The Theft of a Dukedom Read online

  ‘Kitty, you’re going to fade away if you don’t eat!’ Charles said with amusement as he watched her daintily place another piece of duck in her mouth and chew slowly. She looked at Charles and frowned as she finished chewing the contents of her mouth.

  ‘I suppose all those Spanish Senoritas ate like pigs did they?’ she said haughtily.

  ‘On the contrary,’ Charles replied. ‘The Spanish Ladies are called Donna’s and believe me; their manners are as impeccable as ours.’

  ‘So what were the Don’s like?’ Kitty asked with raised eyebrows and it was obvious to Richard that it was sibling byplay. Probably for his benefit.

  ‘Gaudy ponces.’ Richard muttered under his breath, making Agatha snigger behind her silk glove.

  ‘You wouldn’t have liked the Don’s, Kitty. Most of them were older than father and looked just like a painting by Rembrandt!’

  ‘I seem to remember quite a few good looking Don’s in Portugal.’ Richard said cheerfully.

  ‘I remember that you were busy servicing the Donna’s while their husbands were dying in Corunna.’

  ‘Well, Wellington wouldn’t let us out to play, so I had to keep busy somehow!’ Richard said jovially and Charles laughed heartily.

  ‘Gentlemen!’ Thomas said loudly. ‘There are ladies present and that kind of chatter can be resumed during port!’ He eyed his son firmly.

  Charles looked down at his plate, ‘Sorry, Kitty. You forget the basic niceties of life in a war. Dinner is cooked in a Billy can and the nearest you get to a dinner service, is the metal plate the sergeant brings your dinner on.’

  ‘Didn’t you have your own tents and things?’ she asked curiously.

  Richard shook his head slowly. ‘Without an army of servants to put them up and take them down, there was no point. I didn’t have a tent until we arrived at Badajoz.’

  ‘Do you mean to tell me that you were sleeping out in the open in winter?’ Kitty asked in horror.

  ‘I’m afraid so, my Lady.’ Richard said softly.

  ‘I woke up with my hair frozen to the ground more than once.’ Charles said distantly.

  ‘The frost wasn’t so bad. It was the rain that could make the men unhappy.’

  ‘Does it rain a lot in Spain?’ Kitty asked innocently. ‘I thought it was a hot country.’

  Charles and Richard bellowed with laughter at that comment. ‘Only in the summer my sweet sister.’ Charles said. ‘Then it’s as dry as the Sahara and as hot as Hades!’

  ‘Rain and mud, dust and flies!’ Richard intoned like a litany. ‘On the road to Talavera!’

  ‘Amen!’ Charles said and raised his glass. The two soldiers drank deeply. ‘I think I should refrain from throwing this fine crystal goblet in the fire, don’t you?’

  Richard nodded.

  ‘Good god.’ Kitty exploded. ‘This is supposed to be a celebration of Daddy’s upcoming nuptials. Can we get away from the depressing war?’

  ‘Well said, Kitty.’ Victoria intoned from the other end of the table, looking divine in an emerald green silk gown.

  ‘A little less blasphemy, if you don’t mind?’ Thomas said and raised his glass. ‘To my future wife.’

  After the toast Richard sat back and again appraised Lady Amelia. She was stunning in a rich burgundy velvet gown. The bodice was fairly revealing and he could see the gentle slope of her breasts. With a classical square neckline and puffed sleeves, her ivory silk gloves were a distinct contrast. Around her throat glittered the most stunning emerald necklace he’d ever seen, each stone was oblong and set in a silver V, ending with an oblong stone that nestled in her cleavage. On her gloved left wrist was a matching bracelet and on her right hand was a matching ring.

  ‘I wonder who will drop something on my new gown tonight.’ She murmured to her brother.

  ‘You’ll just have to avoid everybody, Kitty.’ Charles saidsotto voce.

  ‘The only way I can do that is to stay at home.’ She said petulantly.

  ‘Well, maybe Richard and I can act as foils.’ Charles said. ‘If I stand one side and Richard the other, nobody should be able to drop anything on your gown.’

  Eventually dinner was finished and the gentlemen stood as the ladies retired to the drawing room for tea and gossip. Havers trundled around the table with the cigar humidor and port decanter.

  ‘Are we going to take bets on whether Kitty gets a drenching tonight?’ Charles said callously. His father chuckled and Richard looked uncomfortable.

