The Duke's Defender (The Duke’s Guard Book 6) by C.H. Admirand

Author:C.H. Admirand [Admirand, C.H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2023-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Rage coursed through Hardwell’s veins as his heart pounded in his chest. He grabbed the crystal decanter of brandy and tossed it against the fireplace. It shattered on contact. Brandy-coated shards glittered on the stone, the floor, and in fibers of the thick antique carpet that was one of the last items he had not been obliged to sell.

His contacts only dealt with foreign entities when arranging the very private sale of the contents of his ancestral home. No one would ever be the wiser as to what happened to the entailed items attached to the barony. He should not have to be bothered with such trivial thoughts as selling valuable family treasures, but he’d underestimated the Duke of Wyndmere’s Defender, and the rest of the men guarding Montrose’s daughter—the men who were part of the duke’s one-eyed man-of-affairs’s band of scarred misfits.

He needed answers. What in the bloody hell was keeping Wilson? He’d sent for him hours ago. Had he already left London intent on spending the coin Hardwell had paid for a failed job? The only part of the plan that had been executed as planned was that the coachman and Garahan had been shot. There was a rumor that the coachman may not survive the blood loss from the lead ball taken in his thigh, which pleased him. The on dit circulating that Garahan hadn’t appeared to be affected by the pistol ball in the arm, and in fact had been seen outside Montrose House, looking for all intents and purposes as a man without a care in the world, did not.

Slamming his fist on his desk, Hardwell ignored the pain shooting through his hand. There had to be a way to salvage the coin he could not afford to spend, and the perfect plan that had fallen apart.

Grabbing a second crystal decanter from the sideboard, he lifted it high, but at the last moment decided to drink the contents rather than shatter it against the fireplace.

Three glasses of excellent port later, he smiled, remembering Poston. In his anger, he’d nearly forgotten his lackey was due to arrive anytime with news concerning the men he’d paid to slip inside Montrose House and ended up on Bow Street. Although Poston was not in the same class of criminal as Wilson, he could be coerced into doing Hardwell’s bidding with threats.

While he waited for Poston, he received word from the young man who’d infiltrated Montrose House’s staff. Miss Montrose and her guard would be traveling to Wyndmere Hall at week’s end.

If he could not locate Wilson, he’d either have to use another of his connections to do the job—or bloody well abduct her himself!

The knock on the door to the study had him barking, “Enter!”

“Poston to see you, your lordship.”

“Send him in.” A few moments later, Poston was shown into Hardwell’s study. “Do you have the information I require?”

“Aye, your lordship.” Poston shuffled from foot to foot, and could not look Hardwell in the eye for more than a few seconds at a time.

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