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Synopsis
From a New York Times bestselling author and one of "the very best in today's Regency romance" (Elizabeth Hoyt) comes the story of the unconventional Wentworth family in this charming new series with a Cinderella twist.
One minute, London banker Quinn Wentworth is facing execution. The next, he's declared the long-lost heir to a dukedom. Quinn has fought his way up from the worst slums, and now he's ready to use every dirty trick he knows to find the enemy who schemed against him.
Jane Winston, the widowed and pregnant, crosses paths with Quinn while her father is preaching to the prisoners. Believing his days are numbered, Quinn offers her marriage as a way to guarantee her independence and provide for her child. Neither thinks they'll actually have a future together.
He's a wealthy gutter rat out for vengeance. She's a minister's daughter who must turn a marriage of desperation into a proper ducal union. Are they doomed from the start or destined for a happily-ever-after?
Also includes the bonus novella Once Upon a Christmas Eve from New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Hoyt!
When his carriage wheel snaps in a snowstorm, Adam Rutledge, Viscount d'Arque, is forced to seek shelter at the home of the most maddening, infuriating, and utterly beguiling woman he's ever met.
Release date: November 6, 2018
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Print pages: 464
* BingeBooks earns revenue from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate as well as from other retail partners.
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My One and Only Duke
Grace Burrowes
Chapter One
“You isn’t to be hanged on Monday!” Ned declared. “Old Fletcher’s got the bloody flux. Can’t stir but two feet from the chamber pot. Warden says no hangings on Monday!”
Joy was the first casualty in Newgate prison. When Ned skipped into Quinn Wentworth’s cell, the boy’s rare, angelic smile thus had a greater impact than his words. An uncomfortable emotion stirred, something Quinn might once have called hope but now considered a useless reflex.
“You mean I won’t be hanged this Monday.”
Consternation replaced ebullience on the grimy little face. “Old Fletcher might die, sir, and then who would they find to do the business? Your family will get you out, see if they don’t.”
Quinn had forbidden his siblings to “get him out.” Abetting the escape of a convicted felon was itself a hanging felony, as were 219 other crimes, among them stealing anything valued at more than twelve pence.
“Thank you for bringing me the news,” Quinn said. “Have you eaten today?”
Ned studied ten dirty little toes. “Not so’s I’d notice.”
All manner of strange protocols applied in Newgate. One of the most powerful and feared bankers in London could invite a pickpocket to dine, for example, simply because the banker had learned that company—any company at all—was a distraction from impending death.
Despite the signed warrant dictating Quinn’s fate, his cell might have been a successful solicitor’s quarters. The floor was carpeted, the bed covered with clean linen, the desk stocked with paper, quill pen, two pencils, ink, and even—such was the honor expected of a wealthy felon—a penknife. The window let in fresh air and a precious square of sunlight, which Quinn valued more than all of the room’s other comforts combined.
Even in the relatively commodious state quarters, the foodstuffs had to be kept in a bag tied to the rafters, lest the rodents help themselves uninvited. The pitcher of ale on the windowsill was covered to prevent flies from drowning themselves along with their sorrows.
“Fetch the ale,” Quinn said. “We’ll share some bread and cheese.”
Ned was stronger and faster than he looked, and more than capable of getting the ale without spilling a drop. Quinn, by contrast, usually tried to appear less muscular and fit than he was. The warden had taken one pitying look at him and muttered about the big ones dying quickest on the end of a rope.
That comment—a casual, not intentionally cruel observation—had made real the fact of execution by order of the Crown. Hanged by the neck until dead, as the judge had said. The proper fate in the eyes of the law for most who violated the Sixth Commandment.
Though to be accurate, Quinn’s crime was manslaughter rather than murder, else even all of his coin might have been insufficient to earn him quarters outside the dungeons.
“Shall I get the bread?” Ned asked.
The child was being polite, which ought not to be possible, given his upbringing—or perhaps he was being cautious.
Incarceration had also revealed in Quinn a latent propensity for rumination. What would death by hanging be like? Was the point of the proceeding to end the felon’s life, or to subject him to such awful, public indignity that he welcomed his own demise?
“The bread, sir?” Ned’s gaze had grown wary.
“And the cheese,” Quinn said, taking down the sack suspended from the rafter. Cutting the bread required patient use of the penknife. Davies, Quinn’s self-appointed man-of-all-work, and Penny, the whore-turned-chambermaid, were privileged to carry knives, but Quinn shuddered to contemplate what improprieties those knives had got up to when their owners had been at liberty.
Quinn set the food on the table, cut two thick slices of bread for the boy, situated cheese between them, and poured the child some ale.
Pewter tankards, no less. That would be Althea’s influence, as was the washstand with the porcelain pitcher and basin. Quinn had been born in the poorest of York’s slums, but saw no need to die looking like a ruffian.
“Aren’t you hungry, sir?” Ned had wolfed down half his sandwich and spoken with his mouth full.
Quinn took a sip of fine summer ale. “Not particularly.”
“But you must keep up your strength. My brother Bob told me that before he was sent off. Said when the magistrate binds you over, the most important thing is to keep up your strength. You durst not go before the judge looking hangdog and defeated. You can’t run very far on an empty belly neither.”
The boy had lowered his voice on that last observation.
“I’ll not be escaping, Ned,” Quinn said gently. “I’ve been found guilty and I must pay the price.” Though escape might be possible. Such an undertaking wanted vast sums of money—which Quinn had—and a willingness to live the life of a fugitive, which Quinn lacked.
“Why is the Quality all daft?” Ned muttered, around another mouthful of bread and cheese. “You find a bloke what looks half like you and has the consumption. You pay his family enough to get by, more than the poor sod would have earned in his lifetime, and you pike off on Sunday night leaving the bloke in your place. The poor sod ends his suffering Monday morning knowing the wife and brats is well set, you get to live. It’s been done.”
Everything unspeakable, ingenious, and bold had been done by those enjoying the king’s hospitality. That was another lesson Quinn had gleaned from incarceration. He’d seen schemes and bribes and stupid wagers by the score among London’s monied classes, but sheer effrontery and true derring-do were still the province of the desperate.
He’d also learned, too late, that he wanted to live. He wanted to be a better brother and a lazier banker. He wanted to learn the names of the harp tunes Althea so loved, and to read a book or two simply to have the excuse to sit quietly by a warm fire of a winter night.
He wanted…
What he wanted no longer mattered, if it ever had. The reprieve Ned spoke of was more burden than blessing, because Quinn was fated to die, awfully, publicly, and painfully, whether he’d committed murder, manslaughter, or neither.
