A Duke in Danger Read Online Free PDF Page B

idea that everything would go on running as smoothly as it had when the fourth Duke was alive.
    If there were problems, they could wait and he could deal with them later.
    He therefore merely notified Coutt’s Bank that he would return as soon as possible, and almost forgot that his own situation had radically changed as he coped with the hysterical French, the feverish hopes of Madame de Stael for a free France, and Wellington’s unceasing demands upon him.
    There had been no more correspondence from the Bank, and he had therefore imagined that everything was well, and that Lady Alvina, who was living in the Castle as she was the fourth Duke’s unmarried daughter, would see to everything until he arrived home.
    He now thought that perhaps he should have written to her and that he had been somewhat rude not to have done so, but he had received no communication from her or from anyone else.
    Therefore, he had confidently believed that no news was good news and that that was what he would find when he arrived at the Castle.
    Gerald Chertson certainly had done him a good turn in buying for him such an excellent team of horses which would get him there quickly.
    Gerald had left him a note at Berkeley Square, saying that unfortunately he had to go home to see his father, who was ill.
    He would, however, be back in London at the end of the week, and would get in touch with him immediately.
    The Duke had been disappointed, since he had expected Gerald to be waiting for him when he arrived.
    But Sir Archibald Chertson was old and very demanding, and he accepted that there was nothing else Gerald could do.
    “As soon as I get back, Gerald and I will enjoy ourselves,” he promised himself.
    He then remembered Isobel.
    As he thought of her he could almost smell the exotic and seductive perfume she always used and feel her clinging arms round his neck, her lips on his.
    However, Jason or no Jason, he told himself, he was not getting married until he wished to do so.
    What was more, he had every intention of enjoying himself as a Duke, the head of the family and a very rich man, before he settled down.
    “I will see Jason when I return to London,” he decided. “I will give him a quite generous allowance on the condition that he behaves himself. I expect anyway I shall have to pay off his debts.”
    He was quite certain they would be out of all proportion, which would anger him considerably.
    At the same time, it would be impossible for him to start off as the fifth Duke with a family scandal.
    It was about four o’clock when he turned his horses through the impressive, gold-tipped wrought-iron gates which were flanked on each side with a heraldic lion, which was the crest of the Harlings.
    The gates were open and he gave a quick glance as he passed through the Lodges on either side. He noticed that one of them was empty.
    This surprised him, for he remembered the Lodge-Keepers, who wore special uniforms with crested silver buttons. They had always kept the gates closed but on hearing a carriage approach would hurry to open them.
    If the passer-by happened to be the Duke himself, they would sweep their caps from their grey-haired heads with what seemed a courtly gesture, and in the background their wives and daughters would curtsey respectfully.
    The Duke had thought it was very much part of the pageantry of the Castle, and he missed it now.
    However, there was no point in stopping to enquire what had happened, and he drove down the long avenue of huge oak trees, which seemed even larger and sturdier than when he had last seen them.
    Halfway down the drive there was the first sight of the Castle.
    It was very impressive and so beautiful that instinctively, without thinking about it, the Duke checked his horses.
    Standing on high ground above a lake, the Castle overlooked the gardens, the Park, and beyond that the rolling country, much of which was thickly wooded.
    Originally it had been built for one of the feudal Barons who had