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

had no word of him until the year
     of his seventeenth birthday, when he was found dead in Belgium.”
    He could still hear Mother’s voice in the hours before her own death. Where is my son? I want my son! And she hadn’t been calling for Maximilian.
    Shoving that painful memory back into the fortress he kept it in, he went on. “Last
     night a boy came to my London town house while I was at dinner with friends. He bore
     a note for me from a gentleman at a tavern near the docks, who turned out to be your
     brother, saying he had information regarding Peter.” He fixed her with a hard gaze.
     “He claimed that Peter is alive.”
    She paled, clearly recognizing the ramifications of that.
    “He knew that would draw me out,” Maximilianwent on. “He said he would wait for me at the Swan and Bull until three a.m. But when
     I arrived before midnight, your scoundrel of a brother was nowhere to be found.”
    “What did the messenger boy have to say about that?” she asked shakily.
    “Nothing. He disappeared the minute he saw that the ‘gentleman’ was gone.” Anger roiled
     in him again. “I waited until three, but neither the boy nor your brother ever returned.
     Thinking I might have somehow missed Bonnaud, I went home to see if another note had
     been left there. Nothing. So I remembered his connection to Manton, woke my friend
     Jackson Pinter to learn of Manton’s whereabouts, and came here, hoping to find Bonnaud
     here as well.”
    He could tell from her agitation that he’d shaken her. Good. She needed to understand
     how important this was.
    “I swear to you that neither of my brothers is here.”
    “I believe you.” If she were hiding Bonnaud, she would have tried to hurry him out
     the door instead of inviting him upstairs for this chat. “But he must be somewhere
     in London, or he wouldn’t have requested that meeting.”
    “Are you absolutely certain it was my brother?” she asked, clear worry in her voice.
     “There must be any number of Frenchmen with his name.”
    “Ah, but none that I know. You see, I met Bonnaud once at a race when your father brought him and introduced
     him around. Rathmoor said he was planning tobuy your brother a commission in the cavalry when he came of age, so he spoke to my
     father about the regiment Father supported. While they talked, Bonnaud and I chatted
     about horses. The note alludes to that.”
    She swallowed. “You have the note with you?”
    He hesitated but saw no reason to keep it from her. Drawing it out, he tossed it onto
     the desk.
    She snatched it up and read hastily. He knew exactly what she was seeing. He’d already
     memorized every word.
    Dear Duke of Lyons,
    You may not remember, but we met on a hot summer day when I was fourteen. At the time,
     I remarked on the handsome handkerchief you refused to use to wipe your brow, and
     you explained that it had sentimental value, being a special one made just for members
     of your family.
    I recently saw another of its kind and realized that the man carrying it, whom I consider
     a friend, bore a remarkable resemblance to Your Grace. Judging from things he has
     told me, I believe he may very well be a certain missing relation of yours whom you
     and I discussed briefly on that day years ago.
    I can say no more at present, in case this falls into the wrong hands, but for proof
     of my suspicions, I enclose a rubbing of the embroidery on the handkerchief. If you
     will be so good as to accompany this messenger to meetme, I will show the item to you in person, and you may judge its veracity then.
    Your servant,
    Tristan Bonnaud
    “Well?” he snapped. “It’s his signature, is it not?”
    She raised a stunned gaze to him. “Yes. But I don’t understand. How could Tristan
     possibly have come across your brother’s handkerchief?”
    “That’s what I want to know. More importantly, I want to know what he’s trying to get from me. I
     doubt seriously that he has noble intentions. He wants