Page 33 of The Duke's Improper Bride
Isaac sank into his desk chair, burying his face in his hands. “London can wait.”
“Can you?”
He sat up, heaving a sigh. “What’s that?”
“Grembly will call soon, no doubt, and there will be another mission. You’ll be leaving your duchess to the wolves here in London by herself.”
No, it was London that needed protecting from Nora. Isaac had seen something within Nora lately that gave him a sliver of hope that she would not only prevail, but take society by storm. He would talk to her later, if she would even entertain him. Something told him he was in trouble this evening. There would be a lot of begging on his part. At least he had proven useful with his hands.
He cracked a brief smile. Last evening in the library, well, who knew a library ladder could be…
No, not now. There was a reason he had called Bly to dinner in the first place. “Have you found anything on her friend? Any leads at all?”
Bly’s body was almost too big for the gilded saber leg chair he sank into opposite the desk. Ainsley House was a mausoleum of what it meant to be a duke. Once Nora was settled, he would see that she had complete say over decorating the house and making it their home instead of a nod to his lineage.
“I have the names of two asylums, but I’ll tell you this, it won’t be easy. She’ll need to petition for his release. And seeing that his father was the one to put him away so he could avoid being charged with sodomy, I doubt he will be released.”
If Nora couldn’t handle dinner with Bly, how was she to petition for Daniel’s release?
“I doubt Nora will accept ‘no’ for an answer.”
“She should. She shouldn’t be within a mile of those places, Isaac, and you know it. There may be another way to help her friend.”
“If there is, I can’t think of one.”
Bly dug into his pocket, drawing out a well-worn deck of cards, and shuffled them as he puffed his cigar. “We could break him out.”
Isaac levelled him with a glare. “You and I have done a lot of stupid things in the past, but since we both have wives we enjoy—”
Bly laughed. “Very well, stupid is out. So, you’ve got a title. Use it.”
“I have no connection to this man. Any judge would tell me to stay out of a private matter. Any good judge.”
“Do you know any good judges?”
Isaac narrowed his eyes. “What are you suggesting?”
“That we discover where Daniel is being kept, then bribe them to release him. I can see him set up in another city.”
Isaac rose, striking his palm against the desk. “And to think she had relied on that sorry excuse of a fiancé of hers to help.”
“I found all sorts of dirt on him too. Lovely man.” Bly titled his head, his face the perfect expression of mocking. “She missed a bullet there.”
There was only so much Isaac could do, but his hands were tied. Both Daniel and Nora needed his help, but he couldn’t sweep in in save the day either. It would take time. He wished to fulfill the promise he made to his wife. At the time, he hadn’t expected for it to feel like a condition of their marriage. It hadn’t been a marriage of convenience, at least not for him. But after their recent fights, the doubts were tumbling in, nagging nearly every day he now spent with his wife.
He loved her. He loved her without reason. It barely made sense considering she had stormed into his life much like the fickle Scottish weather. Just as relentless as it was beautiful.
But did she love him?
And would she still, once she discovered the whole truth?
Chapter 9
Nora hated London. If she was being honest, she was beginning to detest her husband too. He was a double-edge knife—sweet and seductive, and then he continued to drag her out of the house for social events.
She hated being a duchess.
But she loved Isaac. That was the damned truth of it.
