Sins of a Duke (15 page)

If Shay was right, and she had no reason to doubt him, this was more than just a betrayal of friendship. The Costa
Habichuela contingent, and Josefina in particular, had put the Griffin reputation at risk. And she had the continuing suspicion that Sebastian had more at risk than his good name.

They all needed some answers. And the sooner, the better.

“Where the devil have you been?”

Sebastian looked away from his dressing mirror as Shay, Valentine at his heels, strode into the bedchamber. “I had some business.”

“Business that’s left Merlin looking as though you’ve galloped him from here to the Channel and back?”

“That’s a damn good guess.” He stood, and Bailey helped him on with his dark gray coat. “Thank you, Bailey. I can manage from here.”

“Very good, Your Grace.” With a bow the valet left the room, closing the door behind him.

“What do you mean, it’s a good guess?” Shay demanded, his expression angry and concerned.

“I went to Dover. I thought—”

“Dover? Without telling anyone?”

“I haven’t required a wet nurse in some time, Shay. Now are you going to let me finish?”

His brother frowned. “Apologies. Continue.”

“Admiral Mattingly is in Dover. I thought he might be able to point me to someone who’d sailed along the Mosquito Coast.” Sebastian eyed his brother long enough to remind him whose concern this really was. “Now you may ask your next question.”

“Wasn’t what John Rice-Able told us enough?”

“Not for me. That made it one opinion against another, one book against another.”

“Did you find someone?” Valentine asked, arms crossed as he leaned against a bed post.

“I did.” Sebastian lifted Carroway’s statement from the dressing table. “A promising young lieutenant named Bradshaw Carroway. Apparently you once threatened to gut him, Charlemagne, for dancing with Nell.”

“My thanks for that, Shay,” Nell’s husband commented.

“Let’s take a look,” Shay returned ignoring the commentary as he held out his hand. Sebastian gave him the paper.

“I assume you’ve broken my confidence and told Valentine all about the Costa Habichuela problem?” Sebastian tucked his watch into his pocket and headed for the door. “Anyone else?”

“By now the whole family knows. Except for Peep and the Witfelds, of course.”

“Remind me not to bring you into my confidence any longer,” Sebastian returned curtly, pulling open the door.

“Melbourne, wait a moment.”

“I have an appointment this evening. Give me back the statement. I may need it.” What he wanted to do was burn the thing, but that would mean giving up and letting the farce play out as it would. As a member of the House of Lords he couldn’t do that, though, even if his status as a Griffin would have allowed such a thing.

“If you’ve been gone all day, you probably haven’t heard the latest,” Shay said to his back.

Sebastian paused, stifling the retort he’d been about to make concerning the spread of gossip. Shay didn’t pass on idle rumors, however angry he wished to be with his brother for telling the rest of the family about his conundrum. “What is it, then?”

“This morning in Piccadilly the Embrys attended the opening of the Costa Habichuela land office. They’re selling ten-to hundred-acre lots of land at three shillings an acre. Stories put the queue at a quarter mile long.”

“They’re looking for settlers to that godforsaken place?” Sebastian couldn’t keep the incredulity out of his voice.

“They’re finding them. By the hundreds. Apparently the rey opened another land office while he was in Edinburgh.” His brother cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Seb.”

Turning around, Sebastian pinned him with a glare. “What the devil are you sorry for, Shay? I’d certainly rather know than remain ignorant.”

“Where are you off to?” Valentine asked.

“I’m hosting a box at Vauxhall.”

“Nell didn’t tell me anything about it.”

With a slow breath that did nothing to steady him or halt the fresh anger coursing beneath his skin, Sebastian left the room and headed downstairs, the two men behind him. “You’re not invited. I’m hosting the rey and his family.”

“What? Why, when you know—”

“Enough. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Not giving them time to protest that, he strode into the playroom to give Peep a kiss and tell her not to wait up, then trotted downstairs to the foyer. Stanton held his black greatcoat while he slipped into it.

“You shouldn’t go alone,” Shay said in a low voice.

“I’ll be perfectly fine, unless you’ve wagged your tongue to the rest of London.”

His brother squared his shoulders. “I’ve done no such thing, and you know that.”

“Fine. This is my concern, and I’ll resolve it. Good evening.”

“We know you’re angry, Melbourne,” Valentine put in, “but confronting them on your own is pure pride and stupidity.”

He rounded on his brother-in-law and closest friend. “And what would you do, Valentine? Go home. Good night.”

