To Catch A Duke (20 page)

"If you come after us, I will
hunt you down like the dog you are."
 
Nicholas' voice was like forged iron now - hard and unyielding.
 
"Do not trifle with me, Landover, or
you will suffer the consequences."
 
He glanced over to one of the men holding a gun.
 
"Ask your friend Wilson there.
 
He will tell you the truth.
 
I do not make idle threats, and I carry
through with those that I do issue."

"You don't frighten
me."
 
Landover was looking for an
escape route as the authorities closed in, but he had nowhere to run.

Nicholas raised an eyebrow, and
Benjamin saw a look of pure, icy fury in his friend's eyes.
 
"Don't I?"
 
He gave the marquess a sardonic look.
 
"Somehow, I think you know precisely
what I am talking about."

Then Nicholas pointed his gun at
Landover's heart, freezing the other man in place.
 
"Now be still and don't make me shoot you."
 
Then he risked a glance backwards to address
Benjamin.
 
"Get her help.
 
Now.
 
I have this until the authorities arrive"

The Duke of Radcliffe did not need
to be told twice.
 
Turning back to Julia
who was still cradled in his arms from when he'd caught her, he was surprised
to find her gazing up at him, a look of pure adoration on her face.
 
"You saved me.
 
Again."
 
Her words were so soft that had he not been leaning over her, he
would have missed them.

"And I would save you a
thousand times over, Julia.
 
As many as
necessary to keep you safe."
 
He
swallowed hard.
 
Now.
 
Now was the time.
 
"I love you."

But Julia did not hear the last
part.
 
Instead, she'd fainted dead away from
pain just as a physician arrived and began to lift her from his arms.
 
"Be careful.
 
She's been shot."
 
He
said the words wearily, as if he had lived a thousand lifetimes in the span of
just a few moments.

"I did not harm her
before.
 
I will not now."
 
Benjamin looked up to find the physician was
none other than Doctor Hastings, the same one who had arrived from London to
care for Julia the day she had been kidnapped.
 
Older now, he still had the same comforting smile, as well as an air
about him that indicated that he would, in fact, do no harm.
 
Behind him, there was another, younger man,
clearly an apprentice.
 
The duke wasn't
certain that he trusted the new man.

Obviously seeing the look of
mistrust on the duke's face, the doctor smiled reassuringly.
 
"He is better than I was at his
age.
 
If her life is in danger, he is
the best available, I assure you."
 
Then laid Julia out on the ground and pushed back her cloak to examine
the wound.
 
Her dress was torn where the
bullet had passed through, and Hastings tore the rest of the fabric away with
his hands.
 
With his knife, he cut away
the rest of her undergarments, leaving Benjamin holding his breath in
fear.
 

"I think it is just a graze,
even though it is bleeding greatly," Hastings said after a quick examination.
 
"Wounds in this area sometimes
do."

"Can you save her?"
 
That was the only thing Benjamin needed to
know.
 
If Julia's life ended, then so,
essentially, did his.
 
As would
Landover's, even if the man didn't know it yet.

Nodding, Hastings gestured to the
other man.
 
"If you would allow my
assistant, Mr. Blackwell, to assist me, I will make her comfortable enough that
we may transport her elsewhere."
 
Then he gestured for Blackwell to approach.

It went against every instinct
Benjamin had to back away and allow the other men to treat Julia.
 
He'd looked after her, cared for her for so
long that he no longer felt comfortable entrusting her well being to anyone
else.
 
Still, logically, he knew that he
didn't have the specialized knowledge that these men did.
 
So slowly, he moved away and over to where
Nick stood, already talking to two Runners.
 
There were questions to be answered, he knew, and a long way to go
before this affair was finally settled.

"Someone to see you, my
lady."
 
Cosgrove, the butler,
issued his words with a hint of distain, as if he knew in advance the response
he would receive.
 
Which he did.

"I am not taking callers
today."
 
Julia looked out the
window to the rainy street beyond.
 
It
had been raining ever since the day of the duel.
 
Dark clouds had moved in that afternoon, as if they knew that
Julia's brief moment in society was ending and wished to share in her
misery.
 
"Send them away."

It had been four days since that
fateful morning.
 
Four days since all
that Julia knew and had been enjoying ended in a scandal that, even now, was
still racing through the
ton
like a fire raced through a barn full of
dry hay.
 
Not that she had been privy to
much of the details, of course.
 
For the
first two days, she'd been unconscious, healing from the after effects of the
bullet that had grazed her side.
 
A
bullet that Landover had fired.
 
Today
and the day before had been spent rejecting inquisitive callers, each eager for
a bit of fresh news that they could then add to the growing scandal.

Not that the event could have been
keep silent, even if they would have tried.
 
