A Brazen Lady And The Shunned Duke (Faces of Love Series #3) by Jessie Bennett Read Free Book Online Page B

must go and stop my sister before she makes this horrible mistake.”
    “But…” I started.
    “We don’t have time for that now. I will explain all on the way. Do you trust me?” he asked sincerely.
    His question had a double meaning. Did I trust him enough to ruin his sister’s elopement, and did I trust him enough to know that he was sincere.
    “I do,” I said before turning to leave.

CHAPTER 13

    THE CARRIAGE CHASE

* * *
    “ I t will take them at least three days to get to Gretna Greens from here.”
    “How do you know that is where they are going?” I asked from across Kent’s carriage.
    I hadn’t even had time to leave word with my brother. I had rushed upstairs, changed and ran out of the house without a single word to anyone. Luckily, Kent was waiting out front with his carriage. I got in and we were off.
    “That is the closest place you can go for elopement. They can’t make it in a day. I have a feeling their first stop will be in Leicester for the night. If we don’t meet them on the road, we will have to stop them before nightfall or…”
    “She will be ruined,” I finished for him.
    He nodded in agreement.
    “Would you mind telling me now,” I suggested.
    He gave me a weak smile. “Remember I told you about my first engagement set up by my uncle?”
    I nodded.
    “Well, Lord Byron and I had always been acquaintances from boyhood. You could say we had a healthy competition. When I was seventeen, I had just taken on my father’s title. It was the appropriate time to marry. We had been engaged since I was fourteen, or at least it had been set up between my uncle and her father for that long. When the time came, we met here in London. It was to be her first coming out and last season all in one. We were supposed to marry at the end of it.”
    He gave a long sigh. “I did it for my uncle and for my father in some ways. I felt it was my duty, my obligation as duke. She wasn’t a bad person either. I could see us being good friends throughout life. Well, as the season came to a close, she confided in me that she had fallen in love with another. She was miserable, fearing her father would never allow it.
    “I told her I would call off the engagement. I told everyone that it was my doing so that she could be free to marry the man she loved.” He let out an indignant huff. “I know I have already told you all this in parts. What I didn’t say was that man she fell for was Lord Byron.
    “When I found out, I was furious at first. It was like he had taken our competitiveness to a whole new level. She loved him, though, and that was worth more than my pride.”
    “So,” I said, putting the pieces together. “Lord Byron is the one who got her pregnant and left her destitute.”
    “As I said before, I can’t be completely certain of that fact, but it does look that way.”
    “So why would he be going after Ettie now? Perhaps he has just changed his ways and fallen in love?”
    “I highly doubt that. You see, since the current state of my affairs that I inherited, my uncle was the one to provide Ettie’s dowry. It is a substantial amount. Not even Ettie knows this. All this time I have known something about him that he doesn’t want to get out. If he marries my sister, I will have no choice except to take my secret to the grave.”
    “Because telling it would only disgrace Ettie and yourself.”
    “I don’t care about myself. I care about Ettie and what it would do to her. And to you.”
    “Me?” I said, wide eyed with shock.
    “If we were to marry, I mean.”
    I gave a small smile at his assumption. He grabbed my hand and pulled me across the carriage to him. I sat down on his lap. “That is, if you will have me. I am just a pauper,” he said with a wicked grin.
    I let my lace gloves trail the small red stubble that dusted his square jawline. He lifted his chin and kissed me softly. Twisting my fingers in his hair, I deepened the kiss. I seemed to lose all sense of propriety with