  ‘How can you laugh about it?’ he asked offended.

  ‘I can laugh because I’ve been watching it all season.’ Thomas said evenly. ‘Last time it was wine, this time it will be food.’ He explained. ‘Last time it was a man, so tonight it will be a woman.’

  ‘Does it happen every single time?’ Richard asked in surprise.

  ‘Not every time she goes out, only at balls.’

  ‘How many offers have you had?’ Charles asked as he puffed on his cigar.

  ‘None! They flutter around her like moths at a candle! I’d hoped Derek Ponsonby would break the ice, but he got impatient last night and ruined everything. I’ll be surprised if she even speaks to him tonight.’ He sighed. ‘I know they’re interested because they call, formally call.’ And he shook his head. ‘But somehow she manages to keep them at a distance.’

  ‘Why doesn’t she like to be touched?’ Richard asked in confusion.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Thomas said softly, ‘but when she was ten years old she suddenly changed. She became afraid of the dark and wanted the lamp on, and her Governess had to sleep in the same room for a year or more. I put it down to her mother’s death. I didn’t really manage to get her to settle down until Robin went to Cambridge. Charles is the only person who can really give her any tactile affection. She shies away from the rest of us.’ Charles squirmed and Thomas looked at him fiercely. ‘Do you have something to tell me, son?’

  ‘I suppose I can tell you now he’s dead! It was Robin’s fault.’ Charles said with a sigh. ‘I’ve kept this to myself for the last ten years and it’s about time somebody understood. Robin tried to rape her one night.’

  Thomas sighed and nodded. ‘Now I understand.’

  ‘I heard her scream, because my bedroom was next to hers. I didn’t know what was happening at the time, I only realized it was attempted rape after I’d had my first sexual encounter. But I burst through the door and Robin had her naked and pinned to the bed.’ Charles sighed again.

  ‘Did he actually violate her?’ Thomas asked in horror.

  ‘I don’t think so, his britches were still buttoned. But I damn nearly beat him to death for it.’ He looked up sharply at his father. ‘Don’t you remember the time he had two black eyes and a broken rib?’ Thomas nodded. ‘Well, it wasn’t some thug from down the Square that did it. I did.’ Thomas nodded. ‘I grabbed him by the hair and threw him across the room, I was so angry. Kitty scrambled under her bed, but that didn’t prevent her from seeing me kick my brother’s face in!’ he finished viciously. ‘If she hadn’t called me to stop I think I might have killed him. I held out Kitty’s robe and I wrapped her in her eiderdown and rocked her to sleep on my lap.’

  ‘What did Robin say in explanation?’ Thomas asked softly.

  ‘He tried to fob it off as a game gone wrong, but he couldn’t adequately explain her torn nightgown on the carpet. Kitty wouldn’t let him near her after that.’ Charles took a deep draught of his port. ‘After I’d had my first girl later that year, which was a kitchen maid from down the Square, I tackled him again and told him in no uncertain terms what I would do to him if he ever touched his sister like that again.’

  ‘What did you threaten him with?’ Thomas asked. ‘Because it must have worked.’

  ‘I told him I would cut off his cock, if I found out he’d ever stuck it in my sister!’

  ‘Would you have done it?’ Richard asked and then cursed himself for a fool, because he knew fine well Charles was capable of it.

 
‘Oh! Yes, and Robin knew it.’ Charles said. ‘It was the reason I killed that Frog, when he was trying to rape little Maria.’ He briefly explained the event for his father. ‘Rape is something I’ve never been able to stand. If a woman says no, it’s no. And it shouldn’t matter whether it’s a whore or your virginal wife. I was so glad that I was injured at Badajoz, because I wouldn’t have been able to stand seeing the rape and murder that occurred when they sacked the city. It sickened me to the core at Cuidad Rodrigo.’

  ‘I understand Wellington issued an ultimatum that all soldiers had to be out of the city by night fall or he would start stringing them up?’ Thomas ventured.

  ‘Actually it was noon the next day, after the rioting was over.’ Richard said. ‘I wonder if he did it to encourage the French to surrender the next time he has to take a fortified city.’

  ‘Well, let’s hope it works!’ Charles said and reached for the decanter again.

