Read Two Notorious Dukes Online
Authors: Lyndsey Norton
Elizabeth was waiting in the hall for them as the
carriage deposited them at the bottom of the steps.
Argyll held Robert’s left arm.
‘The Bow Street Runners have been.’ She said
quietly, ‘but they will be back later.’
‘That’s too bad, because we will be at the church
later.’ Robert said as his legs buckled and Argyll
physically lifted him up, wrapping Robert’s left arm
around his shoulder and they went into the drawing
room.
‘Actually, they came to inform me of Alexander’s
death.’ She said and smiled impishly. ‘They will be
coming back later, to let me know if they have a suspect
or not. At the moment they have no idea why he was
killed or even why he was in the park this morning. They
think it was a duel, but they have no idea who with or
what about.’
‘It was touch and go in the House this morning,
when the Lord Chancellor was informed of Craanford’s
death. Everyone looked at me!’ Robert said, indignantly.
‘I wonder why?’ Elizabeth said as she knelt down
to undo Robert’s cravat and shirt. ‘A glass of brandy,
something to eat and then a rest for you.’ She said
firmly.
‘Yes, that sounds nice,’ Robert murmured. ‘But
we mustn’t be late to the church.’ He pulled the
certificate out of his pocket and handed it to Elizabeth
as Argyll offered him a brandy.
‘Oh! I shall have to go and change.’ She smiled
like the cat that got the cream. ‘When would you like to
leave?’
‘I’ll give you an hour and then it’s down to
Grosvenor Chapel with you, whether you’re ready or
not!’ Elizabeth ran to the door, yanked it open and ran
up the corridor shouting for Mary.
He looked at Argyll. ‘I need to go to my house.
There are one or two things I need to attend to.’ Argyll
nodded and went to fetch Burke.
The four of them stood before the altar and took
their vows. Robert Bosworth and John Argyll were
dressed in beautiful black velvet jackets, fine lawn shirts
and silk cravats, their best chamois britches, their finest
silk stockings and their best dancing slippers, complete
with diamond studded buckles. Lady Sarah Argyll looked
stunning in her emerald green coat with ermine at the
collar and cuffs, the white and black speckled fur
muffler cast aside on the seat, the emerald bonnet set
at a jaunty angle on her blond ringlets and her pretty
face hidden by the lace veil. As John and Sarah said ‘I
do,’ and the vicar announced their new marital status,
John carefully lifted the veil off his pretty young wife’s
face, to see her crying with joy.
Elizabeth was wearing a stunning ivory silk dress,
with a pale lemon coat in satin over the top and
matching bonnet. She didn’t feel the need for a veil as
this wasn’t her first wedding and she didn’t have a
muffler, just a small reticule in the same colour as her
coat.
Each of them had arrived at the church in their
independent ducal coaches with their coat of arms
displayed on the doors and they left the same way. As
Robert and Elizabeth arrived back at their Grosvenor
Square residence, he helped her out of the carriage and
as she turned for the door, where all the staff were
lined up waiting to greet her, Robert swept her up in his
arms and carried her over the threshold. She levered
her upper body up, supporting herself on his shoulders,
so she didn’t over stress his injury. He placed her on the
floor as soon as they were in the hall and she noticed
the sweat on his brow. ‘You shouldn’t have done that.’
She whispered.
‘It’s nothing, and what kind of a husband would I
be if I didn’t carry my new wife over the threshold.’ He
smiled at the staff. ‘Everybody, this is Lady Elizabeth,
the Duchess of Roding!’ he announced and the staff
clapped and whistled for them. It was obvious that
Robert had a relaxed household.
Robert turned to Burke. ‘Has Mary got settled?’
‘I think she is in the process, Your Grace.’ He
smiled innocently. ‘She already has that particular item
you wanted.’ Robert nodded and took Elizabeth’s hand
and headed upstairs.
‘Will I have to wait long?’ she whispered.
‘No.’ Robert said and smiled. ‘Because when you
are ready, just open the door.’ He lifted her hand and
kissed her fingers. ‘The door will always be unlocked,
just like my heart.’
He escorted her right to the door to her room
and bowed as she opened the door and went in. Mary
stood beside the dressing table waiting for her. He
closed the door softly, turned and shouted. ‘Burke!
Come and help me get this monkey suit off.’ And he
strode into his bedroom.
He had decided a week ago that he would be
waiting for her in his Indian robe. He bought it at the
same time as the one for Susanna and just like hers;
he’d put it away in the wardrobe.
Burke helped him get out of his silk shirt and
britches, carefully replacing all the items back into their
paper covers, in the dressing room. Burke had taken the
silk wrap out of its box and was surprised that a gentle
steam had removed the creases.
‘Take this damned dressing off!’ Robert
instructed and Burke sliced through it with the scissors,
revealing the angry burns. ‘They’ll heal.’ Robert
muttered as Burke held the silk gown out for him and
Robert slipped his arms into it.
‘A brandy, Burke. I need a bloody drink.’ He said
stiffly.
‘I should think you do, Sir. You’ve never been
married before.’ Burke replied as he poured the fiery
spirit. ‘Try not to think of it as a burden, Sir, more of a
conquest.’
‘Do you presume to tell me how to feel?’ Robert
asked and laughed. ‘Mary would make you a fine wife.’
‘I’m working on it, Sir.’ Burke said. ‘Will that be
all, Your Grace?’ Robert nodded and watched him leave.
