His Courtesan Bride (Brides of Mayfair 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

instincts, igniting fires of male jealousy, lust, and a need to possess her.
    “Yes, I believe I will make an offer,” Darius replied. “For obvious reasons.”
    And some not so obvious, he thought.
    Darius downed the rest of his champagne in one gulp. “Let’s go to the tables.”
    Havelock followed quickly as Darius made his way through the crowd, where they entered a lavishly decorated room that housed three billiard tables.
    “Lord Kane, welcome to the billiard room.” The young Duke of Balfour sidled over to them, cocky as a bantam rooster. “I believe Lady Night has set up a few card tables in the other room, for those who want to play at whist. That game seems much more your speed.”
    Darius replied, “Ah, Your Grace. I had forgotten you were here.”
    “Much like at Waterloo,” Havelock muttered under his breath.
    The duke spun to look at him. “I beg your pardon, Major Price? Do you know who you are speaking to?”
    “I said, ‘I admire your shoe.’ Quite the dash, eh, Darius? You must give us the name of your cobbler.”
    Balfour glared at them. “You’re not even fit to lick my shoe.” He sipped his drink and staggered drunkenly. “I see the two of you are still up to your old tricks.”
    Darius took a step toward the duke, inches from his face. In a steely voice, he said, “I didn’t see your men complaining when we showed up to point them in the right direction. If they’d listened to you, they would all have been shot for desertion, as you had them headed on the wrong road.”
    The duke’s cheeks flashed red with anger. “How dare, you, sir!”
    “ How dare I ? I’m not the one who couldn’t read a bloody map,” Darius asserted.
    Balfour’s eyes narrowed. “The smoke from the guns obscured my vision. And I was completely exonerated by our superiors at Whitehall. So keep your comments to yourself, Kane.”
    “We’re no longer in the Peninsula, Your Grace, which means I don’t have to obey your asinine orders like I did when you outranked me,” Darius replied.
    Balfour said through clenched teeth, “May I remind you that I am a duke, sir. I still outrank you. Do not forget it.”
    Darius shrugged. “Only in the drawing room.”
    Balfour stepped forward, but his friends held him back. “At least I didn’t have to marry a merchant’s daughter to get my hands on any real money, like you did.” He swung his glass through the air, spilling a few drops onto the carpet.
    Darius stood where he was, letting out a sigh of disbelief at the duke’s arrogance.
    “Perhaps we should prove ourselves in a game of billiards!” the duke suggested. “That is, of course, unless you’re afraid to play me.” The young duke lurched toward Darius again, but Darius easily side-stepped him.
    “A tempting proposition,” Darius replied.
    While the duke’s cronies wrestled with him, Havelock whispered in Darius’s ear. “Dare, remember what happened last time. You ran the table and cleaned the pockets of two viscounts and a marquess, none of whom were happy about it. It’s not that I don’t want to be your second if it comes to that, because I do enjoy watching you shoot. But do you really need more money? Tonight? Damnation—is this about the courtesan?”
    “Yes, yes and yes,” Darius said, reaching for a cue.
    “And here I thought we were going to have a nice quiet evening, watching a beautiful courtesan make her debut. But you have to turn everything into a pissing contest.”
    “The contest wasn’t my idea,” Darius argued. “And it would be bad form to refuse a duke, don’t you think?”
    Havelock reached inside his coat pocket for a notebook and writing stylus, announcing to the crowd, “I’ll make the book. Gentlemen, place your bets. His Grace the Duke of Balfour versus the Earl of Kane, in a battle of wits and wills.”
    The crowd surged around Havelock, all waving their pound notes in the air as they tried to place their bets. “Alright, alright—I’ll get to all of