An Unwilling Bride (The Company of Rogues Series, Book 2)

Chapter 1

April, 1815
"Hell and damnation."
The words were muttered rather than shouted but were sufficiently shocking to cause Gerald Westall, secretary to William de Vaux, Duke of Belcraven, to look over at his employer. The duke sat behind his massive, carved desk attending to the day's correspondence. His spectacles, only ever used for reading, were perched on his long straight nose as he reread the missive which had caused the exclamation.
Mr. Westall, a long, thin gentleman who gave the impression of being stretched—like a figure in an el Greco painting—pretended to return to his own work, but his mind was all on the duke. Had those words been a sign of shock? Or anger? No, he thought. Amazement. The young man waited impatiently for his assistance to be sought so that he would learn the cause of it all.
He was to be disappointed. The duke put down the letter and rose to walk over to one of the long windows which overlooked Belcraven Park, seat of the family for three hundred years. Fifteen years ago, to celebrate the new century, hundreds of acres surrounding the great house had been brilliantly landscaped in the picturesque style by Humphry Repton. Four years ago, as part of the grand celebrations which had marked the majority of the heir to Belcraven, the Marquess of Arden, the lake had been enlarged. At the same time it had been further improved by the addition of an island, complete with a Grecian temple from which fireworks had been exploded. It was all very beautiful, but it was familiar, and Mr. Westall's employer was not in the habit of studying his estate.
There was little to be learned from the duke's posture. He stood straight with little trace of his fifty-odd years in his lean body. His unremarkable features as usual told no secrets. The Duke of Belcraven was, in his secretary's opinion, a cold fish.
As the duke's thoughtful silence continued, Mr. Westall grew concerned. If disaster had overtaken the house of de Vaux, would he fall along with the rest?
But that was ridiculous. The duke was one of the richest men in England, and Gerald Westall was in the best position to know his employer was not given to chancy investments or gambling. Nor was his beautiful duchess