Read When Seducing A Duke for Free Online

the light of day. “But don’t bother saying anything. Everyone knows he’s a lousy drunkard who couldn’t hit the broad side of a coach with a cricket bat.” It was unlikely that society would believe Grey left the house let alone lost a fight to such a man.
    Archer’s dark brows hitched. “You’re very chatty this morning. Not to mention almost congenial. Shall I assume your evening was satisfactory?”
    “Assume whatever you like.” He shoveled a large forkful of eggs into his mouth. Sublime.
    Archer scowled. “Bugger. I’d tell you.”
    Grey inclined his head in agreement as he ripped a chunk off a still warm roll. “You’re not as discreet as I.”
    “What rot! Since when?”
    Pale, creamy butter melted on the soft bread in Grey’s hand. “Since always.” He popped the delicious morsel into his mouth. Had food always tasted this good?
    His brother snorted in disgust and Grey took pity on him. “My night was lovely, Arch. How was yours?” More than lovely, it had mellowed him to such a state that he wasn’t the least bit anxious or agitated about seeing the real Rose. In fact, he’d wager this time he could take her into his arms and give her a welcoming embrace without wondering what it would be like to feel her nipples against his tongue—a thought that had been a genuine low for him given that Rose had been seventeen or eighteen at the time. He’d been eight and twenty and old enough to know better.
    Accepting the bone he’d been tossed, Archer helped himself to a roll as well, only he slathered his with strawberry preserves as well as butter. He grinned. “Enthusiastic,” he replied with a touch of bravado in his rich baritone. “You might even call it downright athletic.”
    Grey picked up a chunk of ham with his fingers and bit off a large bite. “What did you do, bugger the entire Cambridge rowing team?”
    A piece of sticky bread narrowly avoided striking him in the eye and hit his cheek instead. “Twat.”
    As he wiped the jam off his face, Grey laughed—a genuine from-the-belly chortle that felt so good he could hug his insolent younger sibling. It wasn’t long before Archer was laughing with him.
    “I’d give my right nut for a night as lovely as yours must’ve been,” the younger man commented as he refilled both their cups with rich, black coffee. “What was she like?”
    Grey sobered and lifted the cup to his lips. “She was everything I’ve ever wanted.” But as soon as he said the words he knew them to be a lie. “Or as close as I’ll ever have.”
    Archer regarded him carefully, popping a piece of his strawberry-soaked roll into his mouth. “Let me guess—dark hair, fair skin, and an ass you can sink your teeth into?”
    He didn’t know whether to laugh at the accurate description or cuff him for his impertinence. “Something like that.”
    His brother nodded, took another bite, chewed and swallowed. “You know, I’ve never understood why you just don’t marry Lady Rose.”
    And here he’d thought he’d managed to conceal his obsession with Rose. “Because she’s not for me.”
    “That’s just more rot and you know it.”
    Grey sighed. How often had he had this same conversation within himself? It didn’t matter what argument the side of him obsessed with Rose made, the few shreds of decency he had left inside him knew what was right.
    “It’s not up for discussion.”
    Archer shook his head, a sneer curving his wide mouth. “Jesus, Grey. If I were lucky enough to find a woman I wanted that badly, I’d do whatever it took to have her.”
    Another forkful of eggs. “But I can’t have her. There are too many reasons why she and I would never work.”
    “Name one.”
    “She’s enamored of parties and balls and longs to be a social darling.”
    “So get rid of the mask, get your arse out into public, and join her.”
    “I’d rather take out my eye with the jam spoon.”
    Archer shrugged. “Obviously you don’t think that much of her,