Two Notorious Dukes Read Online Free PDF Page B

him.
‘I must separate myself from her.’ He said as he
again thought about his response to her body. She
served a purpose, but that time is over and I can do
without getting shot by her husband!
He looked at the footman and said ‘Home.’ The
man nodded and closed the door. The journey was
quick as there wasn’t much traffic on the roads.
Robert climbed wearily down from the carriage
and sauntered up the steps into his ornate and grand
front porch. He only lived across the square from Argyll.
He wondered what Argyll was up to as he placed his hat
on the hall table, swirled his cloak off and gave it to the
butler, and went into his study. He poured a brandy and
sipped it contemplatively by the fire.
Watching the flames leaping out of the coals
made him think about Lady Elizabeth Audley and the
flames in her hair. She was so small and she only just
reached his armpit. He thought again about having sex
with her and his manhood stood up again. ‘You can shut
up.’ He murmured at it. ‘You get me into more trouble
than anything else.’ But he thought about how small her
body seemed and tried to imagine her naked and sat on
his lap, like Abigail had been in the coach and couldn’t.
He suspected she would be like a china doll and break if
he tried to make love with her. He threw the rest of his
brandy down his throat and went up to his room to find
his valet, Burke, just finishing filling the bath.
‘I assumed you’d need one tonight, Your Grace?’
he said amiably.
‘I do indeed.’ Robert said as he stripped off his
clothes and dowsed himself in the hot water, soaped his
genitals thoroughly two or three times and then just sat
in the water. He lay back against the towel and gently
rubbed the round indented scar in his shoulder.
‘Would you like me to see to that, Your Grace?’
Burke asked as he came back with some more towels.
He swished his hands in the water, lathered them with
soap and proceeded to massage all the muscles in
Robert’s right shoulder, both front and back.
He groaned as the muscles unlocked and the
pain receded. ‘That’s heaven, Burke. It didn’t help
tonight when Abigail Beresford dug her thumb in it.’
‘I really think you should let a proper surgeon
have a look at it, Your Grace.’ Burke murmured.
‘No sawbones is going to dig around in my
shoulder for the fragments.’ Robert said sharply. ‘I had
enough of that at the time. Bloody army surgeons.’
‘Well, at least they got out the material, Your
Grace, otherwise you would have died!’
‘That I would, Burke, that I would.’ Burke
finished his ministrations and Robert lay with his
shoulder in the water until it was nearly cold. He rubbed
himself dry and went into his bedroom, throwing
himself face down on the bed, he groaned loudly as
Burke covered him over with a sheet and eiderdown,
blew out all the lanterns and went out.
He woke at half past four, bathed in sweat and
wrapped in his wringing wet sheets. He knew he was
dreaming about Flanders, India or Copenhagen again.
He dreamed every time the wound ached. It’s going to
rain tomorrow. He said to himself as he again massaged
the round indentation. It only aches like this when it’s
going to rain. He thought back to the campaign in
Flanders, when it was so foggy you couldn’t see the
French, the oppressive heat in India and Copenhagen,
when it was a stand off over a bloody fleet. He smiled as
he recollected the pretty Danish girl that had tended to
his wound, after the surgeon had finished digging in it.
‘Are you alright, Your Grace?’ Burke asked as he
opened the door a crack.
‘Yes, Burke. I was just dreaming.’
‘Can I get you anything?’
‘No thank you, Burke. But you should be in bed.’
‘I was just on my way, Your Grace.’ Burke said
calmly and quietly shut the door. Burke had been there
that fateful day. The day he had been shot, the day he
had been told his whole family had died from the
morbid sore throat and he was now a Duke and would
have to go home.