Valentine watched as Sebastian climbed into his coach and it rolled off into the twilight. “Damn,” he muttered.

“What do we do now? The mighty Melbourne has spoken,” Charlemagne commented from beside him on the front portico.

“Well,” Valentine returned, collecting his coat and gloves from the butler, “I’m going home, col—”

“You do that, then.”

“Let me finish, nitwit. I’m going home, collecting Eleanor, and then we’re driving to Vauxhall and renting the nearest box to Melbourne’s I can get my hands on. And you?”

Shay flashed him a grim smile. “Sarala and I will meet you there. And I’m not a nitwit.”

“Right. I was thinking of Zachary. We’d best inform him, as well.”

Valentine pulled on his gloves and headed out to his horse. It appeared the Griffin clan, of which he proudly considered himself a part whatever he might say aloud, was going to war. Heaven help Costa Habichuela.

S
ebastian stood in the downstairs sitting room at Colonel Branbury’s house and refused to pace. Probably no one would ever appreciate how much self-control it took to keep him there, when all he wanted to do was find Josefina and shake her until she told him the damned truth.

At the moment he had to doubt that any conversation he’d ever had with her was sincere. And that meant everything he felt for her, everything he’d done with her, had been part of some kind of plan, a manipulation, to keep him quiet while she and the rey stole funds from England and prepared to send any citizen gullible enough to wish for a new life into a hellhole.

He clenched his fists, wishing for a moment that he could be someone other than the Duke of Melbourne, someone who could put his fist through a wall and beat the rey to a bloody pulp without sacrificing his and his family’s reputation.

The door opened. “Your Grace,” the rey said with a
smile, coming forward to offer his hand. “Thank you for inviting us to join you tonight, and for your continued support.”

Putting a matching smile on his face, Sebastian shook hands. “I’m glad you were able to find new assistance so readily.”

“Yes, Charles has been a blessing. He should be here at any moment.” The rey walked to the liquor tantalus and unlocked it. “A port while we wait?”

“Certainly.” Reminding himself that patience would serve him better than violence, Sebastian accepted the glass Embry handed him. If Prinny hadn’t made his preference for the rey and his family so public, stopping this nonsense would have been much simpler.

“Did you know that we’ve decided to sell lots of land now? There’s been so much interest that I reckon we’ll have people coming regardless. This should help keep things more orderly.”

“Oh, Father, can’t we limit our conversation to social events for one evening?” Josefina entered the sitting room, her breathing fast and her face flushed. “No business tonight, if you please.”

The hairs on his arm lifted as she brushed by him to join her father. Belatedly Sebastian realized he was staring. He sketched a bow as she faced him again, offering her hand. “Your Highness,” he murmured, gripping her fingers hard as he kissed her knuckles. If the chit had any sense of self-preservation she would immediately distance herself from her father and then throw herself on the nearest duke—him—and beg for forgiveness and protection.

At the thought arousal stirred through him, as if separate from all common sense and better judgment. It
was
separate, he supposed. It was the only way he could explain being furious with her and wanting to protect her at
the same time. It was why he still looked for ways to justify or excuse what she was doing.

Later, Melbourne
, he ordered silently. She knew he had his suspicions, and he didn’t know how much she might have told her father about their conversations. And so he was in this up to his neck—which meant that Prinny and England were, as well.

“Aren’t you going to tell me how lovely I look this evening?” Josefina asked, tilting her head to look at him coyly.

St. George’s buttonholes
. “You look beautiful tonight, Your Highness.”

She was exquisite, in a low-cut silk gown of deep blue, with fine lace at her sleeves. Blue ribbons wound through her hair like velvet rivers in blackness, with her silver tiara glinting in the candlelight. If he could trust her, if he could believe anything that came out of those soft red lips, he wouldn’t have been able to resist her. Even now, warm desire pulled at him, urged him to forget, just for a little while, how dangerous she was to his equilibrium, to his heart.

“Apologies for my tardiness,” the Duke of Harek’s voice came from the doorway.

Blinking, Sebastian forced his gaze from Josefina and faced him. “Good evening, Harek.”

“Melbourne. Your Majesty, Your Highness.” The duke bowed. “I have a good excuse for being late. I just purchased two hundred-acre lots of prime Costa Habichuela pastureland.”

“Did you now?” The rey clapped. “That’s splendid.”

“I wanted to show that my support for your cause is more than mere lip service.”