After all, with the doctors, seconds, criminal elements, and the law
involved, there was very little that society did not know about what had
occurred that morning on the dueling field near the park.
 
The official story was that she, Nicholas
and Benjamin had been out for an early morning ride when Landover, still
seeking revenge over Lady Catherine Huffton, had attempted to kill Radcliffe,
and, in doing so, missed his target and struck Julia instead.

That was the official story, but,
of course, no one believed it.
 
How
could they?
 
There had been multiple men
with guns and no horses - save for Julia's, which had been located hours later
drinking from the Serpentine.
 
Nicholas
had been armed, Benjamin had been partially undressed and obviously unfit to be
seen in public.
 
Not to mention that
there was the issue of the Marquess of Berkshire's ivory-handled, engraved
dueling pistols at the scene.
 
No one
knew quite what to make of those.
 
As
far as anyone knew, Lord Berkshire, though a friend of Landover's had no issue
with either Radcliffe or Candlewood, thus making his pistols at the scene a bit
of a mystery.
 
The Runners, of course,
worked to keep most of those details quiet.

However, everyone knew the basics
of the tale, which were mostly repeated correctly with each telling of the
story.
 
There had been a duel in
progress, one to defend Julia and her honor, as well as to keep numerous family
secrets.
 
The real scandal, of course,
was that Julia had been at the dueling field in the first place.
 
No one knew of her affair with Benjamin, at
least not the details, but it didn't matter.
 
Even if she wasn't precisely a fallen woman, she was now very much a
scandalized one.

A scandalized one that had quickly
been disinvited from every event she'd received an invitation to in the days
before the duel.
 
It shouldn't have
mattered, really, as the season ended the following evening, but Julia's heart
still hurt with each cut she received.
 
She had hoped to dance at least one more time with Benjamin before she
returned to her solitary life in Sussex.
 
Now that was wiped away as well.

There was no question, of course,
that she would return to Seldon Park.
 
After all that had happened, there was no way she could remain in
society.
 
She was a fallen woman.
 
A pariah.
 
Leaving London was the only option left to her.
 
Just when she had decided to finally claim
her rightful place in the
ton
, it had been yanked away from her as if it
had never existed at all.

"You will see us, I
believe."

Julia looked up to see Lady Amy
Cheltenham, as well as her mother, the Countess of Evanston practically float
into the drawing room.
 
Rising quickly,
Julia offered a curtsey and then rang for tea to be brought as she ushered them
to overstuffed chairs.

"My lady.
 
Lady Amy."
 
Julia looked at them both rather quizzically.
 
"To what do I owe the honor of this
visit?
 
I had not expected any visitors
today."
 
None that she wished to
see, anyway.

"We are here to help, of
course."
 
Lady Amy offered a smile
and patted Julia's hand as if they were old friends.
 
"We know, of course, about what took place in the park a few
days ago."

Julia was saved from answering
immediately by the arrival of the tea tray.
 
As she poured, she took the time to phrase her response just so, not
wanting to offend either of the two women.
 
As of yet, they hadn't berated her for her behavior, and she didn't want
them to do so now.
 
Though she could not
really fathom why they were here at all.

Finally, when she was finished, she
sat back, teacup in hand, and looked at her guests.
 
"I'm sorry, my ladies, but I do not know what you are
talking about.
 
My brother and I, as
well as our old family friend Lord Radcliffe were out riding a few days ago
when we were ambushed by Lord Landover.
 
He attempted to kill Radcliffe, but struck me instead.
 
I thought the proper authorities had dealt
whit him accordingly?
 
Is that not the
case?"

The last Julia had heard, via her
brother, of course, was that Landover was in Newgate, awaiting a decision on
his fate.
 
Most likely he would be
forced to the Continent to live, depending on the extent of Benjamin's
influence.
 
The other men he'd hired had
all disappeared back into the cesspool that was London's slums and no one had
bothered to look for them.
 
As they were
not the ones holding the grudge, it was felt that it was unlikely that they
would make another attempt on either Nicholas' or Benjamin's lives.

At Julia's words, a small smile
touched the corner of the countess' mouth.
 
"That was excellent, Lady Julia.
 
A performance worthy of Drury Lane, if you do not mind me saying
so.
 
This entire scheme will work out
nicely, indeed.
 
I see that I needn't
have worried."

"What scheme, my
lady?"
 
Julia felt as if she'd wandered
into the middle of a play where she had never seen the script.
 
"I beg your pardon, but I'm afraid that
I have no idea what you're about."

At that, Amy sat forward in her
chair eagerly and grasped Julia's hand.
 
"I know that we haven't been the best of friends, and for that, I
apologize.
 
Sometimes, I allow my
actions to be dictated by society, even though I know better."

