Redemption of the Duke Read Free Page A

about him, but how to bring him up without sounding suspicious?
    “Who do you think will be at the ball this early in the Season?” Faith asked, feeling
     foolish and curious all wrapped together. “I heard the Duke of Rothford has come to
     Town.” So very subtle, she told herself with an inward wince.
    Charlotte stiffened. “The Duke of Rothford? What do you know about him, Faith?”
    “Nothing much,” she answered truthfully.
    “Though he’d been with the army in India for many years, people still whisper about
     the exploits of his youth,” Jane said eagerly.
    Alone much of each day, Jane loved to gossip good-naturedly whenever she had the chance.
     But then a chaperone or companion needed to know the background of every eligible
     man her charge might meet.
    “I forgot you have only recently come to London,” Charlotte said to Faith. “Perhaps
     word did not spread so far north about the faithless young man who gambled and spent
     money on entire wardrobes of garments that he boasted he only wore once or twice before
     casting them off. He participated in drunken duels, wild horse races, and hosted legendary
     parties.”
    Such a man had tracked down the sister of a fellow soldier to ask how he could help?
     It made no sense. Unless of course he had other reasons . . .
    “And there were women,” Jane said in a breathless, low voice. “Indecent women who
     became his mistresses—not that he ever had one for long.”
    A coldness settled deep in Faith’s bones at the thought of those desperate women cast
     off at the duke’s whim. “But . . . if he was such a wild young man, heir to the dukedom,
     why did he purchase a commission?”
    “Because he wasn’t the heir,” Charlotte explained patiently. “He had two older brothers.”
    “I’m certain his father insisted he join the army,” Jane said firmly. “How else to
     control such a young man? He could hardly be a minister.”
    “But how did he inherit the title with two brothers ahead of him?” Faith asked.
    Charlotte’s expression faded into sadness. “A truly tragic story. Last year fever
     swept the Chamberlin household, and both the duke and his two older sons died within
     hours of each other, while the youngest son was still in India.”
    The three women sat quietly for a moment in solemn thought, even as birds trilled
     around them and distant voices were raised and lowered as if floating on the wind.
     Faith understood what it was like to be told that your only sibling was dead. But
     did Rothford feel the same sorrow as she? How could he—he’d ended up with the title
     of duke, in control of vast estates occupying far corners of Britain and the world.
    While she’d had to make a decision that banished her from home forever.

Chapter 2

    B ut the following Wednesday, just when Faith had practically forgotten about the duke,
     he was there in Hyde Park again on her afternoon off. He was alone, both hands resting
     on the head of his cane, and he was watching her.
    She saw him from a distance, standing exactly where they’d met the week before. Her
     heart started to pound—with anxiety, she assured herself. He looked tall and dashing,
     the sun glinting off the embroidery of his red waistcoat, his striped morning coat
     emphasizing the width of his shoulders, the narrowness of his waist. Faint amusement
     curled one corner of his lips, but those blue eyes were full of determination. She
     almost turned and ran.
    But she’d never backed down from a challenge, had met every adversity with acceptance
     and resolve. Whatever he wanted from her—whatever game he proposed—she would make
     him understand she wasn’t playing.
    Keeping her steps short and ladylike, Faith approached him, then curtsied. “Your Grace,”
     she said coolly. “I do not think our meeting again is accidental.”
    “Indeed it is not, Miss Cooper.”
    His voice was rich with assurance and confidence, the voice of a man used to getting
     what he wanted,