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

brother.”
    “Ah.”
    As he came abreast of her, she gestured into the room. “If you’ll wait in here, sir,
     I’ll go make myself more presentable.”
    He would prefer that. Even in the dim light, hecould see the ripe curves of her breasts outlined in semitransparent linen.
    He suppressed a groan. “Of course.”
    After she left, he shook off his absurd preoccupation with the woman’s appearance
     and glanced about, noting the cheap but clean draperies, the battered oak furniture,
     and the surprising touches of feminine color—a vase filled with lilacs and an elaborately
     embroidered cushion. The place didn’t look sinister, but then, what did?
    He strode to the desk to see what he could find, but Bonnaud’s sister must be a very
     capable office manager indeed—nothing worthy of perusal lay on top. The drawers were
     locked, probably to keep their contents from the prying eyes of servants, and the
     bookshelves revealed only tomes with such titles as Elements of Medical Jurisprudence and The Newgate Calendar and The Proceedings of the Old Bailey. Clearly Manton took his duties as an investigator very seriously.
    “Find anything of interest?” Miss Bonnaud clipped out from the doorway.
    Returning the book he was holding to its shelf, he said unapologetically, “You know
     I did not. You have everything in this office locked up tight. It makes a man wonder
     what you are striving so hard to hide.”
    “No more than you are, I imagine,” she said in that same throaty voice that had first
     made him mistake her for Manton’s mistress.
    Her gown did little to correct that misapprehension. Oh, it was respectable enough,
     but its excellent cut showed her figure to good effect, and the blue andgreen stripes set off skin as creamy as Sevres porcelain and a red mouth as lush as
     it was unsmiling.
    She was a French rose growing wild amid the hothouse flowers of London. And when she
     sat down behind the desk and shimmied to adjust her billowing skirt, his eyes again
     went inexorably to the impressive bosom that filled out her bodice.
    “Now, what exactly has Tristan done to have you show up here at the crack of dawn?”
     she asked bluntly.
    He jerked his gaze up to meet the cool blue eyes glittering at him from beneath a
     fringe of riotous black curls barely contained by hairpins.
    “For one thing, your brother asked me to meet with him at a tavern last night, then
     disappeared before I could arrive.”
    The color drained from her cheeks. “Tristan really is in London? No, it’s impossible.
     He wouldn’t come here.”
    “Why not?” he asked as he approached the desk.
    Her gaze grew shuttered. “Because . . . because he doesn’t like England.” She forced
     a smile. “And he has a very good position working for the . . . authorities in France.”
    That was so vague as to make him suspicious. “What authorities?” He leaned forward
     to plant his hands on the desk. “Where? Doing what?”
    Her gaze shot up to his, obstinate once more. “I’m not telling you anything until
     you explain what he’s done wrong. I hardly think missing a meeting with you is a crime.”
    Pushing away from the desk, Maximilian bit back a curse. How much should he say? At
     the very least, he had to explain what the rest of England had known since he was
     a boy. It was the only way to impress upon her the seriousness of the situation. “Tell
     me, Miss Bonnaud, what have you heard about my family?”
    “Nothing, I’m afraid,” she admitted almost apologetically, which made him inclined
     to believe her. “I lived in France until recently, and I didn’t keep up with the English
     papers. Since I’ve been here, I’ve had little time to do more than help Dom organize
     his office.”
    “So you’re unaware that I had an elder brother.”
    “If that’s true, then why isn’t he the du—” She halted with a flush. “Oh, you had an elder brother.”
    “Precisely. Peter was kidnapped very young, and we