My Inconvenient Duke (Difficult Dukes #3)

Chapter 30

Evening of Friday 6 September 1833

The sun had set and the moon hadn’t yet risen when Lord Worbury entered the coffee room of the Fox and Hare.

He arrived early in order to make sure he wouldn’t encounter any of his acquaintance, good or bad. Even though this coaching

inn was not the sort that catered to persons of quality, a little extra caution did no harm.

He’d been extremely careful about the location. In a coaching inn, a travel bag would be a common sight. The neighborhood

ought to be reasonably safe yet well away from the major, bustling hostelries.

He needed to get in and out quickly and easily.

The run-down Fox and Hare suited well enough. Stagecoaches and farm wagons formed its primary clientele. Its accommodations

were primitive.

Still, he surveyed his surroundings several times, to be sure all was as it ought to be.

His confederates didn’t worry him. Bill and Abner had done the odd bit of work for him from time to time. Nothing too complicated

or risky. Sadly, certain persons to whom his lordship owed money fell into the too-risky category.

Making off with a child, though, was child’s play, ha-ha, they’d told him. They did not care about whys and wherefores. They did not ask annoying questions. What they asked was simple: their fee and the child’s whereabouts. Worbury promised them fifty pounds—twenty-five apiece. He’d paid ten in advance. Practical matters settled, the pair needed no further details.

Earlier in the day they’d sent a message via ticket porter to the place where he received mail and messages under an assumed

name. He’d written the message as well as the ransom note when they took the assignment, because they were illiterate. Two

words sufficed: Got him . Bill had turned it this way and that and squinted at it before declaring that it would do.

Now, seeing no signs of unwanted visitors, Worbury claimed a box compartment at one of the windows looking out into the stable

yard, and ordered coffee.

He looked at his watch. Thanks to the dip in his finances, it wasn’t the fine quality of the one he’d lost last year at the

time of the ghastly experience with the so-called Georgie Foster. As to that...

It couldn’t be helped. Worbury would rather have arranged for the Blackwoods to receive the filthy brat’s mangled body, but

one couldn’t have everything, and he was in dire need of money.

Even they wouldn’t pay five hundred pounds for a corpse.

His coffee arrived, and a moment later, a plain-looking woman and her family came through the door. A widow, no doubt. Widows

were one of his specialties. Not this one. Judging by her and her offspring’s threadbare attire, he’d find no profit there.

Two more people entered. Coachmen. Hat brims pulled low. Blue glasses, as some wore against the glare of the sun, though there wasn’t much sun in the coffee room. Speckled neckerchiefs up to their chins. Shabby coats.

No, this inn did not attract premier travelers or drivers.

He heard nearby church bells strike seven.

A while later, two large figures darkened the door. One carried a carpetbag. They looked about the coffee room.

They were not Bill and Abner.

Worbury took out his watch and frowned at it. A quarter past seven. They ought to have had more than sufficient time to get

here from St. Botolph’s.

“They’re not coming.”

He looked up.

One of the coachmen stood looking down at him.

He took off his blue glasses. He was a she. A she to whom he was related.

Worbury’s gaze shot from the Duchess of Blackwood to the man who carried a carpetbag.

“Not him,” said Her Grace. “Mr. Ford and Mr. Grigg are engaged elsewhere. They send their regrets. They’ve sent the bag as

well, because you’ll need it.”

Worbury leapt up, fist drawn back to knock her out of the way.

Blackwood—the other coachman—set his hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down onto the seat.

“I wouldn’t try that if I were you,” the duke said. “She hits back. Hard.”

Sweat broke out on Worbury’s forehead. “I don’t know what this is about. I was here peaceably enjoying a cup of coffee.”

“Of course you were.” Alice slid onto the seat opposite. “And we’d like to keep the peace. For instance, we’re strongly opposed to kidnapping and holding children for ransom. And do you know, Mr. Ford and Mr. Grigg are strongly opposed to fraud and double-dealing. They were shocked to learn that the ransom they were to collect was five hundred pounds, not one hundred.”

Worbury stiffened.

“Foolish fellows,” Blackwood said. “Half for you and half for them, you told them. They trusted you.”

“They’re not happy now,” Alice said. “It took our combined efforts, along with the kind offices of an acquaintance, to prevent

their coming here to cut your throat.”

“Clean off your head.” Blackwood made a slashing gesture across his neck. “That was the idea.”

“Naturally, we discouraged them,” Alice said. “So untidy. I’ve heard that a garotte is more efficient.”

Worbury looked wildly about him.

“Were you thinking of calling for help?” Alice said. “Please do. I’m curious what you’ll say.”

