Far Too Tempted Read Free

“You are certainly distracted.”
    Alex lifted his hands, brandishing his glass. “How can I reassure her? Napoleon himself directs the French offensive and whatever anyone thinks of his ambition, there is no denying his military brilliance. The Spanish are notoriously unorganized and undisciplined, and anything they’ve really won has been through the guerilla fighters who can’t be trained or directed. I don’t know how we will fare this time in a campaign against Bonaparte on foreign soil, but I do know we can’t let him continue on this mad course.”
    “It’s true.” Marcus stared for a moment into his glass. “And as an officer, I suppose you’ll be leading your men into the field and thick of battle.”
    “You suppose right. I aim to do just that. Not all of us”—Alex smiled briefly and added—“can inherit a dukedom.”
    His brother stiffened in his chair, his head coming up in surprise. “Damn it, Alex, right now you are my heir, as I was Father’s. Second in line is—”
    Alex shook his head, interrupting with a grin. “Marcus, I’m joking. I would make a terrible duke. I haven’t your love for detail, and the sheer volume of paperwork and the workings of the estate would annoy me. Please me and live to a ripe old age after siring several sons.”
    Marcus laughed, releasing the tension. He grinned. “Agreed. Especially to the latter request. As long as you promise to come back safe and sound from this unholy war.”
    Alex took a solid swallow from his glass. He said in quiet agreement, “I promise to try.”
    Silence. The fire crackled loudly.
    As indirectly as possible, Alex changed the subject. “Word is Robert Roweland has gotten himself in another financial bind.”
    His brother snorted in disgust. “I know he’s a good friend of yours and our neighbor, but Roweland has lost whatever good sense he had since coming into his inheritance. He’s got markers from here to London and back. If he isn’t careful, he’ll eventually lose the estate.”
    “The estate?” Alex stared. Robert was a bit irresponsible—his love of gambling a well-known fact—but surely things weren’t that bad. “It can’t have come to such dire straits. When his parents died, he inherited a fortune.”
    A shrug lifted the elegant black velvet of his brother’s coat. “He has proceeded to spend a fortune.”
    “And what of Jessica?” The question was thick in his throat.
    “A good thing she is turning into a beauty. Maybe a lack of dowry will not be an issue. Mother worries about the child, but at least Roweland has promised to come up with the sum for her debut, which is not that far away.”
    “Damn him.” Alex felt a surge of real anger.
    “Quite.”
    “I can’t believe this. Even back at Cambridge he was a bit selfish, but I wouldn’t think he’d risk his sister’s future over a game of dice.”
    Marcus stretched out his long legs and looked pensive. “The entire situation is regrettable. The house is suffering, as is the whole estate. Repairs aren’t being made and half the staff has left. He isn’t paying some of his bills in the village, and those people can ill-afford to absorb his irresponsibility.”
    A discreet knock on the door interrupted them. “Your Grace. My lord.” The family butler appeared in the opening, nodding in his stiff way first at Marcus, then Alex. “Guests are arriving and the dowager duchess requests your presence.”
    Alex and Marcus locked glances of mutual male sympathy.
    “Here we go,” Alex muttered and drained his glass.
    “Yes, indeed.” Marcus did the same.
     
     
    She hadn’t been invited.
    Of course not, how could she forget, she was a child.
    Alex Ramsey had so kindly pointed it out.
    As she edged past a row of box hedge, Jessica listened to the lilt of the music and crept closer to the back terrace. Luckily, she knew Grayston almost as well as her own home. She could walk through the gardens with her eyes closed, but tonight there was a