“If you’re not going to eat that, guv, it shouldn’t go to waste.”
Quinn passed over his sandwich. “My appetite seems to have deserted me.”
Ned tore the sandwich in half and put half in his pocket. For later, for another boy less enterprising or fortunate than Ned. For the birds—the child loved birds—or a lucky mouse.
Quinn had lost not only his appetite for food, but also his interest in all yearnings. He did not long to see his siblings one last time—what was there to say? He certainly had no desire for a woman, though they were available in quantity even in prison. He had no wish to pen one of those sermonizing final letters he’d written for six other men in the previous weeks.
Those convicts had faced transportation, while Quinn faced the gallows. His affairs were scrupulously in order and had escaped forfeiture as a result of his forethought.
He wanted peace, perhaps.
And justice. That went without saying.
The door banged open—it was unlocked during daylight—and the under-warden appeared. “Wait in here, ma’am. You’ll be safe enough, and I see that we’re enjoying a feast. Perhaps the famous Mr. Wentworth will offer you a portion.” The jailer flicked a bored glance over Ned, who’d ducked his head and crammed the last of the food into his mouth.
A woman—a lady—entered the cell. She was tall, dark-haired, and her attire was plain to a fault.
Not a criminal, then. A crusader.
“Bascomb,” Quinn said, rising. “My quarters are not Newgate’s family parlor. The lady can wait elsewhere.” He bowed to the woman.
She surprised him by dropping into a graceful curtsy. “I must wait somewhere, Mr. Wentworth. Papa will be forever in the common wards, and I do not expect to be entertained. I am Jane Winston.”
She was bold, as most crusaders were. Also pretty. Her features were Madonna-perfect, from a chin neither receding nor prominent, to exquisitely arched brows, a wide mouth, high forehead, and intelligent dark eyes. The cameo was marred by a nose a trifle on the confident side, which made her face more interesting.
She wore a voluminous cloak of charcoal gray, bits of straw clinging to the hem.
“As you can see,” Quinn replied, “we are a company of gentlemen here, and an unchaperoned lady would not be comfortable in our midst.”
The warden snickered. “Wait here or leave the premises, ma’am. Them’s your choices, and you don’t get a say, Wentworth. I don’t care if you was banker to King George himself.”
As long as Quinn drew breath he had a say. “I am convicted of taking an innocent life, Miss Winston. Perhaps you might see fit to excuse yourself now?”
He wanted her to leave, because she was an inconvenient reminder of life beyond a death sentence, where women were pretty, regrets were a luxury, and money meant more than pewter tankards and a useless writing desk.
And Quinn wanted her to stay. Jane Winston was pleasing to look at, had the courage of her convictions, and had probably never committed anything approaching a crime. She’d doubtless sinned in her own eyes—coveting a second rum bun, lingering beneath warm covers for an extra quarter hour on the Sabbath. Heinous transgressions in her world.
He also wanted her to stay because frightening the people around him had stopped amusing him before he’d turned twelve. Even Ned didn’t turn his back on Quinn for more than an instant, and Davies remained as close to the unlocked door as possible without giving outright offense. The wardens were careful not to be alone with Quinn, and the whores offered their services with an air of nervous bravado.
Miss Winston’s self-possession wafted on the air like expensive perfume. Confident, subtle, unmistakable.
“If a mere boy can break bread with you, then I don’t have much to fear,” she said, “and my father will expect me to wait for him. Papa is easily vexed. Do you have a name, child?”
Ned remained silent, sending a questioning glance at Quinn.
“He is Edward, of indeterminate surname,” Quinn said. “Make your bow, Ned.”
Ned had asked Quinn to teach him this nicety and grinned at a chance to show off his manners. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Winston.”
“I’ll be leaving,” the guard said. “You can chat about the weather over tea and crumpets until…” He grinned, showing brown, crooked teeth. “Until next Monday.”
“Prison humor.” Miss Winston stripped off her gloves. Kid, mended around the right index finger. The stitching was almost invisible, but a banker learned to notice details of dress. “I might be here for a good while. Shall you regale me with a tale about what brought you to this sorry pass, Mr. Wentworth?”
The lady took the seat Ned had vacated, and she looked entirely at ease, her cloak settling around her like an ermine cape.
“You don’t read the papers?” Quinn asked.
“Papa would have apoplexies if he caught me reading that drivel. We have souls to save.”
“I don’t think I’d like your father. Might I have a seat?” Because—for reasons known only to the doomed—Quinn wanted to sit down with her.
“This is your abode. Of course you should have a seat. You need not feed me or offer me drink. I’m sure you can better use your provisions for bribes. I can read to you from the Bible or quote at tiresome length from Fordyce’s Sermons if you like.”
“I do not like,” Quinn said, slicing off a portion of cheese. He was a convicted felon, but he was a convicted felon who’d taken pains to learn the manners of his betters. Then too, somebody had to set an example for the boy. Quinn managed to cut off a slice of bread with the penknife and passed the bread and cheese to Miss Winston.
She regarded his offering with a seriousness the moment did not warrant. “You can spare this? You can honestly spare this?”
“I will be grievously offended if you disdain my hospitality,” Quinn said. “Had I known you were coming, I’d have ordered the kitchen to use the good silver.”
Ned cast him a nervous glance, but Miss Winston caught the joke. Her smile was utterly unexpected. Instead of a prim, nipfarthing little pinch of the lips, she grinned at Quinn as if he’d inspired her to hilarity in the midst of a bishop’s sermon. Her gaze warmed, her shoulders lifted, her lips curved with glee.
“The everyday will do splendidly,” she said, accepting her portion of the humble fare. “So whom are you supposed to have killed?”
Chapter Two
That Papa would forget his only daughter was nothing new. Jane had learned to appreciate his forgetfulness—let others listen to his moralizing—though he was growing worse.
He always grew worse around the anniversary of Mama’s death. Then his visits to the prisons and poorhouses became incessant. Jane accompanied him because he demanded it, also because she feared for his well-being.
She needn’t have. Few places were safer than the inside of Newgate jail during daylight. Her present host—not the first condemned man she’d met—watched her guardedly, as if she were the unpredictable element in the room.
Courts erred all the time. The guilty went free and the innocent were convicted, but Mr. Wentworth had not one shred of innocence about his bearing. He struck Jane as dangerous rather than wicked. If he had taken a life, he’d faced his opponent head-on and waged a fair fight.
“Surely, Miss Winston, we can find a more cheerful topic than my late victim? One mustn’t speak ill of the dead, and in my present situation, speaking well of the deceased eludes me.”
