The Duke Conspiracy (28 page)

Without a backward glance, she strode to the
open doorway, but before exiting the room she could not resist
turning back for one last look at the handsome nobleman. With an
upraised hand she waved goodbye and forced her reluctant feet to
bear her away.

****

Alex was left staring at the empty doorway,
his arm still elevated in the small wave they had exchanged. With
rueful regret he took a deep breath and turned away. Looking about,
he decided to leave by another way. His usually alert senses were
somewhat preoccupied by thoughts of Miss Smythe. He wondered if
they would ever again be able to share such easy camaraderie. With
renewed determination, he reminded himself that he was a duke, and
he would have to make it possible. All of a sudden, though, his
dulled wits sharpened as he realized that someone was watching him.
From the quick glance he got before that
someone
got up and
tried to hurry away, it looked as though they might have gotten
comfortable watching him for a while. That meant that he had been
watching
them
. That is when Alex's blood ran quite cold, and
his previously dulled wits truly came into focus.

Endeavoring to appear nonchalant, he turned
his head in the direction he was walking, toward the back entrance
of Burlington House, while keeping an eye on the character out of
the corner of his eye.
Who are you
? he asked inside his
mind.
And are you watching me on the orders of Sir Broderick?
And if so, how am I to ever get word to Rose?
was his last
anguished thought as he hurried toward his waiting carriage.

Glad to see his tiger on the ground, on the
far side of his team, the duke hastened to join him, forestalling
the young man's leap onto the back of the conveyance.

“Pete, come here, I have another assignment
for you today.” With a quick glance over his shoulder, he could see
that the watcher was still in sight and had, in fact, paused to see
if the duke was still watching him. Hidden as he was behind the
horses, Alex did not think the other man could see him. “Do you see
that squirrelly looking man by the last pillar?”

“The buck with the brown coat, whose hat
looks like someone stomped on it?” Pete asked eagerly.

“The very one. I want you to follow him as
discreetly as possible and then let me know what you find out.”
Alex paused to regard his young servant seriously. “I must warn
you, this could be dangerous. I will not turn you off if you
refuse.”

“Get on wit' you, yer Grace. I can look after
meself. And danger ain't nothin' but excitement with a different
name.”

Alex grinned at the young man's words. “Very
well then, do not let him notice you, and you absolutely must not
be caught. Run away if you are in the least bit of danger. Whatever
you might find out is more useful to me than a dead tiger.”

“Discreet is my other name,” Pete responded
with quiet dignity as he peered out from between the horses' legs.
“I'll have all the info you could want and more before the end of
the night, yer Grace. Don't you trouble yer mind none about me.”
With those words the young man scampered quickly away from the
carriage and took up an advantageous position close to the large
building.

Alex made a show of checking his horses'
harnesses and then climbed up into the vehicle in order to make an
explanation for his disappearance from view, hoping the scoundrel
watching him would not realize he had been set upon. With a mental
shrug, despite his myriad of misgivings, Alex drove away leaving
his tiger to gather as much intelligence as he could.

Hoping he was wrong, Alex feared that his
Rosie was now in much more danger than he ever would have thought
and the duke wracked his brain for any ideas on how to mitigate the
danger. As soon as he arrived at his large house in Mayfair, Alex
summoned several footmen to his study as he contemplated how Miss
Smythe would react were she to realize just how capable of
duplicity he had become. He had found it quaint to realize how
innocent she truly was despite her protestations otherwise, and
could not bear to disabuse her of her ideas.
But how could she
possibly believe that a duke could remain as innocent as she thinks
me?
Clearly the poor dear has no real experience, despite
her protestations to the contrary.

“Thank you, men, for your quick response to
my summons,” Alex began, addressing the three large men assembled
in his study, dressed in the Wrentham livery. “I have a job for
you.”

“All right, guv'nor,” declared the most vocal
of the three, happily. “Not to be rude about your hospitality in
providing us with work, but being a footman is deadly dull.”

