duster in her hand, and she stared at him with an expression in her eyes which he knew was one of fear.
    “I cannot imagine,” he said sharply, “what your reason could be for behaving in such a dishonourable manner. And I want you, Cousin Alvina, to tell me the truth as to why you were in need of money and for what purpose!
    Once again his voice seemed to ring out a little louder than he had intended.
    As she still stared at him, apparently finding it difficult to answer his question, his anger suddenly boiled over so that he said furiously:
    “Were you trying to trick me because you had no wish to see me in your brother’s place? Or were you providing for some man who had taken your fancy and of whom your father did not approve?”
    He paused to say even more furiously:
    “The pawn-broker, Pinchbeck, tells me this has been going on for nearly three years, ever since your father died, and I cannot imagine anything more underhand and deceitful than that you should behave in a manner which undoubtedly would have hurt and dismayed him had he been aware of it! It has certainly disgusted me!” He finished speaking and waited, and then in a voice he could barely hear Alvina faltered:
    “I ... I can ... explain.”
    “So I should hope,” the Duke interrupted, “and it had better be a good explanation!”
    Again he waited, and Alvina began to say in a choked voice:
    “It was ... because ... Papa ...” she stopped. He then realised that she was trembling as if she could say no more and was unable to hold back the tears that had come to her eyes.
    She then turned and ran away from him down the Library and disappeared through the door.
    The Duke gave an exclamation which was one of exasperation and frustration.
    “Dammit!” he said to himself. “Is that not exactly like a woman? They always resort to tears when they are caught out!”
    He did not really know what to do now that Alvina had left him, but he thought he would have no difficulty in finding someone else he could talk to.
    He looked for a bell, but there appeared not to be one. So