The delicacy of Mr. Wentworth’s words was undermined by a Yorkshire accent that suggested generations of hard winters and harder work.
He would have made a fine picture behind a plough or at a forge. His height came with a pair of broad shoulders that some tailor had clad in an exquisite lawn shirt. The tucks where the sleeve gathered at the shoulder were so small and numerous, Jane would have gone blind stitching them. His waistcoat was burgundy with gold embroidery and perfectly balanced ostentation with good taste.
He wore no coat—a terrible breach of propriety elsewhere—but different rules applied in prison. He might be paying for these comforts with that coat, or the guards might have plucked it from him “for safekeeping.” Hanging was a messy business, and few men went to their executions in Sunday attire.
Mr. Wentworth took down a pewter mug from the quarter shelves built into a corner and poured half a tankard of ale.
“We’re fresh out of tea.” He set the mug before her and resumed his seat. “I do apologize. Is the fare not to your liking?”
The question became…mythological, with shades of Persephone in the underworld. Hades in this case was dark-haired and blue-eyed. His hands were as clean as a gentleman’s, his hair was neatly combed if longish. His minion was an anxious urchin watching the adults as if one of them might hurl something breakable against the whitewashed stone walls at any moment.
Hades would not yield to that impulse, not today. Mr. Wentworth regarded Jane so steadily his gaze was a force more powerful than time. Patience and inscrutability looked out at her in equal, infinite measures. If the eyes were windows to the soul, Mr. Wentworth’s soul was a bleak, silent moor under a gray December sky.
Though, ye angels and saints, he was a stunning specimen. His features were both masculine and beautiful—a slightly full mouth, perfectly proportioned nose, brows with a bit of swoop to them, and a jaw that put Jane in mind of Roman sculptures. Add the wintry blue of his eyes, and he was breathtakingly attractive.
And by offering Jane sustenance, he was being gracious.
“I am a preacher’s daughter,” Jane said. “I know better than to be ungrateful, and I’ve dined in humbler surroundings than this. For what I am about to receive, I am sincerely thankful.”
She took a bite of surprisingly fresh bread, a small bite. She had in fact dwelled in surroundings less luxurious than Mr. Wentworth’s prison cell. He came from means as clearly as she came from righteous penury—now.
“Himself is not to be hanged.” The boy’s voice was high even for one of his tender years, and he’d spoken as if a lapse in the conversation might permit some foul miasma into the room.
“Your sentence has been commuted to transportation?” Jane asked, washing her bread down with a sip of cool ale. Commutations for capital offenses were regular occurrences, though far from certain.
“Ned misspoke. I am not to be hanged this Monday. The executioner is otherwise engaged, and this is not a suitable topic to discuss with a lady.”
“Old Fletcher’s got a terrible case of—”
“Neddy.” Mr. Wentworth’s expression was amused.
The child fell silent, his little chin showing a hint of sullenness.
“A reprieve, then,” Jane said. “Is that welcome or a particularly cruel blow?” The bread and ale were sitting well—breakfast had not—so Jane tried a nibble of cheese.
“Both, I suppose, or neither,” Mr. Wentworth replied. “It simply is. The end is the same; somebody else’s downfall will be the object of gossip when I can no longer oblige. Ned, would you be so good as to determine where Miss Winston’s father has got off to?”
The child bolted out the door with a speed that had likely frustrated many a constable.
“Cutpurse?” Jane asked.
“Jack-of-all-trades and as good a lad as he can be.”
Mr. Wentworth’s gaze remained on the half-open door, as if he harbored regrets where the boy was concerned. Condemned felons were people, Jane had learned, as were soiled doves, pickpockets, confidence tricksters, grave robbers, and other criminals. They loved, they laughed, they had their rules and regrets.
Mr. Wentworth might well have saved lives during his years on earth, but he had taken a life that mattered to somebody, and that was prohibited by the Commandments. On the field of battle, men forgot the Commandments, though they called upon the same God in their various mother tongues. On the field of so-called honor, the Commandments never earned a mention.
Would that Gordie had been more devout and less honorable.
“You’re supposed to eat the bread,” Mr. Wentworth said. “I make sure to have extra of all my provisions and to never finish my portion, so that Ned, Penny, and Davies have enough to share or use for bribes. From the warden right down to the charwomen and the petty swindlers, Newgate’s population has a fine appreciation for goods and coin.”
Nobody had as fine an appreciation for coin as a poor minister’s widowed daughter. “You were a banker?”
“I am—I was.”
Mr. Wentworth wasn’t a cit in the usual sense. He’d not been born to wealth, and he’d not been lucky at the tables. From gossip in the prison’s common, Jane had gleaned that nobody was sure where his fortune had come from.
“Are you sorry for your sins?” Jane asked. “My father would gladly hear your confession, if you’re of that persuasion.”
Papa was good at sitting with the guilty and the sick and listening to their regrets. Jane had regrets, and the last person she could confide in was her father.
“Sorry?” Mr. Wentworth sat back. “I am angry, Miss Winston. Angrier than I have ever been, which impresses even me. Of course I have regrets. Ned has already found regrets that will haunt him all his days, short though those days are likely to be. I am not sorry.”
Jane was sorry. Sorry she’d trusted Gordie not to get himself killed. Sorry she had chosen a man of unsteady temperament to pry her loose from Papa’s household. Sorry Papa had lost his congregation, sorry her mother had died.…The list was endless.
“I might be able to help Ned,” Jane said. “If he’s awaiting transportation, arrangements can sometimes be made—for coin, you understand.”
Mr. Wentworth was a banker in Newgate, and he’d been the one to mention money. If Mama were alive, Jane would not be having this conversation with this man in this place. Mama had departed from the earthly realm three short years ago, but Jane could barely recall a time when genteel rules and polite conventions had defined her world.
She had resented those rules with the bitter fury of a minister’s daughter, more fool her.
“What sort of arrangements will free Ned?” Mr. Wentworth asked.
“If you think I’d sell him to a brothel, you are sadly mistaken. Ask anybody in the common wards, Mr. Wentworth. Reverend Winston is the genuine article, pious to the much-mended soles of his boots, and I am his loyal offspring. This is good cheese.”
“Made on my properties in the north. If Ned is released, I want him sent to my sisters. They will be in need of projects and they have the means to see to the boy.”
Ned struck Jane as a child who wouldn’t tolerate much seeing to. He had run wild too early and too long to be tamed at this stage. Mr. Wentworth had the same air, despite his fine tailoring and clean fingernails.
