The Pirate's Duchess: A Regent's Revenge Novella Read Online Free PDF Page A

doesn’t help us.” He focused his attention back on his old friend. “Your father is responsible for Lord Eggleston’s death and countless others.”
    “I don’t believe you.”
    Underwood shook his fist. “Don’t listen to anything he says, son. Be a man!”
    “Wake up,” Tobias snapped. “He’s using you to get to Davis’s survey and my copper ore.”
    “Get my son out of the way! The fool is trying to protect the duchess,” Underwood ordered, snapping his fingers at his men.
    A brawny man lunged at the earl. “How can I trust anything you say? You made everyone believe you were dead.” Markwick swung his fist, catching the charging henchman on the jaw. “Including your wife. And you’ve never liked my father.”
    “With good reason,” Tobias said, sidestepping Markwick’s elbow as the lumbering man jabbed the earl’s chin, causing Markwick to lose his footing. Tobias pushed Markwick toward several guests, who buoyed the earl upward and back into action.
    A sharp grating sound slit the air as Tobias pulled his needle from its cane-like sheath. He slanted his sword at a man to his right, who tried to skirt around them in order to get his hands on Prudence.
    “Let’s handle this like gentlemen, shall we?” he asked, kneeing the man between the legs, then bringing the hilt of his sword down on the man’s head, knocking the man senseless.
    “Gentlemen?” Markwick scoffed, brandishing the offering plate in front of him like a shield. He warded off a blow, sending the brass instrument sailing into an attacker’s stomach. “Gentlemen do not desert their wives. Nor do they accuse a man of fraud.”
    “I have proof,” Tobias taunted, pricking a foe’s throat. The toad-like man scurried backward to escape his blade and tumbled between two upended pews. “Lord Eggleston’s letter.”
    The last of Underwood’s henchmen—a balding man with rotten teeth—withdrew a knife and held it up before him. Tobias quickly jerked the man’s arm sideways, levering his wrist, and retrieved the dagger. He dropped his needle then spun Markwick around and came up behind him, placing the earl in a chokehold, positioning the tip of the dagger at his throat. “Your father betrayed Eggleston,” he hissed between clenched teeth.
    “No!” Underwood raged as if Markwick was in danger.
    Markwick raised his hands in front of him, offering no resistance. “Barrett’s father? What do you plan to do?”
    “Buy myself more time,” Tobias whispered. “You say you love my wife. Is that true?”
    Markwick pulled at Tobias’s arm, struggling to get more breathing room. “Yes.”
    “Tobias, please,” Prudence pleaded, touching his shoulder. “You’re hurting him.”
    “Would you die for her?” He locked his gaze on Underwood, who proved nimble for a man his age as he shuffled down the center aisle toward his son.
    Markwick swallowed. “I would do . . . anything.”
    He pulled Markwick closer, pricking his throat with the tip of his knife. “You stand to benefit from your father’s greed. Do you want Eggleston’s blood on your conscience?”
    “No,” Markwick’s voice lowered almost imperceptibly.
    “Then help me prove or disprove your father’s guilt,” he whispered.
    Several of Underwood’s dispatched men began to rouse. What he and Markwick planned had to look genuine or Underwood would suspect a trap.
    “Your promise,” Tobias insisted, nicking Markwick again with the blade.
    “Yes,” Markwick agreed. “But there is only one way we can do it.”
    “How?”
    “Look at him. The only time he loses control is when he thinks of losing an heir.”
    “Are you quite done ruining my chapel?” Underwood snapped, bending his time-ravaged body over his cane. “Let go of my son.”
    “A duel,” Markwick offered. “It’s the only way. And as a matter of good faith, I’ll choose Walsingham as my second.”
    “Done.” Relief filled Tobias. Captain Walsingham’s pious sense of honor would see justice