Read The Theft of a Dukedom for Free Online Page B

next
year, if that is what you would like.
I can’t tell you how sorry I am.
Your devastated friend,
Sidney Bostwick,
2 nd Earl of Havant
    Charles looked up at his father’s face. ‘So it
would appear that he bit off more than he could chew,
this time.’ He sighed. ‘Have you told Kitty yet?’
    ‘No. She’s just gone to the dressmaker with
Agatha. I’ll tell her when she gets back.’ Thomas stared
at the table. ‘If I can find the courage.’
    Charles leaned forward and placed his hand on
his father’s arm. ‘Father?’ Thomas looked up at his only
son. ‘It would have happened here eventually. Robin
was getting more and more uncontrollable even before
I left for the Peninsular. With hindsight, maybe he
should have gone to war, he would have found Spain a
balm for his tormented soul.’
    ‘Instead you went out there with stars in your
eyes and came home with them full of horror.’ He shook
his head. ‘I just thought you should know. You are now
without question the Marquis and a ducal heir. Once
the word of Robin’s demise circulates, the women will
throw themselves at your title. Be more like Kitty, than
Robin, and try to keep them at a distance.’ He laughed
suddenly. ‘I don’t advocate a celibate life, but be
cautious. I don’t want to have to pay out any more
paternity payments. Robin has five illegitimate children
scattered about as it is.’
    ‘I’ll promise you this, father.’ He laughed. ‘If I am
stupid enough to make an ingénue pregnant, I’ll marry
her and save your pocket!’
    ‘My advice would be to stay away from the
young debutants,’ Richard offered, ‘if I gained any
knowledge of life in Spain that was the first lesson!
Innocent young ladies are only approached when you
want a wife!’ All three men laughed heartily, banishing
the sombre mood at the table.
    ‘Well, father. Did you ask her?’ Charles enquired
with raised eyebrows.
‘I did. And she has accepted my proposal. So
there will definitely be one wedding this year.’
‘And Kitty will have a new mother.’
‘I don’t think Kitty needs a mother and she
certainly won’t need one if she manages to find a
husband before the season ends.’
‘She won’t.’ Charles said with conviction.
‘Ponsonby has been the forerunner and last night he
blew it!’
‘Yes, he did rather do the most stupid thing.’
Thomas agreed. ‘I did warn him not to manhandle her,
but it seems he didn’t listen.’
‘I don’t understand?’ Richard asked softly.
‘Ponsonby is one of the beau’s vying for Kitty’s
hand this season. He made the mistake of grabbing her
arm and trying to frogmarch her away from an
unsettling incident last night.’ Charles said calmly,
although Richard could see he was affronted to witness
his sister being handled by a man.
‘You didn’t see the marks on her arm when he
released it. It was no gentle persuasion and that’s why
Kitty dug her heels in and wouldn’t be moved.’ Thomas
explained.
‘Is it true about the devilled eggs?’ Charles asked
softly.
‘Yes. It seems to me every time Kitty is in a
ballroom some clumsy oaf spills his food or drink on her.
That time she was wearing a beautiful claret coloured
silk gown and she had to spend the evening with cream
splodges all over it. Last night she wore a cream gown
and ended up with claret on it.’ Thomas shook his head.
‘Who spilled the eggs?’ Charles asked even more
sibilantly and Richard looked sharply at him. He’d heard
that cold whisper before, just before Charles had
lurched out of a foxhole and killed a French soldier that
was trying to rape a local Spanish girl. He vividly
remembered the spray of blood as Charles drew his
knife across the Frenchman’s throat and the flurry of
skirts as the girl tumbled into the foxhole. When the
Frenchman had stopped gurgling, Charles had hefted
him on his shoulder and walked away in the dark to
deposit the body away from their lines. The girl turned
out to be about thirteen years old and she was