Alex grinned at the man's words. “This job
might not be that much more interesting, I am afraid, Craig. I need
the three of you to rotate shifts watching Miss Rosamund
Smythe.”

The three men looked at each other before
turning blank looks on their master. Craig, always the spokesman,
answered for the three of them. “Are we watching her to keep you
informed of her activities, yer Grace?” he asked as politely as
possible. Not that he really cared what the duke was up to, but he
needed to know the scope of their duties.

“That is not exactly what I meant, although I
would be glad if you could manage to keep me apprised of her
whereabouts. I fear she might be in danger, and given the current
situation between our families I cannot warn her or her father of
the danger. I need you three to watch over her as discreetly as
possible, and keep your eye out for anyone else that might be
watching her or her house.”

“Ah, I see. Right-o, yer Grace. That should
be right easy. If that will be all, we'll get right on it.” The
young men made to leave before one of them thought of something.
“I'm assumin' we oughta change out of our uniforms, right, yer
Grace?”

“That is an excellent idea, Thomas, yes. Try
to be as unobtrusive as possible. My livery being spotted near the
Smythe residence would give rise to comments and conjecture, I am
quite certain, and would no doubt get you chased away as quick as a
wink too.”

Grinning, the three men exited the room,
hurrying away to fulfill their duties. Alex could hear them
grumbling as they went down the hall, arguing over who would be the
first to take a turn at the task. He was happy to have such a
reliable staff and hoped it would be enough. He really needed to
get a warning to Rose, but a note delivered by one of his footmen
would be impossible, and even a hired urchin would be noticed by
her parents.

With fortuitous timing, Alex thought of
Wesley, just as he heard the knocker on his front door. Jumping to
his feet, Alex hoped it was his friend coming to pay a visit. Not
waiting for the butler to announce him, the duke strode toward the
front of the house.

“My Lord Dunbar is here to see you, Your
Grace,” the butler announced redundantly as Alex entered the
foyer.

“Excellent, William, thank you,” Alex
answered cheerfully as he walked past both the butler and Lord
Dunbar, expecting the viscount to follow him as he entered the
front receiving room. Glad to see Wesley close on his heels, Alex
shut the door firmly behind him after instructing the butler, “See
that we are not disturbed for at least a quarter of an hour.”

“Very well, Your Grace,” the butler tried to
answer, but the doors were already closed on him.

“You look in fine spirits this morning, Your
Grace. I was unsure if you would even be up and about at this hour
of the day,” Wesley declared to his good friend.

“Whatever do you mean?” Alex was
confused.

“It is still a couple of hours before noon,
Your Grace. Despite your early call upon me the other day, I know
it is not your usual habit to be about so early.” Wesley stated
with a grin.

“Is it really still that early?” Alex asked,
surprised. “I would have thought it was halfway through the
afternoon,” he mused. “Well never mind about that. What are you
doing here, if you thought I would not be about? Is it something
urgent, or can it wait, because I really have need of you.”

“That is why I am here. I awoke this morning
remembering your concerns last night over Broderick and I thought
to offer my services this morning such that they are. Keep in mind
that I am a novice, but I am willing to do whatever is in my power
to assist you and our fair country.”

“Those are truly noble sentiments, my good
man, but right at the moment I need your assistance for the fair
Rosamund.”

“Rosamund?” Wesley asked a trifle
blankly.

“We met this morning to discuss the situation
and I fear we were being watched. I failed to notice until she had
already left, so I was unable to warn her. And of course, I cannot
call on her to deliver the news myself.”

“Nor can you send round a discreet note,”
finished the viscount, catching the duke's idea. “So you would like
me to call upon her and apprise her of this development. Well, that
shan't strain my skills overmuch. I would be happy to. How urgent
is the delivery of this news? Should I set out immediately or wait
until the socially acceptable time? And is there anything else you
might need me to do?”

