Read Duchess 02 - Surprising Lord Jack for Free Online

well wish she’d felt sorry for me.” Dantley shifted in his seat. “I swear I’ll never get feeling back in my arse.”
    Pettigrew snickered, regaining his swagger. “That’s because you’re such a damned spindle shanks.”
    “Well, your arse is bigger than most beds, Ollie.”
    “You mind your manners, Ralph Dantley,” Mrs. Findley said, coming up with food and coffee for Francis and Jack. “Don’t be giving Master Haddon a bad example. If you’ll remember, I know your mother.”
    Dantley flushed. “Yes, Mrs. Findley.”
    He turned to Francis once Mrs. Findley left. “I swear you look familiar, Master . . . Haddon did you say your name was?”
    Francis blanched and nodded. What the hell was the matter now?
    “Don’t you think he looks familiar, Ollie? I’d swear we’d met him someplace.”
    “Where would we have met him, Ralph?” Pettigrew asked, though the oddly cunning expression was back in his eyes. The man was definitely hiding something. “Never say you’ve taken to spending time with”—he paused significantly—“schoolboys. How old are you, whelp?”
    Francis stared at his plate. “N-not quite sixteen.”
    Pettigrew sneered. “Now there’s a whisker if ever I heard one.”
    Dantley held up his quizzing glass to examine Francis’s cheeks. “No, no whiskers, Ollie.”
    The boy’s ears grew red; he looked an uncomfortable mixture of angry, embarrassed, and nervous. And he’d hardly touched his food.
    “Finish your breakfast, Francis,” Jack said quietly, “and then we’ll be on our way.”
    Francis picked up a slice of toast and nibbled on it.
    “So you’re taking him with you?”
    Damn it, Pettigrew was still hinting at something. Jack would like to call the fat toad on it, but Francis was almost vibrating with tension. “Yes. Mrs. Findley asked me to see that he reaches his brother safely in London.”
    Dantley snapped his fingers. “That’s it! I must know the brother. What’s his name?”
    A bit of toast must have gone down the wrong way—Francis started coughing rather violently. Jack slapped him on the back and earned a glare for his efforts.
    The lad took a sip of coffee and cleared his throat. “F-Frederick.”
    “Frederick,” Dantley said. “Frederick Haddon . . .” He shook his head. “No, I don’t know any Frederick Haddons, but I do know a Frederick Had ley .”
    Francis grew even whiter. Jack put a steadying hand on his elbow; it was a measure of how upset the boy was that he didn’t try to shake him off.
    “Right,” Pettigrew said, grinning slyly. “I know the fellow, too. Now that you mention it, there is a resemblance. The boy’s got the same ginger hair.”
    “Lots of men have red hair,” Jack said. Damn, Francis was almost green now. Was he going to lose what little breakfast he’d ingested?
    “Yes, you’re right. It must just be a coincidence.” Pettigrew smiled as he looked at Francis. “I’m sure Frederick Had ley had only a sister—a twin, if I recall correctly.”

Chapter 3

    Surprises lurk around every corner.
    —Venus’s Love Notes

    Pettigrew knows.
    Frances sat in Lord Jack’s curricle as it bowled along the road to London. The sun was out, the ice had melted, and she was warm under a heavy carriage fur.
    Except for the chill gripping her heart.
    She fisted her hands. So Pettigrew knew—or rather, he suspected. He could not be certain. Who would think Miss Frances Hadley of Landsford would dress as a man?
    Everyone.
    Blast it, she’d heard the damn whispers. She wasn’t deaf, though many people seemed to think she was. People had said for years she was mannish, that breeches would fit her better than skirts. But it was all jealousy. She was just smarter and more capable than the local men, and the fact that she didn’t bother to hide it put their noses out of joint.
    And of course Aunt Viola had seen her set off in Frederick’s castoffs. Not that Viola would ever gossip with the villagers, but she’d been screaming so