“I don’t want to cause you any more embarrassment than you’ve caused yourself,” Worbury said. “I’ve done nothing. I don’t

know what sort of scoundrels you’ve been talking to, but this is all nonsense. I don’t know anything about any kidnapping

or five hundred pounds or one hundred pounds, and I don’t know these men you’re talking about, whoever they are.”

Blackwood shoved Worbury aside and sat down next to him, blocking escape.

“Very well,” he said. “You know nothing about it, and what can we prove, after all?”

Alice took out a piece of paper and looked at it. “Not very much, it seems. Outstanding debts to...” She pushed the paper toward Worbury. “Have I got the figures right?” She shrugged. “Maybe it doesn’t matter. They’ve found out where in Chelsea you’ve been holed up. I can’t promise that they’ll be waiting for you, but it does seem likely.”

Worbury stared at the paper, his face going white.

“Don’t forget the other thing, my dear,” Blackwood said.

“Oh, yes. As of now, you’ve acquired a shadow or two.” She glanced over at the widow—more usually known as Maggie Proudie—who

nodded. “Or five. A dozen? Enough, at any rate. They’ve all had a good look at you. Henceforth, no matter where you go in

London, they’ll be there. Somewhere. Your creditors will pay handsomely for the information.”

Blackwood signaled, and the man with the carpetbag approached the table. He set the bag down at the duke’s feet and withdrew

to a table near Maggie’s.

“The bag does not contain five hundred pounds,” Alice said. “It contains what Mr. Ford and Mr. Grigg claim was your share

of the alleged ransom for the alleged kidnapping of our stable boy. Fifty pounds. For travel expenses.”

“But I...” Worbury trailed off, his panicked gaze going here, there, and finding escape nowhere.

“A hackney awaits outside to take you to the Tower Stairs,” Alice went on. “There you’ll find a pair of travel companions

waiting for you with tickets for the next steam packet to Calais. You won’t be lonely. Your new friends will see you onto

the packet and across the Channel to your destination.” She beamed at him. “There. A trip abroad. For health reasons. Won’t

that be pleasant?”

A hackney coach took Alice and Blackwood back to Blackwood House.

“And to think I once believed marriage a dull business, the sort of thing a man did not contemplate until he was tired of life,” he said.

“It will seem dull after this,” she said.

“That I very much doubt.” He studied her for a moment, then turned his attention to the coach’s dark interior. Probably best

not to see it in daylight. He looked down at himself. “I truly hope these garments do not house vermin.”

“I recommend a hot bath,” she said.

“You’d better examine me for unwanted creatures first.”

“It will be my pleasure. But you will need to remove all of your clothing.”

“Must I?”

“You don’t want me to miss anything.”

“I have a feeling you won’t. You will not spare my blushes.”

“Probably not. But of course you will need to serve me in the same way. I shall be obliged to remove every stitch. I shall

be hot with shame.”

“Because you are so shy and modest and delicate. So decorous and circumspect. What else is it that draws me to you? Your quiet

demeanor and dignified reserve—except when you are threatening to break teeth or knocking a fellow on his arse.”

“I didn’t knock Bray on his arse. He lost his balance.”

He leant back against the seat. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Tonight, you mean?”

“Yes, that was fun, too. Being with you is fun. Being married to you is even more fun. I ought to have done it years ago.”

“Years ago I wouldn’t have you.”

“But you had me eventually.”

“I was between a rock and a hard place.” She shrugged. “I’ve tried to make the best of it.”

“I believe you’ve made the best of me,” he said. “I do love you, Alice.”

He heard her breath catch, and it dawned on him then that he’d never said the words aloud. Thought them countless times.

Idiot.

She turned toward him. “Do you, indeed? Or has the recent excitement addled your brain?”

“I suspect I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you climbing out of the window at Camberley Place.”

“I haven’t loved you nearly as long,” she said.

It was his turn to catch his breath.

She continued: “Only from the time you didn’t interrupt when Cassandra and I pummeled Worbury.”

“I remember you smiled at me. Was that love?”

“Very possibly. Who can tell, at the age of twelve? Then, when I was seventeen—”

“I’m sorry about that,” he said. “I was a stupid boy. Very stupid.”

“No, you were a gentleman,” she said.

“Worse and worse.”

“You might have done what you liked with me. I didn’t realize then. Girls are kept in ignorance.”

“I was clumsy and unkind all the same.”

“You did me a kindness. You were nineteen. And I went away to have a life more interesting and independent than most girls

are allowed.”

“And to become the woman you are,” he said. “Very well, then. It was not well done of me, but it might have been worse.”

“Never mind the past,” she said. “We’ve accomplished great things this day and night. Let us celebrate.”

And they did. After scrupulous physical examinations and a shared bath, they celebrated in the time-honored custom of loving couples everywhere.

Then, about the time dawn broke, Blackwood awoke, and knew what he had to do.