The Duke's Indiscretion Read Online Free PDF Page A

delicious body with his own.
    Brushing his impatience aside, he rang the bell of Earl Brixham’s townhouse, located, he discovered, not three streets from his own. Immediately, the broad door opened by a dignified butler and he stated his business. He was taken at once and without question to the earl’s study to await him. Upon entrance, Colin began observantly noting his surroundings, assessing what he could of the earl’s standard of living.
    Brixham kept his study fairly elegantly decorated, despite a lack of furnishings. The room contained two black leather wing chairs in fairly good condition facing a slightly chipped and sturdy oak desk, on top of which sat bundles of scattered paperwork and a lone inkwell. The wallpaper peeled at one of the corners, though it would hardly be noticed by a casual visitor. A coal fire softly burned in the grate to his right, its mantelpiece bare aside from the small watercolor painting of trees on a hillside that hung just above it.
    Taking a moment before the earl arrived, Colin casually glanced down to the desktop, moving a paper or two and scanning the contents for anything that might appear out of order in the man’s business dealings. Nothing struck him as unusual, however, except one small notation on scrap paper listing numbers that might give a clue to the man’s funds. Swiftly, he stuffed it into his pocket and took a seat in one of the leather chairs just as the Earl of Brixham entered the room.
    Colin noted his stature, his well-groomed appearance and casual attire in light brown, his strawberry-blond hair and freckled face, though he appeared older than he’d expected. Brixham looked to be nearly forty, and clearly a confirmed bachelor like himself.
    â€œGood afternoon, your grace,” the man said politely, walking toward him to shake his hand. With a genuine smile, he added, “I can only hope you’re here to inquire about my sister?”
    Colin’s brows rose. “Your sister?”
    Brixham’s smile faded a little as he strode around his desk and sat in the wooden rocker behind it. “I was hoping—oh, never mind.” He waved a palm through the air. “What can I do for you today?”
    Colin eyed the earl thoughtfully, realizing at once that he seemed more than eager to send his sister packing to a new husband, probably so he could rid himself of her expense. Of course there was nothing particularly wrong with that, especially if his sister was of marrying age, though he certainly didn’t intend to be the one to take the girl off his hands. Yet the acknowledgment was telling; Sir Thomas had been right about his debt.
    Colin leaned back in his chair and casually regarded the man. “Actually, Brixham, I’m here to inquire about your pianoforte.”
    The man fairly gaped at him. “My pianoforte?”
    He folded his hands in his lap. “I’ve heard you’ve got an antique, quite old, and I’d like to purchase it. For a fair sum, of course.”
    Brixham leaned back in his chair as well, hands folded in his lap, studying him cautiously. “I see.”
    Colin tipped his head to the side. “I collect antiques.”
    That probably sounded utterly ridiculous, but then he’d warned Sir Thomas about his lack of investigative skills, and everybody knew he didn’t lie very well. But the man across from him didn’t seem to witness any prevarication in his pronouncement, for he rubbed his fingers together absentmindedly and frowned.
    â€œThe pianoforte belongs to my sister,” he said, his thick, reddish-blond brows pinched in thought.
    That stumped him for a moment; he hadn’t prepared himself for such a complication. “I see.”
    Suddenly Brixham leaned forward, closing his hands together on top of the paperwork on his desk. “But since she is my responsibility, I suppose it’s mine to sell should I choose to.” He shrugged, then laughed.