But Ned could be freed, while Mr. Wentworth’s death warrant had been signed.
“I will need some time,” Jane said, “and you will need a day or two to make arrangements. Ten pounds will be more than sufficient to see Ned released into your siblings’ care.”
“A boy’s life is a matter of ten pounds?”
Ten pounds was two years’ wages in some households. “A girl wouldn’t have cost you half so much.”
An emotion flared in the man across the table, gone before Jane could label it. “You’ve freed girls, Miss Winston?”
“They aren’t safe here. The whores try to protect them, and if the girl has a parent or older sibling with her, she’ll fare better, but your door is locked at night in part for your safety, Mr. Wentworth. In the dark, the guilty and the innocent are indistinguishable.”
A convicted killer should know that.
“Excellent point. How long does your father usually tarry among his flock?”
Mr. Wentworth wanted his privacy. Jane would have resented being sent on her way, but he was facing death. How did anybody remain sane under that burden?
“Papa is much too enthusiastic about his calling. I’m to visit with the women, but this late in the week, we’re down to some regular offenders, and they prefer to be left in peace.” The women had been polite about it, but they’d shooed Jane off, warning her to mind where she stepped.
Mr. Wentworth took a sip of his ale. The tankard was appropriate for that large hand, though he likely knew his way around a tea service too.
“Tell me, Miss Winston: Do you honestly prefer to remain here among the lost souls when you could be enjoying London’s fresh air, such as it is, and your liberty? I account myself impressed.”
Jane finished the last of her bread and cheese. The meal had fortified her. One could be hungry and bilious at the same time—a recent revelation.
“Your window has bars,” Jane said. “Some of us live behind bars invisible to the eye.”
“Profound, but the only way I will be freed of these bars is on the end of a rope. Achieving your own liberty is likely a less fraught undertaking. What do you suppose has happened to Ned?”
His gaze held worry for the child, despite a casual tone.
“Young Edward is sitting in a corner, his eyes glazing over, every particle of his body longing to fidget, while Reverend Winston maunders on about sin, salvation, and scripture. Every time Papa pauses to take a breath—which occurs about twice an hour—Ned will attempt to say, ‘Excuse me, sir,’ and Papa will ignore him, talk over him, or shush him.”
“Would you care for more bread and cheese?”
Jane consulted her belly, which was calm for the first time in days. “I’d best wait a bit. I can fetch Papa.”
Mr. Wentworth put a hand over Jane’s wrist when she would have risen. “A little preaching won’t hurt the boy. Stay and tell me how I’m to get him out of this place.”
His grip was light. Jane was being asked to help a child whom society had discarded as unworthy of notice. She’d aided four other children, three girls and a boy, all of whom had disappeared back into the stews as if snatched by the fairies.
“This scheme must go right the first time,” Jane said, lowering her voice. “Ned must do his bit perfectly, and you can’t tell a soul. Not your favorite guard, not the kindliest of the wardens, not the charwoman who sneaks you a cigar, and especially not the whores. Absolute discretion, Mr. Wentworth.”
She’d almost said he must be as silent as the grave, and he seemed to realize her near-slip.
He patted her wrist and withdrew his hand. “I am a banker, a successful banker despite my present circumstances. My discretion eclipses even that available in the confessional. Not a soul will know.”
Mr. Wentworth smiled, mostly with his eyes. His gaze conveyed the intimacy of conspirators intent on a delightful prank, and when he looked at Jane like that, she could not believe he’d taken a life.
Though he likely had. Killers did not announce their vile deeds on street corners and then go sniveling and slinking into the nearest alleys.
Jane explained which charwoman to approach, how the straw bedding in the common area was changed, what Ned needed to say to be identified as the child whose freedom had been purchased. Mr. Wentworth listened, he asked a few questions—how was the money handled, how soon could this be accomplished—and all the while, Jane was plagued by a question of her own.
What sort of condemned killer troubled over the fate of a boy he’d just met, was no relation to, and had no reason to help?
* * *
“We’ve found him! Sir, we’ve found him at last!”
Mr. Thaddeus Dodson set down his quizzing glass. “Must you find him so loudly, Timmons?”
The clerk was tall, graying, and thin as a coachman’s whip. Dodson had never seen Timmons perturbed, much less aquiver with excitement. Quivering was frowned on at the College of Arms and dignity much respected.
“But after three years, sir, three years, of searching and searching…We have a legitimate heir to the Duke of Walden. A legitimate male heir and a younger brother and two sisters of childbearing years.”
Beyond the door to the pursuivant’s office, the other clerks bent over their documents, though their pens were still. An heir was a victory for them all, a spare gilded the victory, and sisters of childbearing age spoke to underlying titles being preserved through the heirs general.
Three feathers in the cap of the College. Of course the clerks were proud.
“Good work, Timmons. Good work indeed. The Crown will be most grateful. Let’s have a look at what you’ve found, and please do close the door. Damned draft can give a man a lung fever.”
Timmons closed the door and spread out his genealogical research on Dodson’s desk. To rescue the Walden dukedom from escheat—and the Crown from an enormous pile of debt—Timmons had had to go back nine generations. He’d racketed all over the North of England, visited graveyards without number, and studied parish rolls so dim with age as to be mere whispers of records.
He’d interviewed grannies, taken tea with earls, and called upon vicars no London gentleman had called upon in years.
His diligence had been rewarded. “Thank God the heir is not some shepherd living in a hut,” Dodson said. “I do so hate to see noble titles thrust into the hands of those unprepared for such responsibility.”
“He’s wealthy,” Timmons said. “Rich as a nabob, beautiful London house, equally lovely estates in Yorkshire, gives handsomely to charities and doesn’t make a great fuss about it. We have only one problem, sir.”
There was always a problem and seldom only one. “The king is in Brighton, where he’s expected to bide for the next fortnight at least. We have time to tidy up a few loose ends, and it’s to His Majesty that this good news must be conveyed.”
Timmons’s excitement dissipated, and a tired, aging clerk stood where a dedicated royal herald had been a moment before.
“Waiting a fortnight makes sense, sir, because the present candidate for the title is enjoying the king’s hospitality, so to speak, though he’s not likely to do so for long.”
“Have a seat, Timmons, and pray do keep your voice down. You said the heir was wealthy, generous, propertied, and in good health. In what sense is he enjoying the king’s hospitality?”
“The bad sense, sir. The criminal sense.”
Damn and blast. Why couldn’t a man blessed with every possible advantage in life keep himself from the magistrate’s clutches?
“Tell me about the brother.”
