Page 75 of Last Duke Standing

That was the first that William noticed the Bardalines in the room.

“If I may, Your Royal Highness,” Bardaline said, stepping forward. William noticed then that the master of the chamber was dressed formally. To William, he said, “Lord Grafton kindly extended an invitation for my wife and me to join you and Her Highness. I hope you don’t find it too much of an imposition.”

How the hell did Bardaline know Grafton? “Pardon? You are acquainted with Lord Grafton?”

Bardaline smiled thinly. “Lady Aleksander introduced us.”

Of course she did.William felt like he’d had too much to drink, a wee bit dizzy and possibly seeing things. He’d had a vision of this night, and it had not included the Bardalines, and itcertainlyhadn’t included Ashley.

“And once he heard Mr. Ashley was in London, he invited him to attend as well.”

William looked at Justine. She avoided his gaze by playing with the dog.

“Now that Douglas has arrived, shall we proceed?” Ashley asked. He held out his arm to Justine. And Justine put the dog down andtook it.

William looked around for that blasted matchmaker to register his strong complaint, but naturally, she was nowhere to be found. Oh, but he’d have a word just as soon as he found that conniving woman.

There was a kerfuffle over coaches and who would ride with whom to the opera house. It was finally decided—not by William—that the princess would ride with the Bardalines for the sake of propriety. This pronouncement made William even more cross, as he was the one to have issued the invitation, and he ought to at least be afforded some say in the arrangements. But he grudgingly agreed to carry on with the despicable Jonathan Ashley.

He climbed into the coach after his old nemesis, sat across from him, adjusted the increasingly vexing watch chain, then looked up and said, “You bloody wee bastard.”

Ashley laughed. He fished a flask out of his boot and took a sip, then offered it to William. William shook his head; Ashley shrugged and pushed the flask back into the boot. “Come now, Douglas. You don’t really think you’re the only one who can find his way into a princess’s salon?”

“She is my friend. And you are a blackguard. Those two things are no’ compatible.”

“Her friend!” Ashley howled. “Do you truly expect me to believe that?”

Of course he didn’t expect Ashley to believe that, because friendship was beyond the realm of what Jonathan Ashley was capable of.

“I think you’re envious, Douglas.”

William snorted.

“You ought to be. She esteems me.”

“Donna be so sure of that, lad,” he scoffed.

Ashley smoothed the tail of his neck cloth. “We’ll see how friendly you remain with her once I’m king.”

He was obviously trying to goad William, and under any other circumstance he would have laughed it off. But Ashley made him irrationally angry and always had. “You’d no’ be king, you dimwit, but a prince consort.”

Ashley’s smile faltered a wee bit, as if he thought perhaps William was teasing him but wasn’t entirely certain.

William leaned forward. “Do you think, then, that perhaps you could look at her as a woman and no’ a means to an end?”

Ashley rolled his eyes. “High and mighty talk, isn’t it, coming from someone at the center of so many rumors having to do withwomen. As if she is not a means to an end for you, too.”

William stilled. He couldn’t be certain what rumors Ashley was referring to, and he wasn’t fool enough to ask. But he feared it had to do with the trouble he’d had in Scotland a few months ago. He hadn’t given that situation much thought since coming to London.No.It was impossible. There was no way Ashley could have heard anything about it.

Nevertheless, William leaned back and shifted his gaze to the window and ignored Ashley’s bitter laugh.

He’d known Jonathan Ashley for many years. He was affable and desired. William had discovered just how desired he was a little more than ten years ago. William had been courting a woman he intended to offer marriage. Then Ashley had come along and she’d fallen under his spell. William never knew exactly what went on between the two of them, but Clara had abruptly gone cold on William. Where she had hinted at her feelings for him, she suddenly thought perhaps he called too often. Bastard that he was, Ashley had tried to coax Clara’s virtue from her. Or, at least, that was what William’s mother had told him. She’d heard it from Clara’s mother.

William didn’t hear it from Clara because by then, she’d ended their courtship and had left him completely broken.

In the end Ashley disappeared from Clara’s life. He’d broken her heart, and William’s in the process, and then William had tried to break Ashley’s heart with his fist. That was what young bucks did, of course—they fought. He’d confronted Ashley, he’d prevailed and he’d even broken Ashley’s nose.

But...it solved nothing. Clara’s heart was still broken, and popular opinion turned solidly against William. It was saidhewas the blackguard, that his abuse of poor Jonathan Ashley was the start of his rough years.

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