She Tempts the Duke Read Online Free PDF

landed with a hard thud on the floor, sprawled out like an overturned tortoise. “Sunrise, day after tomorrow, I expect you to be gone, Uncle. Then I never want to set eyes on you again. The same holds true for my brothers. Our compassion has reached the limits of its tether. Challenge us on this and you shall see hell unleashed.”
    Glancing around, he saw expressions of horror, confusion, disbelief. And the pity again—when his gaze fell on Mary. The pity made him feel like a vile beast, because he was no longer certain that it was his marred features she took pity on. He feared it was his actions, his words. He’d hardly behaved as a gentleman. He should have called his uncle out, he supposed, no matter how it might have been frowned upon. Although judging by the reaction of the guests, his attempt at retribution was being met with equal disfavor. Not that he gave a bloody damn.
    His uncle deserved to rot in the nearest cesspool.
    Sebastian did little more than give a brisk nod toward Mary before marching up the steps. He strode from the residence hoping he had made it perfectly clear that the Duke of Keswick was at long last home.
    Unfortunately the harder task still lay before him: convincing himself.

Chapter 3
    W hat followed was total and complete madness.
    As soon as the brothers disappeared through the doorway a crescendo of objections, protestations, speculations, and assurances rose to a deafening knell. It was all a person could do to think, much less converse.
    Mary stood clutching the banister, because it was the only way to prevent herself from barreling up the stairs after them. What a disaster that would be. Her reputation would no doubt be questioned, possibly destroyed. A lady didn’t go gallivanting after a retreating gentleman, especially one who had behaved as anything but a gentleman, and yet she had so many questions. Where had they been all these years? What had delayed their return until now? What had happened to them while they were away?
    They had grown to manhood, obviously, but it had not been a pleasant journey. With wintry eyes that had sent a chill through her bones, they had each looked so harsh, unforgiving. Not that she blamed them. They’d suffered the worst sort of betrayal. Their own blood had wished them harm, had sought to murder them.
    “I thought they were dead,” Lord David was blubbering now as one of the lords questioned him regarding how all this could have happened. “I’ve not had a word from them in all these years. I’ve served as steward to the duke’s holdings, because my brother would have wanted it. Their distrust and accusations are uncalled for.”
    No, they’re not, she had an urge to shout. You locked them in the tower. Why do that if your purpose was not to kill them?
    Lord David was sweating profusely, fighting for breath, the whites of his eyes clearly visible as he searched frantically around him at those who had once expected him to rise in their ranks.
    “I’m telling you,” he ranted on as though questions had been asked when in truth people were only staring at him. “I’d have not petitioned to gain the title if I’d known they were alive. I did all in my power to find them. They did not wish to be found. Even you all thought they were dead. You’ve heard the rumors. Wolves, disease, murder. How was I to know the truth? Did you know? Did any of you know?”
    Then his wild gaze fell on Mary, and she saw hatred there, directed at her as though he suspected, as though he knew what she’d done. A shiver of dread coursed through her, but she angled her chin defiantly and met his gaze with a challenging one of her own.
    Then he was shoving people aside as though they were all beneath him and did not warrant his regard. “The revelry is over! Go home! Leave me be!”
    He broke through the crowd and barreled down the hallway, his wife of a few months traipsing after him, wringing her gloved hands, squeaking like a cornered dormouse. She stopped,