Timmons lit up like an ember finding a fresh breeze. “The brother’s a right enough fellow of seventeen years, not yet married. He should inherit all that wealth in less than two weeks. His Majesty will like that part. Can’t fault a man for having his affairs in order, even if he is convicted of taking a life.”
Dodson took up his quizzing glass and pulled Timmons’s painstakingly detailed family tree closer. “There’s nobody else? We have the criminal’s brother or nobody?”
“That’s right, sir, but for a distant cousin. We can have the convict or his brother—who’s young enough to need a guardian, of course—and I can guess which option His Majesty will choose.”
“So can I.”
Chapter Three
Nothing helped.
Not reading, though how many times had Quinn promised h
“You isn’t to be hanged on Monday!” Ned declared. “Old Fletcher’s got the bloody flux. Can’t stir but two feet from the chamber pot. Warden says no hangings on Monday!”
Joy was the first casualty in Newgate prison. When Ned skipped into Quinn Wentworth’s cell, the boy’s rare, angelic smile thus had a greater impact than his words. An uncomfortable emotion stirred, something Quinn might once have called hope but now considered a useless reflex.
“You mean I won’t be hanged this Monday.”
Consternation replaced ebullience on the grimy little face. “Old Fletcher might die, sir, and then who would they find to do the business? Your family will get you out, see if they don’t.”
Quinn had forbidden his siblings to “get him out.” Abetting the escape of a convicted felon was itself a hanging felony, as were 219 other crimes, among them stealing anything valued at more than twelve pence.
“Thank you for bringing me the news,” Quinn said. “Have you eaten today?”
Ned studied ten dirty little toes. “Not so’s I’d notice.”
All manner of strange protocols applied in Newgate. One of the most powerful and feared bankers in London could invite a pickpocket to dine, for example, simply because the banker had learned that company—any company at all—was a distraction from impending death.
Despite the signed warrant dictating Quinn’s fate, his cell might have been a successful solicitor’s quarters. The floor was carpeted, the bed covered with clean linen, the desk stocked with paper, quill pen, two pencils, ink, and even—such was the honor expected of a wealthy felon—a penknife. The window let in fresh air and a precious square of sunlight, which Quinn valued more than all of the room’s other comforts combined.
Even in the relatively commodious state quarters, the foodstuffs had to be kept in a bag tied to the rafters, lest the rodents help themselves uninvited. The pitcher of ale on the windowsill was covered to prevent flies from drowning themselves along with their sorrows.
“Fetch the ale,” Quinn said. “We’ll share some bread and cheese.”
Ned was stronger and faster than he looked, and more than capable of getting the ale without spilling a drop. Quinn, by contrast, usually tried to appear less muscular and fit than he was. The warden had taken one pitying look at him and muttered about the big ones dying quickest on the end of a rope.
That comment—a casual, not intentionally cruel observation—had made real the fact of execution by order of the Crown. Hanged by the neck until dead, as the judge had said. The proper fate in the eyes of the law for most who violated the Sixth Commandment.
Though to be accurate, Quinn’s crime was manslaughter rather than murder, else even all of his coin might have been insufficient to earn him quarters outside the dungeons.
“Shall I get the bread?” Ned asked.
The child was being polite, which ought not to be possible, given his upbringing—or perhaps he was being cautious.
Incarceration had also revealed in Quinn a latent propensity for rumination. What would death by hanging be like? Was the point of the proceeding to end the felon’s life, or to subject him to such awful, public indignity that he welcomed his own demise?
“The bread, sir?” Ned’s gaze had grown wary.
“And the cheese,” Quinn said, taking down the sack suspended from the rafter. Cutting the bread required patient use of the penknife. Davies, Quinn’s self-appointed man-of-all-work, and Penny, the whore-turned-chambermaid, were privileged to carry knives, but Quinn shuddered to contemplate what improprieties those knives had got up to when their owners had been at liberty.
Quinn set the food on the table, cut two thick slices of bread for the boy, situated cheese between them, and poured the child some ale.
Pewter tankards, no less. That would be Althea’s influence, as was the washstand with the porcelain pitcher and basin. Quinn had been born in the poorest of York’s slums, but saw no need to die looking like a ruffian.
“Aren’t you hungry, sir?” Ned had wolfed down half his sandwich and spoken with his mouth full.
Quinn took a sip of fine summer ale. “Not particularly.”
“But you must keep up your strength. My brother Bob told me that before he was sent off. Said when the magistrate binds you over, the most important thing is to keep up your strength. You durst not go before the judge looking hangdog and defeated. You can’t run very far on an empty belly neither.”
The boy had lowered his voice on that last observation.
“I’ll not be escaping, Ned,” Quinn said gently. “I’ve been found guilty and I must pay the price.” Though escape might be possible. Such an undertaking wanted vast sums of money—which Quinn had—and a willingness to live the life of a fugitive, which Quinn lacked.
“Why is the Quality all daft?” Ned muttered, around another mouthful of bread and cheese. “You find a bloke what looks half like you and has the consumption. You pay his family enough to get by, more than the poor sod would have earned in his lifetime, and you pike off on Sunday night leaving the bloke in your place. The poor sod ends his suffering Monday morning knowing the wife and brats is well set, you get to live. It’s been done.”
Everything unspeakable, ingenious, and bold had been done by those enjoying the king’s hospitality. That was another lesson Quinn had gleaned from incarceration. He’d seen schemes and bribes and stupid wagers by the score among London’s monied classes, but sheer effrontery and true derring-do were still the province of the desperate.
He’d also learned, too late, that he wanted to live. He wanted to be a better brother and a lazier banker. He wanted to learn the names of the harp tunes Althea so loved, and to read a book or two simply to have the excuse to sit quietly by a warm fire of a winter night.
He wanted…
What he wanted no longer mattered, if it ever had. The reprieve Ned spoke of was more burden than blessing, because Quinn was fated to die, awfully, publicly, and painfully, whether he’d committed murder, manslaughter, or neither.
“If you’re not going to eat that, guv, it shouldn’t go to waste.”
Quinn passed over his sandwich. “My appetite seems to have deserted me.”
Ned tore the sandwich in half and put half in his pocket. For later, for another boy less enterprising or fortunate than Ned. For the birds—the child loved birds—or a lucky mouse.
Quinn had lost not only his appetite for food, but also his interest in all yearnings. He did not long to see his siblings one last time—what was there to say? He certainly had no desire for a woman, though they were available in quantity even in prison. He had no wish to pen one of those sermonizing final letters he’d written for six other men in the previous weeks.