Elizabeth had bathed, anointed herself with
perfume and dressed in the magnificent present she
had found on the bed. She looked at herself in the long
mirror, other than it was too long and pooled around
her feet; it was a glorious garment, the soft brushed
cotton interior smooth on her bare skin. Mary arranged
her loose hair over her shoulders.
‘I think you are ready, Your Grace.’ Mary said
softly making Elizabeth look up sharply. ‘Your new title
suits you, Your Grace.’ She smiled, ‘if that is all, I’ll be on
my way.’
‘Thank you, Mary. That will be all until the
morning.’ She watched her maid walk out of the door
and close it quietly behind her.
Elizabeth took a deep breath and opened the
connecting door between the two bedrooms and was
shocked to see Robert standing by the fire waiting for
her in a scarlet robe. ‘Would you like a small brandy, my
love?’ he asked and held up a small glass of amber
liquid. She lifted the hem of her robe and walked across
the room. She circled around him to look at the back of
his gown and was astounded to see a golden tiger
embroidered there.
She accepted the glass, Robert picked up his. ‘To
a happy marriage.’ He said and they drank.
‘How does your shoulder feel?’ she asked in
polite enquiry.
‘Better now I’ve taken the dressings off.’
‘How are you going to manage without bursting
the wounds open?’ she asked innocently, still looking in
her glass.
‘I don’t know. I suppose I’ll manage.’ He said
noncommittally and frowned.
‘In that case, I suppose I should take charge.’ She
said and flicked her eyes up to his, in exactly the same
way as she did at the opera. Robert’s heart hammered
in his chest just as it did the last time and his sudden
erection tented the front of his gown. A small smile
played around Elizabeth’s mouth as her gaze dropped to
his groin. ‘I know how to take care of that.’ She said
huskily and put out her hand. She smiled up into his
eyes. ‘Come with me, my love, and let me show you
where heaven begins.’ And she pulled him backwards
towards the bed.
Robert paced up and down the drawing room.
‘For heaven’s sake, Robbie! You’ll wear the
carpet out.’ Sarah Argyll, Duchess of Goring, said as she
turned her embroidery to the light of the lamp on the
table beside her. ‘I hope you’re not going to be this bad
next month?’ she asked her husband John Argyll.
‘Probably.’ He said as he stroked his hand over
his wife’s expansive midriff. ‘You know Robbie would
rather be in there, don’t you? He doesn’t trust the
midwife!’ he finished with a laugh.
‘Too right!’ Robert said with conviction, ‘but the
midwife won’t even let me in the room. She gave me
some excuse about how husbands can suffer impotence
if they witness the birth as the wife goes through quite
an ordeal.’
‘So I understand.’ Sarah said and smiled.
‘It’s not as if I haven’t seen it before!’ Robert
said indignantly.
‘Yes, but that wasn’t your wife, Robbie and its
different when it’s your child forcing its way out of your
wife!’ Sarah explained again. She sat back to rest her
eyes and looked at the two most important men in her
life. Her husband John and his best friend Robert and his
wife Elizabeth, who was her best friend was upstairs
giving birth to their first child.
‘What’s the matter, my love?’ John asked softly.
‘I was just thinking how strange it was that we
met. Prinny the Despicable, selling my first kiss to the
highest bidder.’ She shook her head. ‘Oh, that reminds
me. I heard on the gossip yesterday that Lady Beresford
has had her baby.’ Robert stopped pacing abruptly and
looked at her in horror. She smiled to herself.
‘Do you know what she had?’ Argyll asked
curiously.
‘I believe it was a little girl.’
‘Do you know what colour its hair is?’
‘Apparently its hair is the same colour as its
mother!’
‘Red.’ Robert said softly and sighed deeply
‘Thank God for that!’ He marched straight to the
sideboard and poured another brandy. He looked at
Argyll, who nodded, so Robert poured him one too.
‘Would you like a small port, Sarah?’ he asked.
‘No thank you.’ Sarah said and smiled. ‘I have to
be careful how much I drink.’
Suddenly they heard the querulous cry of a baby.
Robert looked at the door with apprehension, but Burke
opened the door quickly and the midwife walked
through the door, complete with a bundle of linen in
her arms.
‘Congratulations, Your Grace.’ She smiled
broadly. ‘You have a well delivered son.’
‘I have a son!’ Robert said and then he looked at
her ‘what about Elizabeth?’
‘The Duchess is fine, Your Grace. A little tired,
but it wasn’t a difficult birth.’ She smiled and
manoeuvred the baby into his arms. ‘Perhaps you
should go and see her.’
Robert looked down into the wrinkled face of his
son and his heart squeezed in his chest. ‘A ducal heir.’
‘Poor little mite!’ John said and stood up to view
this heir.
‘I hope yours is pretty, my dear.’ He said to his
wife.
‘Then I’d better have all girls!’ Sarah riposted as
Robert slowly walked out of the door to go to his wife.
‘No! Their marriage portions would break me!’
he heard Argyll say and Sarah tittering as he left the
room.
Upstairs in the ducal apartment, Elizabeth lay in
the big, ornate ducal bed, elevated on a dais. She looked
dishevelled, happy and tired.
‘Are you pleased, my love?’ she asked as Robert
approached the bed. He carefully laid the baby in her
arms, sat down and just looked at the two most
important people in his life.
‘I’m delighted that we have a healthy baby,
content that it is a son and that you are well.’ He kissed
her cheek. ‘How long do we have to wait before we can
start working on our next one?’
‘At least give me a week or two.’ She spluttered
indignantly.
Robert gave her his best charming smile, as he
pictured her in the aquamarine housecoat that she’d
worn on their wedding night.