  Charles, Kitty and Richard travelled in the plain Landau to the Henderson’s ball. ‘I don’t understand why we don’t walk.’ Kitty said again. ‘It’s only a couple of streets away, not the other side of the river!’

  ‘I can’t anyway.’ Charles said and laughed loudly. ‘But a ducal heir never walks anywhere.’

  ‘True. It’s such a pity, but at least you can support me for the rest of my life, now. I won’t have to rely on Robin.’

  ‘What are you going to do if Ponsonby actually makes an offer?’ Charles asked.

  ‘Refuse.’ She said coldly. ‘I had a feeling he was the domineering type last week, when he passed that comment about a wife’s place?’ She sighed. ‘So last night was the final straw, just like Viscount Dalton, he grabbed me quite hard.’ She shivered. Flicked her eyes across at Richard and said ‘you know I’ll never be able to trust a domineering male. I’m not used to it. Daddy has always been so generous, when I talk to Louise Trenchard, her father is positively autocratic. He’s determined that she marry a title, so beware brother.’

  ‘Louise Trenchard is delightful.’ Charles said ‘and if I was looking for a wife, I might even offer for her. But I’m not. Not yet, it’s too soon.’

  ‘You mean too soon after Badajoz, don’t you?’ Kitty said with sudden insight and maturity. ‘You don’t trust yourself not to wake up in the night and kill her by accident.’

  ‘That’s exactly right, Lady Amelia.’ Richard said softly. ‘I have exactly the same problem.’

  ‘But as I understand it, you don’t have to share your wife’s bed all night long.’ She said innocently making both men smile. ‘Aunt Agatha explained to me that a wife has to wait for her husband to take his conjugal rights!’ She lied convincingly.

  Both Charles and Richard guffawed at the precise way she explained it. ‘Some times, Kitty, you are so innocent. I don’t for one minute think that a lifelong spinster like Aunt Agatha has any idea what constitutes a marriage. You’d probably be better off asking Victoria about it from now on.’

  The coach pulled up in front of the Henderson’s impressive townhouse in Grosvenor Street. Richard alighted quickly and helped Charles down the steps and out of habit offered his hand to Kitty. She looked at the proffered white gloved hand and to Charles’s surprise she actually rested her fingers on his palm as she stepped from the carriage. Due to the sultry summer heat, Kitty had donned an ivory silk shawl and as she stepped down, it slid off her other arm. Richard gallantly grabbed the light silk before it landed in the horse muck scattered all over the road and gently draped it back over her shoulders. As she stood with her arms out waiting for it, he had an urge to lean in and kiss the nape of her neck and instead he received a waft of a delicate jasmine scent as he draped the silk over her arms. ‘Thank you, my Lord.’ She said and smiled coyly at him. Charles stood with his eyebrows up in surprise. ‘What?’ she demanded as she looked at her brother.

  ‘It’s just that I’ve never known you to take a strangers hand before.’ Charles said softly as she joined him. She lifted her skirts with both hands and Charles cupped her elbow with his free hand, guiding her around the piles of horse droppings in the road.

  ‘He’s nice.’ She said in explanation and then ‘I wish they’d clear up after the horses more frequently.’

  ‘Yes. It is rather inconvenient.’ Charles said as he clutched at Kitty’s arm to stop himself from falling.

  Eventually they made it to the steps without mishap, Thomas, Victoria and Agatha were waiting for them. The gentlemen saw to the ladies wraps, handing them to a footman and they listened to the major domo announce each one of them by title.

  ‘The Duke of Durham, the Duchess of Wentworth, the Marquis of Pikeston, the Countess of Stockton, the Countess of Stainmore and Lord Richard Dunsmore!’ he bellowed.

  There was an instant hush in the ballroom as all eyes turned to see Victoria walk into the ball proudly on Thomas’s arm. Then the volume rose higher than before as everybody speculated on a romantic attachment between the two Dukedoms. Charles smiled and escorted Kitty across the room towards all the other debutantes and waited until she was seated before he joined Richard at the punch bowl.

  Richard poured out two cups and they both took a sip, coughed, spluttered and put the cups down on the table. ‘God! That’s awful.’ Charles muttered.