Those convicts had faced transportation, while Quinn faced the gallows. His affairs were scrupulously in order and had escaped forfeiture as a result of his forethought.
He wanted peace, perhaps.
And justice. That went without saying.
The door banged open—it was unlocked during daylight—and the under-warden appeared. “Wait in here, ma’am. You’ll be safe enough, and I see that we’re enjoying a feast. Perhaps the famous Mr. Wentworth will offer you a portion.” The jailer flicked a bored glance over Ned, who’d ducked his head and crammed the last of the food into his mouth.
A woman—a lady—entered the cell. She was tall, dark-haired, and her attire was plain to a fault.
Not a criminal, then. A crusader.
“Bascomb,” Quinn said, rising. “My quarters are not Newgate’s family parlor. The lady can wait elsewhere.” He bowed to the woman.
She surprised him by dropping into a graceful curtsy. “I must wait somewhere, Mr. Wentworth. Papa will be forever in the common wards, and I do not expect to be entertained. I am Jane Winston.”
She was bold, as most crusaders were. Also pretty. Her features were Madonna-perfect, from a chin neither receding nor prominent, to exquisitely arched brows, a wide mouth, high forehead, and intelligent dark eyes. The cameo was marred by a nose a trifle on the confident side, which made her face more interesting.
She wore a voluminous cloak of charcoal gray, bits of straw clinging to the hem.
“As you can see,” Quinn replied, “we are a company of gentlemen here, and an unchaperoned lady would not be comfortable in our midst.”
The warden snickered. “Wait here or leave the premises, ma’am. Them’s your choices, and you don’t get a say, Wentworth. I don’t care if you was banker to King George himself.”
As long as Quinn drew breath he had a say. “I am convicted of taking an innocent life, Miss Winston. Perhaps you might see fit to excuse yourself now?”
He wanted her to leave, because she was an inconvenient reminder of life beyond a death sentence, where women were pretty, regrets were a luxury, and money meant more than pewter tankards and a useless writing desk.
And Quinn wanted her to stay. Jane Winston was pleasing to look at, had the courage of her convictions, and had probably never committed anything approaching a crime. She’d doubtless sinned in her own eyes—coveting a second rum bun, lingering beneath warm covers for an extra quarter hour on the Sabbath. Heinous transgressions in her world.
He also wanted her to stay because frightening the people around him had stopped amusing him before he’d turned twelve. Even Ned didn’t turn his back on Quinn for more than an instant, and Davies remained as close to the unlocked door as possible without giving outright offense. The wardens were careful not to be alone with Quinn, and the whores offered their services with an air of nervous bravado.
Miss Winston’s self-possession wafted on the air like expensive perfume. Confident, subtle, unmistakable.
“If a mere boy can break bread with you, then I don’t have much to fear,” she said, “and my father will expect me to wait for him. Papa is easily vexed. Do you have a name, child?”
Ned remained silent, sending a questioning glance at Quinn.
“He is Edward, of indeterminate surname,” Quinn said. “Make your bow, Ned.”
Ned had asked Quinn to teach him this nicety and grinned at a chance to show off his manners. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Winston.”
“I’ll be leaving,” the guard said. “You can chat about the weather over tea and crumpets until…” He grinned, showing brown, crooked teeth. “Until next Monday.”
“Prison humor.” Miss Winston stripped off her gloves. Kid, mended around the right index finger. The stitching was almost invisible, but a banker learned to notice details of dress. “I might be here for a good while. Shall you regale me with a tale about what brought you to this sorry pass, Mr. Wentworth?”
The lady took the seat Ned had vacated, and she looked entirely at ease, her cloak settling around her like an ermine cape.
“You don’t read the papers?” Quinn asked.
“Papa would have apoplexies if he caught me reading that drivel. We have souls to save.”
“I don’t think I’d like your father. Might I have a seat?” Because—for reasons known only to the doomed—Quinn wanted to sit down with her.
“This is your abode. Of course you should have a seat. You need not feed me or offer me drink. I’m sure you can better use your provisions for bribes. I can read to you from the Bible or quote at tiresome length from Fordyce’s Sermons if you like.”
“I do not like,” Quinn said, slicing off a portion of cheese. He was a convicted felon, but he was a convicted felon who’d taken pains to learn the manners of his betters. Then too, somebody had to set an example for the boy. Quinn managed to cut off a slice of bread with the penknife and passed the bread and cheese to Miss Winston.
She regarded his offering with a seriousness the moment did not warrant. “You can spare this? You can honestly spare this?”
“I will be grievously offended if you disdain my hospitality,” Quinn said. “Had I known you were coming, I’d have ordered the kitchen to use the good silver.”
Ned cast him a nervous glance, but Miss Winston caught the joke. Her smile was utterly unexpected. Instead of a prim, nipfarthing little pinch of the lips, she grinned at Quinn as if he’d inspired her to hilarity in the midst of a bishop’s sermon. Her gaze warmed, her shoulders lifted, her lips curved with glee.
“The everyday will do splendidly,” she said, accepting her portion of the humble fare. “So whom are you supposed to have killed?”
Chapter Two
That Papa would forget his only daughter was nothing new. Jane had learned to appreciate his forgetfulness—let others listen to his moralizing—though he was growing worse.
He always grew worse around the anniversary of Mama’s death. Then his visits to the prisons and poorhouses became incessant. Jane accompanied him because he demanded it, also because she feared for his well-being.
She needn’t have. Few places were safer than the inside of Newgate jail during daylight. Her present host—not the first condemned man she’d met—watched her guardedly, as if she were the unpredictable element in the room.
Courts erred all the time. The guilty went free and the innocent were convicted, but Mr. Wentworth had not one shred of innocence about his bearing. He struck Jane as dangerous rather than wicked. If he had taken a life, he’d faced his opponent head-on and waged a fair fight.
“Surely, Miss Winston, we can find a more cheerful topic than my late victim? One mustn’t speak ill of the dead, and in my present situation, speaking well of the deceased eludes me.”
The delicacy of Mr. Wentworth’s words was undermined by a Yorkshire accent that suggested generations of hard winters and harder work.
He would have made a fine picture behind a plough or at a forge. His height came with a pair of broad shoulders that some tailor had clad in an exquisite lawn shirt. The tucks where the sleeve gathered at the shoulder were so small and numerous, Jane would have gone blind stitching them. His waistcoat was burgundy with gold embroidery and perfectly balanced ostentation with good taste.
He wore no coat—a terrible breach of propriety elsewhere—but different rules applied in prison. He might be paying for these comforts with that coat, or the guards might have plucked it from him “for safekeeping.” Hanging was a messy business, and few men went to their executions in Sunday attire.
