When the Duke Found Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

already sufficiently tottering on the precipice of ill fame without you pushing her over the edge. I can only imagine the two of you together. You are both too much alike to make anything but a disaster.”
    “You can’t lock her away in a convent, you know,” Sheffield said, thinking of the loquacious French marquise and rather wishing she’d retreated to a quiet place among the good sisters of someplace or another. “We don’t do things like that to ladies in England.”
    “No.” Brecon finished his wine and irritably motioned the footman to refill his glass. “But I have helped Lady Hervey in finding Lady Diana a suitable husband, a measured, responsible gentleman who can rein in her spirits.”
    “Pity,” Sheffield said. “Her spirits sound as if they are part of her charm.”
    “They’ll be the ruin of her, too, if she’s not careful,” Brecon said. “Fortunately, I was able to advise Lady Hervey in the financial arrangements of the settlement in a way that was beneficial to both parties. After all, the girl is the daughter of an earl, with ten thousand pounds, and through marriage she is now connected to us, as well as to March and Hawke.”
    Sheffield chuckled. “Some would question the value of such connections.”
    “No one would who wishes to prosper at court,” Brecon said. “You must never forget the value of your heritage, Sheffield, or the influence that comes with it. Which at last brings me to your own situation.”
    Sheffield sat more upright in his chair, prepared to play the penitent. “By the time I’d received your letter, I had already ended the affair with the Marquise du Vaulchier, as you wished.”
    Brecon grunted. “What I wished should have been the least of your considerations in this matter, Sheffield. Where was your sense? With this latest conquest, you have managed to ruffle some very highly placed feathers in Paris as well as here in London. The Marquis du Vaulchier did not enjoy being cuckolded, and complained of you to his king, who has in turn complained to ours.”
    This was bad, far worse that Sheffield had ever imagined. “Louis complained of me?” he asked. “A ruler who has let himself be ruled by his mistresses is shocked by my passing dalliance? Are you certain, Brecon?”
    “How in blazes could I ever invent that?” Brecon said. “To be sure, the message was not spoken directly, but conveyed through their ministers, yet. the gist of it was perfectly clear. You have brought embarrassment to His Majesty, and he is not pleased.”
    Sheffield dropped back in his chair and scowled, unwilling to accept the notion that he had somehow managed to outrage not one but two kings.
    “Most every gentleman in His Majesty’s court either keeps a whore or is dallying with some other gentleman’s wife,” he said defensively. “I do not see why I should be singled out as particularly offensive.”
    “You’re singled out because of who you are,” Brecon said, his voice growing sterner with every word. “You’ve royal blood in your veins, Sheffield, the same as I do, the same as March and Hawke. We’re not like every other gentleman at court. More is expected of us. More is expected of you .”
    “I’ve already told you I am done with the marquise,” Sheffield protested. “I’ve come back to London. What more do you wish? Sackcloth and ashes and wailing my sins in the street?”
    “It wouldn’t be untoward,” Brecon said, and to Sheffield’s dismay his cousin wasn’t jesting. “The king is weary of your bachelor antics, especially among the French. How many of those women have you bedded, anyway?”
    Sheffield shrugged, which seemed safer than trying to come up with an actual number. His great-great-grandmother had been French, which likely explained his weakness for French women. The fact that his great-great-grandfather had loved her as his mistress rather than his wife might also contribute to his habits. The tendencies were in his blood and could not