She Tempts the Duke (30 page)
Read She Tempts the Duke Online
Authors: Lorraine Heath
“Ironically, in a game of cards.”
Bourne could not find the humor in the fact. Indeed, the idea that Falconwell had been casually wagered and lost in a card came—again—set him on edge.
“Get him here. Needham’s game is
écarté
. Falconwell will be mine.”
Chase leaned back, surprised. “You would wager for it?”
Bourne’s reply was instant. “I will do whatever is required for it.”
“
Whatever
is required?”
Bourne was instantly suspicious. “What do you know that I do not?”
Chase’s brows shot up. “Why would you think that?”
“You always know more than I know. You enjoy it.”
“I merely pay closer attention.”
Bourne’s teeth clenched. “Be that as it may . . .”
The founder of The Fallen Angel feigned interest in a spot on one sleeve. “The land that was once a part of Falconwell—”
“
My
land.”
Chase ignored the interruption. “You cannot simply retrieve it.”
“Why not?”
Chase hesitated. “It has been attached to . . . something else.”
Cold hatred coursed through Bourne. He’d waited a decade for this—for the moment when he would finally reconnect Falconwell Manor with its lands. “Attached to what?”
“To
whom
, more like.”
“I am in no mood for your riddles.”
“Needham has announced that the former lands of Falconwell are to be included in the dowry of his eldest daughter.”
Shock rocked Bourne back on his heels. “Penelope?”
“You know the lady?”
“It’s been years since I saw her last—nearly twenty of them.”
Sixteen. She had been there on the day he’d left Surrey for the last time, after his parents’ burial, fifteen years old and shipped back to a new world with no family. She’d watched him climb into his carriage, and her serious blue gaze had not wavered in tracking his coach down the long drive away from Falconwell.
She hadn’t looked away until he had turned onto the main road.
He knew because he’d watched her, too.
She’d been his friend.
When he had still believed in friends.
She’d also been the eldest daughter of a double marquess with more money than one man could spend in a lifetime. There was no reason for her to have remained a spinster for so long. She should be married with a brood of young aristocrats to care for.
“Why does Penelope need Falconwell for a dowry?” He paused. “Why isn’t she married already?”
Chase sighed. “It would serve me well if any one of you would take an interest in Society at large rather than our meager membership.”
“Our
meager membership
is more than five hundred men. Every one of them with a file thick as my thumb, filled with information, thanks to your partners.”
“Nevertheless, I have better things to do with my evenings than educating you on the world into which you were born.”
Bourne’s gaze narrowed. He’d never known Chase to spend evenings in any way other than entirely alone. “What things?”
Chase ignored the question and took another pull of scotch. “Lady Penelope made the match of the season years ago.”
“And?”
“The engagement was overshadowed by her fiancé’s love match.”
It was an old tale, one he’d heard countless times, and still Bourne felt an unfamiliar emotion at the idea that the girl he remembered might have been hurt by her broken engagement. “Love match,” he scoffed. “A prettier or wealthier prospect more like. And that was it?”
“I am told she has been pursued by several suitors in the years since. And yet, she remains unmarried.” Chase appeared to be losing interest in the tale, continuing on a bored sigh. “Though I imagine not for long, with Falconwell to sweeten the honey pot. The temptation will have suitors swarming.”
“They’ll want a chance to lord it over me.”
“Probably. You are not high on the list of favorite peers.”
“I’m nowhere on the list of favorite peers. Nevertheless, I shall have the land.”
“And you are prepared to do what it takes to get it?” Chase looked amused.
Bourne did not miss his partner’s meaning.
A vision flashed of a young, kind Penelope, the opposite of what he was. Of what he’d become.
He pushed it aside. For nine years, he’d been waiting for this moment. For the chance to restore that which had been built for him.
That which had been left to him.
That which he had lost.
It was the closest he would ever get to redemption. And nothing would stand in his way.
“Anything.” Bourne stood and carefully straightened his coat. “If a wife comes with it, so be it.”
The door slammed shut after him.
Chase toasted the sound and spoke to the empty room. “Felicitations.”
LORRAINE HEATH wrote her first story at seven, and it involved a fisherman who fell in love with a mermaid. She has since moved on to writing about sexy cowboys and dashing English lords (and sometimes, cleverly, in the same book!).
Publishers Weekly
says she is a “master of her craft.” She is, indeed, and along with being a
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestseller, she has won the RITA
®
Award, three
Romantic Times
Reviewer’s Choice Awards, and a Career Achievement Award. Visit her website at
www.lorraineheath.com
.
Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
She Tempts the Duke
Waking Up with the Duke
Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman
Passions of a Wicked Earl
Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel
Surrender to the Devil
Between the Devil and Desire
In Bed with the Devil
Just Wicked Enough
A Duke of Her Own
Promise Me Forever
A Matter of Temptation
As an Earl Desires
An Invitation to Seduction
Love with a Scandalous Lord
To Marry an Heiress
The Outlaw and the Lady
Never Marry a Cowboy
Never Love a Cowboy
A Rogue in Texas
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from
A Rogue by Any Other Name
copyright © 2012 by Sarah Trabucchi
SHE TEMPTS THE DUKE
. Copyright © 2012 by Jan Nowasky. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition FEBRUARY 2012 ISBN: 9780062096333
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062022462
FIRST EDITION
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