  ‘Let’s go and get some claret.’ Richard said and made for the small drawing room that was lined with tables filled with glasses and bottles of wine, spirits and champagne. Once fortified with a brandy, Charles and Richard took wine back for Kitty. Richard politely handed her a glass, smiled softly and stepped back. He and Charles took up station by a Grecian pillar, where they had a fine view of the dancers on the floor. They stood for a good hour and watched the vultures that were in the market for a wife, try and coax the young beauties on display to dance.

  Kitty sat with Louise Trenchard and they chatted amicably. Richard still watched her.

  ‘Who is that handsome man standing with your brother?’ Louise asked softly, so as not to draw the attention of the other debs.

  ‘That’s his friend from Spain.’ Kitty said evasively.

  ‘Is he a Don?’ Louise demanded as her interest was piqued.

  ‘No. He is the youngest son of the Earl of Rutland.’ Kitty said coldly.

  ‘Oh!’ Louise said dismissively. ‘I thought he might be someone important.’

  ‘Sorry, Lulu, but your Daddy’s not going to look at him twice and you know it. A Lord isn’t good enough for his little girl.’

  ‘I think Daddy has his heart set on your brother.’ Louise said softly. ‘Not that I’d mind having you for a sister, but one doesn’t really know what to expect with any man. For all we know he could be a brutal lover.’

  ‘He isn’t. And don’t ever imply that he could be again.’ Kitty said harshly making Louise look at her sharply. Kitty sighed deeply and composed her face. ‘Sorry, I’m a little over protective of him at the moment.’

  ‘Hardly surprising. He was terribly injured in Spain, wasn’t he?’ Louise asked compassionately. She knew just how close Kitty was with her brother and after the rumours she’d been told about Robin, Charles was probably just as protective of her.

  ‘I thought he had his eyes on the young Duke of Cardigan?’ Kitty asked to steer Louise away from her brother.

  ‘Cardigan is rich to be sure, but I don’t think he’s looking for a wife yet. Hadn’t you noticed he avoids the debs like the plague?’

  ‘I had. Daddy’s going to ask soon, but will you be coming to Durham this summer?’ Kitty asked. ‘Mickleton Hall will be boring without you.’

  ‘I think you’ll be hard pressed to stop Daddy from accepting the invite.’ Louise said jovially. ‘Will your brother Robin be home from abroad by then?’

  ‘Robin won’t be coming home, ever.’ Kitty said with a frown. ‘He got himself killed in a duel in Jamaica.’ Silence followed that statement and Louise wasn’t quite sure how to voice her opinion. She’d never liked Robin and her father had told her for years that Robin Staf
ford was his preferred choice of a husbandand if Thomas Stafford would only bend in his ridiculous stance on arranged marriages, she could look forward to being a Duchess. A part of her sighed in relief.

  ‘So that makes Charles truly a Marquis, then.’ She ventured cautiously, with a sidelong look at her friend. She saw a fleeting smile on Kitty’s lips and relaxed. ‘Good. I couldn’t think of anything worse than marrying your brother Robin!’ and Kitty laughed.

  ‘I think I’ll ask your sister to dance.’ Richard said softly and Charles laughed.

  ‘It’s taken you a while to tell me that. I knew you would ask her at dinner! You could barely take your eyes off her décolletage!’

  ‘I have never seen a prettier girl.’ Richard sighed. ‘Not even when I was tupping the Donna’s in Lisbon.’

  ‘Be careful with her. After what Robin tried to do, it frightened her to death.’

  ‘Just a dance, I promise.’ Richard smiled and walked away.

  Charles smiled gently as he watched his sister blush and accept Richard’s hand. He stood calmly watching them move through the steps of the set.

  ‘Who is that handsome man your sister is dancing with?’ Lady Constance Beresford whispered in his ear, making his heart pound.

  ‘Hello, Connie.’ Charles turned to greet her and swept his eyes from her head to her feet in an instant. She had the most gorgeous raven coloured hair swept into a fashionable chignon, flawless alabaster skin, bright blue eyes, a button nose and pert pink lips all set in a heart shaped face. Her swan neck gracefully curved down to her shoulders and her bulging breasts were displayed provocatively by a scandalously low cut gown of the finest silk in peacock blue. Altogether she was very tasty and Charles remembered just how tasty as he looked back up into her shining blue eyes. ‘Did you make the mistake of marrying that fop Bristol?’ he enquired hoarsely as he recalled that this was the woman that taught him self-control because she was insatiable.