Wonderful
. All Sebastian needed was for Harek to attack the rey or Josefina when the truth came out. He sent a look at the princess, to find her gaze on her father. Be
fore she noticed his attention and smiled, he would have sworn that she looked displeased. Was that because of the land sale, or because of Harek’s obvious interest? It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did. He was a male, after all, and she was the first woman he’d wanted in four years.

Harek approached Josefina, taking her proffered hand. “You are the loveliest flower of your country, Your Highness,” he intoned, keeping her fingers gripped much longer than propriety demanded.

“Thank you, Charles,” Josefina returned with a warm smile.

Sebastian shifted, hiding his jealousy behind his glass of port.
The loveliest flower, ha
. It was entirely likely that she was the
only
flower of Costa Habichuela.

“So, Melbourne,” Harek continued, finally relinquishing Josefina’s hand, “you’ve an unmatched eye for fine investment opportunities. How much Costa Habichuela land do you own?”

“None, yet,” Sebastian said carefully. “I spent the day in Dover, I’m afraid, and wasn’t aware that the rey had opened a land office until an hour ago.”

“Dover?” Josefina repeated. “What sent you to Dover?”

Wouldn’t you like to know
? “One of my old friends is in His Majesty’s Navy. He ships out tomorrow, and I didn’t want to miss seeing him off.”

“Very patriotic of you,” she noted.

“Good evening, Lord Melbourne, Lord Harek,” Queen Maria said from just inside the door, cutting off his reply.

He wondered for a moment whether Embry’s wife knew what the devil her husband was up to. She had a stateliness about her that Embry lacked, and that Josefina had inherited. But an aristocratic air didn’t make her any less a conspirator. For now he would assume everyone to be guilty of something.

“Shall we be off?” he asked, setting his port aside. “I have my coach, but I didn’t know how many members of your entourage would be accompanying us.”

“Just Captain Milton and Lieutenant May. They will serve as outriders and will accompany us on horseback.”

With a nod Sebastian motioned for the ladies to lead the way outside. He wasn’t accustomed to sitting back and watching events unfold, but waiting and observing would have to be his strategy—at least until he knew where Harek stood. Even so, Bradshaw Carroway’s statement burned in his pocket, and he longed to fling it in Josefina’s face.

Instead he took her hand and helped her into the coach. “Still angry with me?” she whispered as she leaned into him.

“You have no idea,” he returned.

He stepped inside last. The rey and Queen Maria sat together facing forward, while he and Harek faced them, Josefina between them. “You know,” the princess said conversationally, facing him, “Charles has told me about all of the animals he hunted in Canada. Quite an extraordinary variety. Do you hunt?”

“I’ve brought down my share of pheasant and grouse, I suppose,” Sebastian returned, “and the occasional fish from the pond at Melbourne Park. My duties tend to keep me out of the field.”

“I always said a hunt is good for the soul,” Embry contributed. “Since my time as a soldier, though, I’ve rather lost my taste for killing.”

That was an odd thing for him to say, considering how many people he was luring to their probable deaths. “Is there any good hunting in Costa Habichuela?”

“Certainly,” the rey answered without hesitation. “Deer, wild pigs, alligators, and monkeys. The Moskito Indians make a delectable monkey stew.”

“I look forward to partaking of it,” Harek said with a
smile aimed at Josefina.

So the bastard planned to marry into royalty. It made sense—or it would have, if these people were actually who they claimed to be. As to that, Sebastian still had no real idea. For all he knew, King Qental
had
given a portion of land to Stephen Embry, and the local people
had
named him their rey. It was the quality of the land he disputed at the moment—not its existence. That question would have to be answered before he could inform Prinny of all this, though. It could take weeks for the governor of Belize to answer the letter he’d sent, however, and he wasn’t certain he had that long.

“When are your first new settlers sailing to Costa Habichuela?” he asked offhandedly.

“In three weeks, if the outfitting of our ships proceeds as planned, and if the weather holds.”

Three weeks
. Damnation. He had even less time than he’d thought. “Do you sail with them?”

“I’d like to be there to greet them when they come ashore, and there are some preparations to make. My plan is to leave in a fortnight.”

“I daresay you’ll be glad to see us gone, Melbourne,” Josefina said in her rich, nuanced voice. “Even having resigned your liaison post, you seem to spend more time with us than not.” She smiled at him, her brown eyes daring him to make further comment about the time they’d spent together.

