The Duke of Cups (The Highwaymen Book 3) by V. C. Lluxe

Author:V. C. Lluxe [Lluxe, V. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction.Romance.Regency, Dark Comedy
ISBN: 9798316254811
Google: whRa0QEACAAJ
Goodreads: 223624866
Publisher: Punk Rawk Books
Published: 2025-04-13T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

DUNROSE DIDN’T GET a reply from Hyacinth, but he put this down to travel, since he decided that he must leave Arthford’s country house and to come back to London.

Once settled, he sent a servant with a message to Hyacinth, inquiring how things were going.

But the servant came back saying that Hyacinth wasn’t there, or that he couldn’t find her, and that the servants in the house had observed her leaving at dawn with Champeraigne, both of them on horseback, heading in the direction of London.

Dunrose didn’t quite know what that meant. He had some sway with various people in town, however, so he went to a church in town and spoke to a bishop there who would know about any special licenses granted under the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishop told him that yes, indeed, a license had been granted to Champeraigne.

This settled uncomfortably into Dunrose’s chest, though he didn’t know why. He’d sent her a letter telling her to do it.

Had some part of him expected that she would not? Had he thought she’d resist?

It didn’t matter. She would marry Champeraigne, and then kill him.

Yes, but what if Champeraigne was going to… touch her?

He didn’t think it was likely, because Champeraigne was well and truly gone for the marchioness. He wasn’t faithful to the woman, not necessarily, but he was more faithful to her than she was to him. He wasn’t a womanizer by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, Dunrose had only witnessed Champeraigne doing anything with women (besides the marchioness) for reasons of financial gain.

The letter from Hyacinth apprising him of the offer for her hand had been for financial gain. It was very likely that Champeraigne would not demand any husbandly rights.

On the other hand, Dunrose knew that Champeraigne had recently cuckolded the Baron Hellingsworth, seducing the man’s young convent-raised bride. True, it had been for money, but… well, that girl had been younger than Hyacinth.

It wasn’t as if Champeraigne had scruples.

He wouldn’t mind sticking his aging prick into Hyacinth.

Who would mind that, anyway?

Dunrose had thought he would mind less if Hyacinth’s husband was going to fuck her if Dunrose himself had been there first. He had been wrong. He cared a lot more now.

It was odd he was only thinking about it now.

No, I didn’t think she’d say yes.

That was it exactly, wasn’t it? He thought he’d have to come back and cajole and convince her that marrying Champeraigne was a good idea. He thought he’d have to talk her into it.

Well, that wasn’t the way of it, and it was actually quite a good thing.

It could all be done that night.

He needed to get the laudanum and get the laudanum to her.

So, first things first.

He needed to find out where she was going to be spending her wedding night with Champeraigne and he needed to go to Rutchester and tell him to procure the laudanum.

He did the latter first. Rutchester apprised of his role and working on it, Dunrose left to

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.