"You have no need to
apologize," Julia assured the woman still clutching her hands
tightly.
 
"You did nothing
wrong."
 
She also did not
understand what her relationship with Lady Amy had to do with the scandal of
the near-duel.

"But I did," Amy
insisted, rushing on.
 
"I had hoped
to become your friend this season, but..."
 
She trailed off as if embarrassed before straightening her spine
again.
 
"No matter.
 
My point is that you have suffered greatly
for things you had no part of."

Instinctively, Julia reached up to
stroke her face.
 
"My scars.
 
The duel."
 
Among other things.

"We know the story, my
dear," Lady Evanston broke in, her tone strong, but not condemning.
 
"Everyone does, though those with any
breeding at all will not speak of it, at least not in public.
 
Lord Radcliffe did what was necessary, even
if his behavior was just this side of scandalous."
 
She looked Julia directly in the eye,
something that few people ever did upon first meeting her.
 
"You, however, have suffered the brunt
of things.
 
That is not fair and it
should be corrected immediately, which is why we are here."

Julia knew the other woman was
referring to the rescinded invitations and the cuts, both direct and indirect,
she had received from the moment she'd arrived in London.
 
"I do not see how that can be changed,
my lady," Julia finally offered.
 
There was no solution, at least none that she could see.
 
In two days, she would depart for Seldon
Park and, barring any unforeseen emergencies, never return.
 
It was not what she wanted, but it was what
had to be.

Amy opened her reticule and
produced an engraved invitation, which she handed to Julia.
 
"For you.
 
An invitation for you and your brother to our end-of-season ball
tomorrow night."

Taking it with trembling hands,
Julia bit her lip.
 
She was completely
in awe.
 
Even when she and Nicholas had
been scandal-free, this was one invitation she had never expected to
receive.
 
Nicholas might have, some day,
perhaps when he chose to marry.
 
If he
ever did.
 
But not her.
 
She was not ranked nearly high enough on the
social scale to even merit consideration.

"My lady, I am honored but I
cannot," Julia protested.
 
This was
too much.
 
She knew that Amy and her
mother would not hold her up for ridicule on purpose, but it would happen.
 
They had to know that.
 
"At the very least, I will be an
unwelcome distraction at your ball."

"Posh."
 
Julia looked up in surprise at the countess.
 
"Those old dragons would vilify
everyone who does not look, think, or act the way they expect or demand.
 
Just at they did to you."
 
She gave a haughty sniff, as if the matrons
of the
ton
did not concern her in the least.
 
"But times change and another change is on the horizon, I
think.
 
Maybe not next season, but soon
enough.
 
Those of us in a position to
facilitate the change have a moral obligation to do so."
 
She was clearly talking about something
Julia knew nothing about, but that didn't seem to matter to the countess.
 
"I think that we all know Benjamin
Sinclair was justified in killing his father for you all those years ago."

Julia gasped.
 
She had no idea anyone outside of her
immediate circle knew the truth.
 
She
was even more shocked when the countess patted her hand comfortingly.

"The
ton
has known the
truth for years, my dear," Lady Evanston sighed wearily, as if the burden
of keeping secrets was too much to bear.
 
"But it was polite not to speak of it, not to mention that few
truly mourned the passing of the scoundrel.
 
Radcliffe is a far better duke than his father ever was."

"So everyone already
knows?"
 
Julia could not believe
this.
 
She'd lived in ignorance for so
long and meanwhile it had been public knowledge?

Amy tightened her grip on Julia's
hand.
 
"It was not spoken about
around you, your brother or Radcliffe," she assured Julia.
 
"That would not have been proper.
 
But, yes, many people knew.
 
I did and from a very young age."

"And now?"
 
Julia was confused, and her head was beginning
to throb, though she suspected that it was partly from the medication Dr.
Hastings had given her for her injury.

"Now it is time to allow the
past to rest."
 
Lady Evanston
inclined her head.
 
"It is
done.
 
Landover is no longer a threat to
you, thanks to the duke.
 
However, the
scandal of you on a dueling field, even though the official story is, of
course, that it was
not
a duel, needs to be undone.
 
Then, and only then, can we all move
on.
 
To do so, you must be strong, show
the vipers and the dragons that you are not ashamed.
 
Not by of any of it."

"I am not."
 
There was a heat and passion in Julia's
words that had not been there before.
 
She was strong.
 
She could do
this.
 
"And I would change
everything if I could," she admitted, though she had no idea
why
she was admitting it.
 
Only that it felt
good to speak of something she'd kept locked up inside of herself for so
long.
 
"Though had I not been
there, Benjamin would have died."
 
Then she looked up in terror, realizing her mistake.
 
These women did not know Julia used the
duke's Christian name.