His gaze lowered to her soft mouth. With all the lies she spewed, she shouldn’t have been so delicious to kiss. He clenched his fist, digging his short nails into his palms to keep himself motionless and not take her sweet mouth right there in front of her parents.

“Any time spent with you has been my pleasure,” he returned, trying not to let the words sounds as intimate as he meant them and realizing that he spoke the absolute
truth.

Abruptly she turned away from him to face Harek. “And you, Charles, will you be sorry to see us gone?”

“I’m not certain I shall—see you gone, I mean. You know I love to travel.”

The rey chuckled. “You do have a stake in Costa Habichuela now, and may have a greater one.”

“I can only hope, Your Majesty.”

The cadence of the coach’s wheels changed as they crossed the last bridge and entered Vauxhall Gardens. “I’ve always wanted to visit here,” Josefina said, leaning across Sebastian to peer out through the curtained windows.

She might just as easily have pressed her bosom against Harek’s arm, but hadn’t done so. Whether it was attraction or another manipulation, he had no idea. “There are no special events tonight,” he said, breathing in the lilac scent of her hair, “but we can expect jugglers and acrobats, and a fair crowd. And pickpockets, so I advise you to keep your valuables close to hand.”

“It all sounds so exciting,” Josefina breathed. “Promise you’ll show me about.”

Again him, and not Harek.
Good
. “I shall be happy to, Your Highness.”

The coach stopped, and Green hopped down from his seat beside Tollins to flip down the steps and open the door. Sebastian emerged first, to the usual choruses of “Melbourne, look, it’s the duke himself,” and other admiring comments. He ignored them, as he always did, and held out a hand for the princess.

She grasped his fingers as she descended the steps to the ground. “Is it true that anyone at all may enter Vauxhall, as long as they have the entrance fee?”

“It is. Hence the proliferation of pickpockets and light-skirts and others involved in criminal activity.”

Josefina gave him a sharp look. “Doesn’t that include
just about everyone at some time or another?”

“You’re too cynical, Your Highness,” he murmured, ignoring Harek as the duke emerged.

“You’re too naive, Melbourne,” she returned, her warm breath caressing his cheek.

“Apparently I am, because I still desire you.” Before she could respond to that, he released her to assist her mother. “I’ve arranged for dinner to be served in my box,” he said, offering Queen Maria his arm and then taking the lead as they made their way through the crowd.

Embry’s two officers, unmistakable in their black uniforms with the green crosses, positioned themselves to either side of their group. Merely for show or not, they did have the crowd falling aside more readily than even he could manage. All around him now, amid the laughter and loud chatter, he could make out his own name, and theirs. Everyone seemed to know who the rey and the queen of Costa Habichuela were, and that they and Princess Josefina were in attendance tonight.

He wondered what the admiring crowd would be saying if they realized that the Embrys were frauds and thieves, and quite possibly as common as the baker who stood by the path selling biscuits. Given the mercurial quality of London crowds, especially when one put on airs far above oneself, he wouldn’t have been willing to wager a shilling that they would survive the night.

Was that Josefina, some self-deluded soldier’s daughter? Looking at her, the way she carried herself, it didn’t seem possible. And royal or common, deluded or thief, his blood still hummed at the thought of having her again.

“Look, Mama,” her excited voice came from directly behind him, “that man is breathing fire!”

“And there’s Melbourne’s box, I believe,” Harek said from beside her, “so we should have a good view of the disaster if the fellow inhales by accident.”

“Oh, that’s awful,” she returned. “Don’t say such things.”

Sebastian looked over his shoulder at her. “Say it or not, when someone partakes in a dangerous venture, they shouldn’t be surprised at catastrophic results.” He led the way up the shallow trio of wooden steps. Within the roomy, elevated rectangle a handful of Vauxhall footmen stood guarding platters of food. A dozen chairs stood ranged beneath the angled canopy, and a fair handful of onlookers already stood ranged around the box. Obviously when they’d seen the food they’d realized that someone would be in attendance.

“Splendid location, Melbourne,” the rey complimented, showing the queen to one of the chairs. “You can see the main pavilion from here. Will Prinny be in attendance tonight?”

“I don’t believe so.” And thank God for that; tonight would be trying enough without adding the temperamental Regent to the festivities.

“I would like a tour of the gardens,” Josefina announced. Harek immediately took a step forward, but she faced Sebastian as she spoke. “Show me about, will you, Melbourne?”