Page 82 of A Virgin for the Duke of Ash

Daniel alighted from the carriage and strode into the club, his cloak flapping ominously behind him.

“Your Grace, we were not expecting you tonight?—”

The manager of the club hurriedly fell into step with him as he walked in. However, one look at Daniel’s stormy countenance told the man that the club’sownerwas not here tonight to talk business. Immediately, the man perceptively took a polite step back and stood silently, awaiting his next order.

Daniel smiled coldly. “Clear out the club,” he told the man softly. “But the Earl of Sidmouth must remain wherever he is right now.”

The manager summoned the staff, and in less than a quarter of an hour, the bustling rooms were cleared out. Someone from the staff approached the manager and whispered something in his ear. Then the manager turned to Daniel.

“Your Grace, the Earl is in the Room of Spades,” he informed Daniel.

Each one of the private rooms of Lachesis was named after a suit in the deck of cards. It took not only an exorbitant amount in addition to the club’s notorious membership fees, but also occupying one of these rooms required a certain prestige.

The only way that Thomas Salsbury would be able to play in one was if somebody had invited him.

I think that we need to reassess the club’s members.Lachesis seems to have been far more lenient lately.

He walked into the Room of Spades to the sight of Lord Sidmouth being held down by two of the club’s burliest staff, who were wearing such forbidding expressions that would make any dandy soil his breeches.

“Unhand me, you degenerate scum!” the nobleman raged. “Do you know who I am?”

“They do not care,” Daniel told him silkily. “And neither do I, but you have crossed the line far too many times.” He smiled dangerously. “Lord Sidmouth, I do not know if you are simply stupid or stubborn to the point of stupidity.”

Thomas Salsbury paled at the sight of him, and Daniel smiled even more when he saw the man sagging into the chair as if he had lost all the strength in his limbs.

He sighed and sat down on the chair opposite the poor man, who looked as if he was about to wet his breeches.

“I thought I had made it perfectly clear that you are to refrain from seeking or talking aboutmy wife,” he drawled softly. “If you knew what was good for you.”

“You will find that I do not respond well to threats, Your Grace!”

Daniel smirked. “Perhaps I must clarify myself even more so as to be understood—you will leave, Lord Sidmouth, on the first ship to the Americas, and you will take your very talented scribe of a sister with you to start a new life there.”

“No!” the Earl gasped in horror. “Your Grace?—”

“You will find that my patience for your antics has all but run out,” Daniel sneered. “I only thought to spare you because I was busy making arrangements for my wedding. Now, I have a great deal of free time and can do as I please.”

“Please, Your Grace!”

“Oh, so you do not want to leave?” Daniel drummed his fingers on the table with an air of nonchalance. “Well then, your sister can write about your own demise in that charming little paper of hers. Oh, right…” He smiled insidiously. “I forgot that she is only capable of writing scandals and notobituaries.”

“What about Lady Evelyn! Does your wife even know what you are capable of!?”

Thomas Salsbury was grasping at straws now, but he had done the worst possible thing—he had mentioned Evie’s name, and it ignited such a cold, dangerous fury in Daniel that he was tempted to tear him apart with his bare hands.

“Do not,” he spat out, “ever let me hearher namecoming out of your mouth, you pathetic waste of air! And for your information, she istheDuchess of Ashton, and you will address her properly by her title, or I will rip your tongue from your mouth and shove it down your throat!”

The Earl visibly shrank back, sniveling like the cowardly fool he had always been. Thomas Salsbury might have thought himself an exceptionally capable gentleman when he claimed that he would be able to marry Evie simply for her dowry, but before Daniel and the very real threat of dismemberment, he was reduced to the worm he had always been.

Not even fit to fertilize the gardens of Ashton Hall.

“I take it that you find my suggestion to your liking, then,” Daniel said softly. He reached into his jacket pocket, drawing out two tickets before tossing them at the Earl. “I have paid for your fare. I hope you enjoy your travels,LordSidmouth.”

The Earl reached out for the tickets with trembling hands, clutching at them as if they were a lifeline.

Which they were.

Daniel had no qualms about ruining the man’s entire life. Thomas Salsbury might think that nothing was worse than death, but there were ways to make living even worse, and Daniel could make them all happen if he wanted to.

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