Sins of a Duke by Suzanne Enoch Read Free Book Online

the Bank of England will see that. Once Sir Henry Sparks accepts our proposal, his own people can take over the printing of the bonds, and our people can concentrate on stirring interest in buying them.”
    “What if Spain steps in before you have your capital? Or what if England refuses to invest?”
    “You worry too much. King Qental gave me the land, and Spain is presently much more concerned with Bonaparte than with the Rey of Costa Habichuela. And I did a great deal of research before I requested that we be introduced to the Duke of Melbourne. He knows if we aren’t successful here we’ll have to go to Prussia or to France. England wants another toehold in Central America, and even more than that it doesn’t want France to have one. We are a very low-risk proposition, Josefina, with a very great opportunity for reward and profit.”
    “You are brilliant, Father, if I haven’t told you so recently,” she returned. It made a great deal of sense. Her father was a master strategist, and even without his abundance of wit and charm, Sir Henry, the Bank of England, Melbourne, and anyone with a few extra pounds to invest would be foolish to pass the opportunity by.
    “Thank you. And of course if the daughter of the rey were to marry the head of one of the oldest, most respected, and wealthiest families in England, that would help thecause of Costa Habichuela more than any words possibly could. As I said, I did my research.”
    And that very person had kissed her only an hour ago. Melbourne kissed like the devil himself—all heat and no quarter given. He’d practically devoured her. Her pulse sped at just the thought of it. “A good fit for our needs or not, Melbourne isn’t a fool. He will know the two of us are being thrown together, if he hasn’t realized it already.”
    “And what’s wrong with that? He’s a duke, and you’re a princess.”
    “Two years ago I wasn’t a princess. A Griffin has been a duke practically since before Caesar.”
    “And yet he is a man, and you, my dear, are a very attractive young lady of two-and-twenty.”
    “Five-and-twenty.”
    “Previously married dukes, I’ve found, prefer their brides to be young and virginal. For Costa Habichuela you can lose three years.” He smiled at her again, his blond moustache curving. “Even when I was Captain Embry in George the Third’s army, even when I was Colonel Embry under General Bolivar, you were a princess. Wherever we went, do you think your mother and I provided you with the best education, the best tutors, so you could marry a farmer or a shopkeeper? I’ve always said that everything happens—”
    “—for a reason,” she finished, smiling back at him. “So you were meant to be the Rey of Costa Habichuela.”
    “Yes, I was. It’s the second greatest achievement of my life, after you.” He kissed her forehead again. “And you were meant to marry a man so great that in my youth I wouldn’t have dared look him in the eye.”
    A shiver ran through her, though she wasn’t certain whether it was one of anticipation or of dread. Melbourne kissed well, but if he ever blinked and realized that he’d been led somewhere he didn’t want to go, the consequences could be disastrous. “Before his wife died she gave him a daughter, you know.”
    “I know. And you’ll give him a son. And a country to rule.” He pulled out his pocket watch as Captain Milton appeared at the foot of the stairs. “Ah, it’s time. Let’s go meet a banker, shall we?”
     
    The impression they made this afternoon with Sir Henry Sparks would be the most important of their trip to England. Josefina knew her father had rehearsed his arguments for weeks, though he hoped they wouldn’t be necessary. As for her, she was ready to be regal and confident, whatever insults Melbourne might throw at her. She had a good head for figures, and she’d done her own research, as well.
    As the coach stopped at the foot of the wide steps leading up to the Bank of