Alex grinned at Dunbar's willing offer of
help. “Thank you so much, Wes. I truly appreciate it. Part of me
wants you to rush right over there, but it will draw the least
amount of attention if you call at a more acceptable time, of
course. And I am fairly certain she should be safe for the time
being. She was planning to return home and tell her father about
Broderick's plots, or what little we know about them, at the very
least. She could be closeted with him for a while. And she is
afraid she may be banished after that interview, so if she gets
sent back home to their estate, she should be reasonably safe
there.”

Wesley had a thought. “You say you were
observed together. Do you think the person who was watching you
heard your discussion?”

“I think it highly unlikely, but it is
possible. I was not paying very close attention to our
surroundings, I am ashamed to admit, and did not notice him until
after Rose had left, like I said. When I saw him, he was far enough
away that it is doubtful he could hear our words, as we were
speaking in low tones anyway. But under the circumstances, if he is
one of Broderick's men, just the fact of us being together is
damning, especially when coupled with her matchmaking efforts last
night. Broderick will most certainly come to the conclusion that we
are onto him. I have no way of knowing how that will affect him,
but I must admit I am relieved that someone with knowledge,
authority, and ability shall soon be involved in this convoluted
affair.”

Wesley was nodding in sympathetic
understanding. Alex continued on when it became obvious his friend
had nothing further to ask or add. “I set my young groom to follow
the one who was watching us. You may tell Rosie that so she knows
more information might be forthcoming. But I pray you do not tell
her that I have set my men to watching her. I am unsure if she
would be receptive to this idea. She has the ridiculous notion that
she is capable of looking after herself.”

Seeing Wesley's face screwed up into an
objection Alex laughed and carried on, “I do not mean to disparage
her abilities, do not get me wrong here. She is an intelligent
young woman, fully capable of all sorts of things that I probably
cannot even fathom, but one cannot get around the fact that she is
a girl, and as such, a man such as the likes of Broderick is quite
capable of doing her a great deal of harm. And if she is laboring
under the delusion that he is unaware of her involvement, she will
not be alert to any dangers. Even once she is made aware, I still
cannot be easy about her safety. Even though it is she who brought
me the information that has led to this situation, I cannot help
but feel that it is my fault that she may be in danger.” He paused
before adding as an afterthought, “And possibly even banished.”

“All understandable sentiments. But I must
ask you an impertinent question, Your Grace,” Wesley paused while
Alex looked at him fully with his left eyebrow quirked in haughty
inquiry. “What are your intentions toward Miss Smythe? Given the
state of affairs, as you called them, between your two families, I
should think you would be delighted to see her in danger or
banished.”

“Why would I ever wish to see her in danger?”
Alex was shocked at his friend's suggestion. “Even with the
difficulties between the Smythes and the house of Wrentham, I would
never wish to see any of her family in danger, least of all Rosie.”
Alex paused in order to keep his temper under control and thought
more about Wesley's words. “And I would dislike her to be banished
as well. I am hoping to find some way to bridge the breach between
our families, if you must know.”

Wesley grinned, “That is excellent news, Your
Grace.” Seeing the warning look being shot his way by the duke, he
hastened to add, “News that I will of course keep to myself.”

“See that you do,” Alex warned before
beginning to pace. “How soon do you think you could call on
her?”

Wesley chuckled over the duke's obvious
concerned distraction. “Did we not just agree that I cannot arrive
before the fashionable hour? I thought to take her riding in the
park. That way we can be assured of privacy for our discussion. I
could, reasonably speaking, arrive a little early, even an hour or
two, but that would still be a couple hours from now. It would
actually be wise for me to do so, then the park will not be
overcrowded and we will be guaranteed privacy for our
conversation.”

“Yes, yes, of course, I apologize, Dunbar, my
wits have gone begging,” Alex excused with a wry grin. “It is just
as well if she is to be closeted with her father for some time—no
doubt her explanations will require more than a few minutes. I just
fear that if she is unsuccessful in keeping mention of me out of
her story she may be in hot water with her parents.”