Read The Duke's Men [1] What the Duke Desires for Free Online

while.”
    Lyons muttered an oath under his breath. “You realize I could bring half a dozen officers
     in here to search the place for the information I seek.”
    It was her turn to cast him a withering stare. “Youcould. But you’ll find that such behavior will only make me more recalcitrant. By
     the time you can return with officers, I will have spirited away any information of
     use to you. And then you’ll have to toss me in gaol to get anything out of me.”
    He blinked, then surprised her by letting out a harsh laugh. “You make a formidable
     adversary, Miss Bonnaud.”
    “I take that as a compliment,” she said archly.
    “Of course you do. Very well, I’ll tell you what I know if you’ll tell me what you know.” He nodded at Skrimshaw. “But only if we can continue this conversation in
     private.”
    Now that she’d won the skirmish, she began to be worried about the battle. If he wanted
     privacy, Tristan must have done something very bad indeed.
    “Certainly, Your Grace,” she said shakily, then turned to Skrimshaw. “If you’d be
     so good as to ask Mrs. Biddle to bring us tea, we shall take it upstairs in the study.
     I believe this discussion is going to require it.”
    “It will require something more than tea, I expect,” Skrimshaw muttered as he took
     the duke’s hat and coat, then headed for the back of the house.
    Lisette began climbing the stairs. “If you’ll follow me, sir, I’m sure we can sort
     out this muddle.”
    The duke fell into step behind her. “I damned well hope so.”
    So did she. Because if she couldn’t handle this to the duke’s satisfaction, she had
     a feeling the result would be disaster for both of her brothers. And she would do
     just about anything to prevent that.

2

    M AXIMILIAN C ALE, THE Duke of Lyons, followed the young woman, marveling that she’d called his bluff. And
     his threat to bring in the authorities had been a bluff—he didn’t want them involved if he could avoid it. Given the enormity
     of the situation and the gossip it would spawn if it were known, he was better off
     dealing with it privately.
    Still, he’d hoped to bully her into giving him Manton’s whereabouts. He stared at
     the rigid back of the woman who climbed the creaking stairs before him, then shook
     his head. Apparently he had underestimated Miss Bonnaud’s tenacity.
    He dredged his mind for the little information he’d gleaned about the Manton and Bonnaud
     families through the years, but could only remember that Tristan Bonnaud and his sister
     were the illegitimate children of the Viscount Rathmoor by a French actress.
    It showed. Her accent was tempered with a softness in the consonants that reminded
     him of the French,even though her word choice was thoroughly English. And though her forthright manner
     and surprising height differentiated her from the delicately flirtatious Frenchwomen
     who nightly populated the theaters, like them, she had a flair for the dramatic.
    No doubt she would have a flair for something else, too. Her thinly veiled derriere,
     displayed at his eye level, gave him an excellent view of certain feminine charms.
     She moved with an economy of motion so fluid that he wondered if she would move the
     same way in bed.
    Holy God, what was he thinking? He wasn’t here for that, and she was the last person
     he ought to be noticing in such a fashion. Though it was hard not to notice when she was dressed so . . . informally, her raven hair tumbling down
     her back in a welter of black curls that shimmered and swirled with every step.
    And the scent of some elusive French perfume that wafted down to him in her wake—
    “Do you live here, Miss Bonnaud?” he asked in an attempt to keep his mind off the
     seductive form ahead of him. “Or are you just visiting?”
    “This is my home.” She reached the top and moved down the hall to stand before an
     open door. “I manage the administrative portion of Manton’s Investigations for my