The Duke's Temptation Read Online Free PDF

their situations pass. “Good idea. Besides, I have a neglected glass of brandy I need to comfort.”
    They retraced their steps back to the house and as Gabe pulled the door shut a scrap of paper wedged under the frame caught his attention. He pulled it free and gave it a quick once over. Certain it was related to household business, he was prepared to pass it along to Wilkes, when he noticed Duke of Wesbrook scrawled across the front with heavy strokes.
    “Wilkes, do you know what this is about?” Gabe asked, holding the paper toward the light Wilkes grasped.
    “Cannot say that I do, Your Grace. I don’t recall it being there when I locked the doors before retiring.”
    The circumstances intrigued Gabe. Leaving letters on the back doorstep wasn’t the normal form of delivery, but he wasn’t about to inspect it standing in the kitchen with a fire poker gripped in his hand and his bed-ready butler as audience.
    “That will be all, Wilkes. I’ll take it from here.”
    Wilkes didn’t even attempt to disagree. “Certainly. Good night.”
    Gabe fought to hold his chuckle as his butler scurried off to bed. With everything that had happened since Phoebe’s appearance, the man probably regretted the day Gabe had enticed him away from his previous employer, an aging viscount where the closest scandal attached to his name was when he’d fumbled with his pocket watch only to have it land within Lady Apleton’s ample cleavage. It was probably the most action the viscount had had with a woman in about fifteen years.
    Gabe entered the study, returned the fire poker to its rightful place, and had started for his abandoned drink when he remembered the note he’d stuffed into his pocket.
    The light of the fireplace didn’t illuminate the entire room, but it was enough for him to break the nondescript seal and read the contents.
    As soon as he read the first lines, he wished it was as black as night so the words wouldn’t be burned into his mind.
    I know what you did to that young woman seven years ago. If not for you, she’d still be alive.
    His body frozen, he struggled to stop reading, but powerless to move, his eyes took in every word—each one increasing the tightness around his chest.
    If you don’t wish for me to enlighten the world to the man you really are, you will follow my instructions. I’d hate to see your pretty daughter become afraid of her own papa.
    More instructions will follow and remember, I’ll be watching.
    It had been left unsigned.
    Gabe’s initial reaction was to toss it in the fire and let the flames turn the paper to flimsy ash. To pretend it had never existed. Regrettably the feel of the paper against his trembling fingers was very real. And the words it contained had the ability to destroy him.
    Two days ago, he’d have told his secret condemner to do his worst. Gabe had nothing to lose. He deserved for the world to know what he’d done. The law might not prosecute him but maybe with a sentence from the public, he could do his time and move past his demons. It would be better than living the rest of his life with the same hell he’d been in for the last seven years, knowing he’d been responsible for someone’s death.
    But today he had more than himself to think of. Now he had to consider his daughter.
    And this blackmailer knew it. Knew Gabe would be incapable of ignoring his threats.
    In the end, Gabe tossed the letter into the fire anyway. There was no point in keeping it. The sender had made sure it couldn’t be linked back to him.
    At least the purpose of the man outside the window had been solved. He hadn’t been prowling in an attempt to take something. He’d been intent on leaving something behind.
    Damn, if only Gabe had been faster. He could have apprehended the man and this would be a non-issue. He could think of several ways to keep the man silent.
    But who could he be? If Gabe listed all the possible suspects, there would be too many to focus on just one. Over the years,