Mr. Wentworth took down a pewter mug from the quarter shelves built into a corner and poured half a tankard of ale.
“We’re fresh out of tea.” He set the mug before her and resumed his seat. “I do apologize. Is the fare not to your liking?”
The question became…mythological, with shades of Persephone in the underworld. Hades in this case was dark-haired and blue-eyed. His hands were as clean as a gentleman’s, his hair was neatly combed if longish. His minion was an anxious urchin watching the adults as if one of them might hurl something breakable against the whitewashed stone walls at any moment.
Hades would not yield to that impulse, not today. Mr. Wentworth regarded Jane so steadily his gaze was a force more powerful than time. Patience and inscrutability looked out at her in equal, infinite measures. If the eyes were windows to the soul, Mr. Wentworth’s soul was a bleak, silent moor under a gray December sky.
Though, ye angels and saints, he was a stunning specimen. His features were both masculine and beautiful—a slightly full mouth, perfectly proportioned nose, brows with a bit of swoop to them, and a jaw that put Jane in mind of Roman sculptures. Add the wintry blue of his eyes, and he was breathtakingly attractive.
And by offering Jane sustenance, he was being gracious.
“I am a preacher’s daughter,” Jane said. “I know better than to be ungrateful, and I’ve dined in humbler surroundings than this. For what I am about to receive, I am sincerely thankful.”
She took a bite of surprisingly fresh bread, a small bite. She had in fact dwelled in surroundings less luxurious than Mr. Wentworth’s prison cell. He came from means as clearly as she came from righteous penury—now.
“Himself is not to be hanged.” The boy’s voice was high even for one of his tender years, and he’d spoken as if a lapse in the conversation might permit some foul miasma into the room.
“Your sentence has been commuted to transportation?” Jane asked, washing her bread down with a sip of cool ale. Commutations for capital offenses were regular occurrences, though far from certain.
“Ned misspoke. I am not to be hanged this Monday. The executioner is otherwise engaged, and this is not a suitable topic to discuss with a lady.”
“Old Fletcher’s got a terrible case of—”
“Neddy.” Mr. Wentworth’s expression was amused.
The child fell silent, his little chin showing a hint of sullenness.
“A reprieve, then,” Jane said. “Is that welcome or a particularly cruel blow?” The bread and ale were sitting well—breakfast had not—so Jane tried a nibble of cheese.
“Both, I suppose, or neither,” Mr. Wentworth replied. “It simply is. The end is the same; somebody else’s downfall will be the object of gossip when I can no longer oblige. Ned, would you be so good as to determine where Miss Winston’s father has got off to?”
The child bolted out the door with a speed that had likely frustrated many a constable.
“Cutpurse?” Jane asked.
“Jack-of-all-trades and as good a lad as he can be.”
Mr. Wentworth’s gaze remained on the half-open door, as if he harbored regrets where the boy was concerned. Condemned felons were people, Jane had learned, as were soiled doves, pickpockets, confidence tricksters, grave robbers, and other criminals. They loved, they laughed, they had their rules and regrets.
Mr. Wentworth might well have saved lives during his years on earth, but he had taken a life that mattered to somebody, and that was prohibited by the Commandments. On the field of battle, men forgot the Commandments, though they called upon the same God in their various mother tongues. On the field of so-called honor, the Commandments never earned a mention.
Would that Gordie had been more devout and less honorable.
“You’re supposed to eat the bread,” Mr. Wentworth said. “I make sure to have extra of all my provisions and to never finish my portion, so that Ned, Penny, and Davies have enough to share or use for bribes. From the warden right down to the charwomen and the petty swindlers, Newgate’s population has a fine appreciation for goods and coin.”
Nobody had as fine an appreciation for coin as a poor minister’s widowed daughter. “You were a banker?”
“I am—I was.”
Mr. Wentworth wasn’t a cit in the usual sense. He’d not been born to wealth, and he’d not been lucky at the tables. From gossip in the prison’s common, Jane had gleaned that nobody was sure where his fortune had come from.
“Are you sorry for your sins?” Jane asked. “My father would gladly hear your confession, if you’re of that persuasion.”
Papa was good at sitting with the guilty and the sick and listening to their regrets. Jane had regrets, and the last person she could confide in was her father.
“Sorry?” Mr. Wentworth sat back. “I am angry, Miss Winston. Angrier than I have ever been, which impresses even me. Of course I have regrets. Ned has already found regrets that will haunt him all his days, short though those days are likely to be. I am not sorry.”
Jane was sorry. Sorry she’d trusted Gordie not to get himself killed. Sorry she had chosen a man of unsteady temperament to pry her loose from Papa’s household. Sorry Papa had lost his congregation, sorry her mother had died.…The list was endless.
“I might be able to help Ned,” Jane said. “If he’s awaiting transportation, arrangements can sometimes be made—for coin, you understand.”
Mr. Wentworth was a banker in Newgate, and he’d been the one to mention money. If Mama were alive, Jane would not be having this conversation with this man in this place. Mama had departed from the earthly realm three short years ago, but Jane could barely recall a time when genteel rules and polite conventions had defined her world.
She had resented those rules with the bitter fury of a minister’s daughter, more fool her.
“What sort of arrangements will free Ned?” Mr. Wentworth asked.
“If you think I’d sell him to a brothel, you are sadly mistaken. Ask anybody in the common wards, Mr. Wentworth. Reverend Winston is the genuine article, pious to the much-mended soles of his boots, and I am his loyal offspring. This is good cheese.”
“Made on my properties in the north. If Ned is released, I want him sent to my sisters. They will be in need of projects and they have the means to see to the boy.”
Ned struck Jane as a child who wouldn’t tolerate much seeing to. He had run wild too early and too long to be tamed at this stage. Mr. Wentworth had the same air, despite his fine tailoring and clean fingernails.
But Ned could be freed, while Mr. Wentworth’s death warrant had been signed.
“I will need some time,” Jane said, “and you will need a day or two to make arrangements. Ten pounds will be more than sufficient to see Ned released into your siblings’ care.”
“A boy’s life is a matter of ten pounds?”
Ten pounds was two years’ wages in some households. “A girl wouldn’t have cost you half so much.”
An emotion flared in the man across the table, gone before Jane could label it. “You’ve freed girls, Miss Winston?”
“They aren’t safe here. The whores try to protect them, and if the girl has a parent or older sibling with her, she’ll fare better, but your door is locked at night in part for your safety, Mr. Wentworth. In the dark, the guilty and the innocent are indistinguishable.”
