Redeeming Jack Read Free Page A

remiss of me. I assume once you established yourself, your father accepted your decision and paid for your preferment?”
    “No, Your Grace, he did not.” Jack said impatiently. “I gained the rank of Captain entirely by my own efforts before losing it again.” Jack sat back and sipped his brandy. “Although I hardly see the point of this discussion…”
    “If you will just let me finish. Your father, Dafydd, is the current Duke of Carmarthen and you have two older brothers, Robert and Edward. Neither of your brothers is yet married.” The duke let the document fall from his fingers. “What the devil went wrong? Up until the scandal of your dismissal from the army and your subsequent disinheritance, you led a charmed life. You were mentioned in dispatches and decorated for bravery.”
    Jack felt a familiar sense of wariness envelop him. He was sick of having to justify himself and too worried about the future to care whom he offended. He rose to his feet and slammed the thick crystal brandy glass down onto the duke’s desk. “As I don’t intend to spend a cozy evening reminiscing about my past mistakes. I will bid you good night.”
    The duke sighed and leaned across the desk to replenish Jack’s glass from the decanter that stood at his elbow. “I don’t have time for that either. I am already in trouble with Her Grace for disappearing before the end of our first ball. But sometimes the urgency of a situation demands immediate action. I have a job for you, if you are interested.”
    Jack sat down again, his suspicions aroused. “Why would you think I need a job and why would you offer me one, knowing my past?”
    The duke shrugged. “I know you have little money at the moment and no new employer. Yet my wife and her brother think you one of the most trustworthy men they have ever met.”
    Jack struggled with a desire to keep silent but his innate honesty surfaced. “I was ordered to work for the Waterstones. I was paid to keep an eye on Elizabeth.” The duke looked pained and Jack sighed. “I mean, Her Grace. Not that I did a very good job of it.”
    The duke gave a soft laugh. “Neither did I. If you recall, Her Grace had to save me from a watery death. I already knew you were not quite as innocent as you appeared. After the assassination attempt on the Prince Regent, I tried to find out about you from my colleagues at the Foreign Office. To my surprise, I was only able to gain information from the War Office.” He paused deliberately and Jack tensed. “It seems the army still considers you a useful tool, despite your very public humiliation. And that, of course, leads me to wonder why a man of your pride allows himself to be used by the army and doesn’t simply walk away.”
    Jack swallowed the rest of his brandy and took more. The duke was uncommonly perceptive. He hadn’t realized the man possessed the ability to cut through the layers of Jack’s much-vaunted thick skin with the unnerving skill of a surgeon. He considered his options and offered an edited version of the truth. “I work for the War Office when they need anything unsavory done. If I’m caught, they will refuse to acknowledge me. In return, they continue to support certain search efforts in Spain.”
    The duke sat back, his expression thoughtful. “If you are prepared to be treated like a social pariah in order to achieve your objective, you must have a very strong motive. In my experience, that can only mean love or money. Which is it?”
    “I do what I have to, Your Grace. I’ve never much cared for society’s opinion anyway.”
    “You might not care, but what about your wife? Do you think it has been easy for her these past few years? She barely ventures up to town.”
    “It appears my wife has made her own arrangements in my absence. I doubt she has any feelings left for me at all.” Jack gulped at the duke’s excellent brandy and felt it settle in his stomach like a smoldering coal. From the ballroom, the soft lilt of