Addicted to the Duke (Imperfect Lords #1)(18)

Alex nodded. “She’s safest with me.”

“She’s safer with you as her husband. It takes away Fredrick’s incentive for her to die.”

Stephen’s words jolted him. He was right

How did a man like him offer marriage to a woman of such goodness? Would he corrupt Hestia and bring her down to his level? He could not bear that. “I’m not looking for a wife.”

Stephen’s smile fled along with his gaiety. “We will both have to marry someday.”

“Not I. I have two brothers. Besides, I see no point. I’ve never fathered a child. I’m not sure I can.” While he had been careful with his many conquests, a man couldn’t be childless, not when he’d slept with the same woman for almost two years. He’d had a woman in Turkey while he was held captive.

Stephen looked at the women on the bed. “I try to be careful; the ladies I spend time with are well versed on how to protect themselves from getting with child. Perhaps both of us have merely been lucky.”

“I was in no condition to be careful in Turkey and I was with Tulay. Neither of us were careful but there was no child.”

“It could have been her.”

Alex swallowed hard. “The odds are not good. Anyway it does not matter. I don’t wish to ever marry.”

Stephen did not offer any opinion. He merely shrugged. “It is none of my business.”

Alex turned the conversation back to safer ground. “I wish I could simply challenge Fredrick to a duel, but if I kill him I’ll be exiled, and then who will help Lady Hestia? Better if we simply expose him for the conniving bastard he is.”

“I’m not sure what the earl will do when he hears what Fredrick has been up to. Hestia’s father is without issue. Fredrick is last in the Cary line.”

“True.” Alex drank his glass of brandy and tried to ignore the sounds emanating from the bed. “I shall leave you to your pleasure. Shall I take Edith with me or…?”

Stephen stood and began to remove his jacket. “No. I feel invigorated now that we have a plan to squash Fredrick. In fact, I’m going to sail with my fleet and be there when we ruin the bastard.”

Alex stopped at the door. “No one must know. Stephen, the longer we fool Fredrick the better. It’s not only the earl I’m worried about, it’s Hestia.”

“Of course.”

“Thank you.”

Stephen merely grinned and began disrobing as Alex slipped out of the door.





Chapter 5


Alex smiled and bid the ladies an enjoyable night before heading out of the club.

He had to hope that returning to his estate with Hestia disguised as a man, while her maid impersonated the grieving daughter, and with Stephen staying in London until needed, would pacify Fredrick’s suspicions long enough to get ahead of any warning he might send to his men. Alex’s ship was large, and with extra sail, making it fast. But often large and fast did not outrun smaller and speedier ships, especially if they already had a head start.

Hestia would be on his ship again, and this time their enemy would likely chase them all the way to and from the Mediterranean. Danger would be ever present. The other difference was, this time she was a beautifully stunning grown woman on a ship with hardened sailors. Not a good mix.

On the carriage ride to his London residence he began planning ahead. Hestia was in danger, and he also worried what her father would think about him dragging her all the way to the Mediterranean again.

Four years ago she’d been but a child, six and ten, and dressed as a young lad so most of his men had left her well alone. Hestia had rebounded well from her treatment at the hands of Murad. She’d refused to wallow in embarrassment or self-pity. She’d helped on the ship considerably, repairing the sailors’ clothes, tending to their small scratches and wounds, and between those self-imposed chores, he remembered with a wry smile, she’d followed him like a small, obedient puppy. His men teased him about her hero worship, and he’d felt flattered.

His smile faded.

Arriving back in England and handing her over to her father had brought him back to reality with a crash.

The Earl of Pembroke immediately saw the infatuation glowing in his daughter’s eyes. Unfortunately, he also knew Alex’s sordid history, having saved him from the clutches of Murad and the drug-induced haze he’d lived in for almost two years. The earl also knew what Alex had done while in captivity and how he struggled with his love for the opium pipe.

Alex shuddered in the warm night air as he walked up his front steps. He’d never forgotten the embarrassing meeting he’d had with the earl on Hestia’s nineteenth birthday.

“She’s not for you, Alex.”

Alex had tried to deny he’d known what his lordship meant. “Who, sir?”

Her father had placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “You know I think of you as the son I never had. You think you owe me, but you don’t. Our cards were squared when you returned Hestia to me. I owe you so much.”

With a growl Alex said, “You owe me nothing. I owe you my life.”

“Not true, son. Hestia means the world to me. She’s the only truly good thing that came out of my marriage.” He paused and looked into Alex’s eyes. “And I know you care for her.”

Alex had returned his stare without any comment, pain welling in his chest at what he knew was coming.