A convicted killer should know that.
“Excellent point. How long does your father usually tarry among his flock?”
Mr. Wentworth wanted his privacy. Jane would have resented being sent on her way, but he was facing death. How did anybody remain sane under that burden?
“Papa is much too enthusiastic about his calling. I’m to visit with the women, but this late in the week, we’re down to some regular offenders, and they prefer to be left in peace.” The women had been polite about it, but they’d shooed Jane off, warning her to mind where she stepped.
Mr. Wentworth took a sip of his ale. The tankard was appropriate for that large hand, though he likely knew his way around a tea service too.
“Tell me, Miss Winston: Do you honestly prefer to remain here among the lost souls when you could be enjoying London’s fresh air, such as it is, and your liberty? I account myself impressed.”
Jane finished the last of her bread and cheese. The meal had fortified her. One could be hungry and bilious at the same time—a recent revelation.
“Your window has bars,” Jane said. “Some of us live behind bars invisible to the eye.”
“Profound, but the only way I will be freed of these bars is on the end of a rope. Achieving your own liberty is likely a less fraught undertaking. What do you suppose has happened to Ned?”
His gaze held worry for the child, despite a casual tone.
“Young Edward is sitting in a corner, his eyes glazing over, every particle of his body longing to fidget, while Reverend Winston maunders on about sin, salvation, and scripture. Every time Papa pauses to take a breath—which occurs about twice an hour—Ned will attempt to say, ‘Excuse me, sir,’ and Papa will ignore him, talk over him, or shush him.”
“Would you care for more bread and cheese?”
Jane consulted her belly, which was calm for the first time in days. “I’d best wait a bit. I can fetch Papa.”
Mr. Wentworth put a hand over Jane’s wrist when she would have risen. “A little preaching won’t hurt the boy. Stay and tell me how I’m to get him out of this place.”
His grip was light. Jane was being asked to help a child whom society had discarded as unworthy of notice. She’d aided four other children, three girls and a boy, all of whom had disappeared back into the stews as if snatched by the fairies.
“This scheme must go right the first time,” Jane said, lowering her voice. “Ned must do his bit perfectly, and you can’t tell a soul. Not your favorite guard, not the kindliest of the wardens, not the charwoman who sneaks you a cigar, and especially not the whores. Absolute discretion, Mr. Wentworth.”
She’d almost said he must be as silent as the grave, and he seemed to realize her near-slip.
He patted her wrist and withdrew his hand. “I am a banker, a successful banker despite my present circumstances. My discretion eclipses even that available in the confessional. Not a soul will know.”
Mr. Wentworth smiled, mostly with his eyes. His gaze conveyed the intimacy of conspirators intent on a delightful prank, and when he looked at Jane like that, she could not believe he’d taken a life.
Though he likely had. Killers did not announce their vile deeds on street corners and then go sniveling and slinking into the nearest alleys.
Jane explained which charwoman to approach, how the straw bedding in the common area was changed, what Ned needed to say to be identified as the child whose freedom had been purchased. Mr. Wentworth listened, he asked a few questions—how was the money handled, how soon could this be accomplished—and all the while, Jane was plagued by a question of her own.
What sort of condemned killer troubled over the fate of a boy he’d just met, was no relation to, and had no reason to help?
* * *
“We’ve found him! Sir, we’ve found him at last!”
Mr. Thaddeus Dodson set down his quizzing glass. “Must you find him so loudly, Timmons?”
The clerk was tall, graying, and thin as a coachman’s whip. Dodson had never seen Timmons perturbed, much less aquiver with excitement. Quivering was frowned on at the College of Arms and dignity much respected.
“But after three years, sir, three years, of searching and searching…We have a legitimate heir to the Duke of Walden. A legitimate male heir and a younger brother and two sisters of childbearing years.”
Beyond the door to the pursuivant’s office, the other clerks bent over their documents, though their pens were still. An heir was a victory for them all, a spare gilded the victory, and sisters of childbearing age spoke to underlying titles being preserved through the heirs general.
Three feathers in the cap of the College. Of course the clerks were proud.
“Good work, Timmons. Good work indeed. The Crown will be most grateful. Let’s have a look at what you’ve found, and please do close the door. Damned draft can give a man a lung fever.”
Timmons closed the door and spread out his genealogical research on Dodson’s desk. To rescue the Walden dukedom from escheat—and the Crown from an enormous pile of debt—Timmons had had to go back nine generations. He’d racketed all over the North of England, visited graveyards without number, and studied parish rolls so dim with age as to be mere whispers of records.
He’d interviewed grannies, taken tea with earls, and called upon vicars no London gentleman had called upon in years.
His diligence had been rewarded. “Thank God the heir is not some shepherd living in a hut,” Dodson said. “I do so hate to see noble titles thrust into the hands of those unprepared for such responsibility.”
“He’s wealthy,” Timmons said. “Rich as a nabob, beautiful London house, equally lovely estates in Yorkshire, gives handsomely to charities and doesn’t make a great fuss about it. We have only one problem, sir.”
There was always a problem and seldom only one. “The king is in Brighton, where he’s expected to bide for the next fortnight at least. We have time to tidy up a few loose ends, and it’s to His Majesty that this good news must be conveyed.”
Timmons’s excitement dissipated, and a tired, aging clerk stood where a dedicated royal herald had been a moment before.
“Waiting a fortnight makes sense, sir, because the present candidate for the title is enjoying the king’s hospitality, so to speak, though he’s not likely to do so for long.”
“Have a seat, Timmons, and pray do keep your voice down. You said the heir was wealthy, generous, propertied, and in good health. In what sense is he enjoying the king’s hospitality?”
“The bad sense, sir. The criminal sense.”
Damn and blast. Why couldn’t a man blessed with every possible advantage in life keep himself from the magistrate’s clutches?
“Tell me about the brother.”
Timmons lit up like an ember finding a fresh breeze. “The brother’s a right enough fellow of seventeen years, not yet married. He should inherit all that wealth in less than two weeks. His Majesty will like that part. Can’t fault a man for having his affairs in order, even if he is convicted of taking a life.”
Dodson took up his quizzing glass and pulled Timmons’s painstakingly detailed family tree closer. “There’s nobody else? We have the criminal’s brother or nobody?”
“That’s right, sir, but for a distant cousin. We can have the convict or his brother—who’s young enough to need a guardian, of course—and I can guess which option His Majesty will choose.”
“So can I.”
Chapter Three
Nothing helped.
Not reading, though how many times had Quinn promised h
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My One and Only Duke
Grace Burrowes
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