“Did you visit with the Duke of Somerset?” she asked when she was settled.
“I did,” Blake answered. “But I wasn’t any more successful today than I was any of the times I’ve talked to him before. He refused to let me help him. He wouldn’t take a shilling from me.”
“Perhaps if I spoke to him,” Willow said.
“If I thought it would do any good, I’d take you to see him right now. If rumors can be believed, he’s running out of time. His creditor is demanding to be paid and isn’t willing to wait any longer.”
Blake looked truly worried for the new duke. For years he’d bought up every chit and letter he could find, consolidating the late Duke of Somerset’s debt into one tidy mountain of impossibility hoping to cruelly crush the man. But once Somerset was gone and Blake had reconciled with Kendrick, they’d easily reached an agreement for slow but steady repayment. It disturbed Blake terribly that he hadn’t known about the one private venture that was going to bring young Somerset down. And that was the creditor who was about to bury the new duke, in spite of Blake’s pleas to let him help.
“What do you think he’s going to do?”
“I don’t know. I told him that if he wouldn’t take the money from me, then he needed to find a wife that came with a large dowry.”
“What did he say?”
“He only laughed.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t tell you that he’d already tried that and the woman he chose left him to marry his brother.”
Blake pulled her closer. “He knows you didn’t love him. And he didn’t love you. He never would have forced you to marry him after the way his father deceived your father.”
Willow burrowed her head beneath Blake’s chin and breathed a satisfied sigh. “There’s one thing I don’t understand.”
“What’s that?”
“Why did the Duke of Somerset hate you so? Many noblemen have children that aren’t their legal heirs. They don’t hate them like your father hated you.” Willow lifted her head until her gaze locked with Blake’s. “Do you know why?”
Blake didn’t answer her, but he nodded.
Willow pushed herself upright and looked at her husband. “Why, Blake? Why did he hate you so much that he wanted you dead? Even before you began buying up all his debts? Before Kendrick and I even—”
Blake hesitated, then he slowly reached inside his jacket and removed a crinkled piece of paper. He held it in his hand as if he wasn’t sure he should let her see it, then he slowly held it out.
Willow took it and held it for a moment as if Blake had just handed her the crown jewels. Then, she opened the paper and slowly read it.
Her eyes opened wide and her heart skipped a beat. And she read the words again. “Oh, Blake.”
“Do you mind the world never knowing that you’re the Duchess of Somerset?”
“Of course not. But you’re the Duke of Somerset. This marriage certificate proves it. Why didn’t your mother ever come forward? She could have contested the duke’s marriage.”
“She would have met with an unfortunate accident if she’d tried. Or I would have. The duke threatened her with as much. He’d married my mother in secret and regretted it almost immediately. Then, he became the Duke of Somerset, and realized he needed a wife with a massive dowry. There was always a scheme in which he wanted to invest. But his investments never worked out. Like the gambler he was, he was sure the next investment was going to be the one that would make him rich. But none of them did.”
“So, he married Quinton’s mother, even though he was already married.”
“Yes. Except he knew the day would come when his first marriage exposed him as a bigamist.”
“What did he do?”
“He tried to eliminate me and my mother. He set fire to our house one night. Mother and I barely escaped with our lives.”
Blake stared into the distance as if reliving that time. “Mother knew how desperate the duke had become, so she let it be put about that we’d died in the fire, and we moved to another part of London and changed our names. I became Blake Edison.”
“Oh, Blake.”
“Don’t feel sorry for me, Willow. My mother showed me more love than I would ever have received from the Duke of Somerset. I was blessed not to have him in my life.”
“My mother became ill. I was nine years old. I’d known that the Duke of Somerset was my father and went to him for help. I only wanted enough money to buy my mother medicine, but he refused. He kicked me out onto the street and sent his man to follow me. I got away from them, but I knew that he’d never let mother and me live. I stayed with Mother until she died, then became one of thousands of children who live on the street.”
Tears streamed down Willow’s cheeks.
“Don’t pity me, Willow. If my life hadn’t turned out as it did, I never would have met you.” He leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “Without you in my life, I would have been nothing. Now I have a reason for living.”
He placed his hand on her stomach as his son kicked out.
“More than one very special reason for living,” she said.
Blake brought her to him and kissed her on the lips. “I love you, my duchess. You have made my life rich beyond measure.”
Willow returned Blake’s kiss, the kiss of a man who knew his place in the world was at her side. And she at his.
About Laura Landon
Laura Landon enjoyed ten years as a high school teacher and nine years making sundaes and malts in her very own ice cream shop, but once she penned her first novel, she closed up shop to spend every free minute writing. Now she enjoys creating her very own heroes and heroines, and making sure they find their happily ever after.
A vital member of her rural community, Laura directed the town’s Quasquicentennial, organized funding for an exercise center for the town, and serves on the hospital board.
Laura lives in the Midwest, surrounded by her family and friends. She has written more than two dozen Victorian historicals, thirteen of which have been published by Prairie Muse Publishing and are selling worldwide in English, one in Japanese, and several in German. Two are Scottish historicals.
Always beautifully set and with a mysterious twist or bit of suspense, Laura’s books average a million pages a month read by her loyal readers.
LAURA LANDON IS A PRAIRIE MUSE PLATINUM
KINDLE PRESS AND AMAZON MONTLAKE AUTHOR
WWW.LAURALANDON.COM
Also from Laura Landon
by Prairie Muse Publishing
SHATTERED DREAMS
WHEN LOVE IS ENOUGH
BROKEN PROMISE
A MATTER OF CHOICE
MORE THAN WILLING
NOT MINE TO GIVE
LOVE UNBIDDEN
KEEPER OF MY HEART
THE DARK DUKE
CAST IN SHADOWS
CAST IN RUIN
CAST IN SCANDAL
(novella in Her Majesty’s Scoundrels boxed set)
JADED MOON
THE DEVIL’S GIFT
RICH MAN
From Laura Landon
by Montlake Romance
SILENT REVENGE
INTIMATE SURRENDER
INTIMATE DECEPTION
THE MOST TO LOSE
A RISK WORTH TAKING
BETRAYED BY YOUR KISS
RANSOMED JEWELS
From Kindle Press
THE SECRET ROSE
DARK RUBY
DECEPTION IN EMERALDS
THE TRAITOR’S CLUB: FORD
From Kindle Worlds
A VOICE ON THE WIND
WHERE THE WOMAN BELONGS
NOVELLA
See all of Laura’s books at Amazon.com
COMPANION BOOKS (series)
by Laura Landon
THE BROTHERHOOD
When Love is Enough | Broken Promise
Ransomed Jewels | Jaded Moon
Dark Ruby | Deception in Emeralds
THE REDEEMED
The Most to Lose | The Dark Duke
CAST IN SCANDAL
Cast in Shadows | Cast in Ruin
Cast in Ice | Cast in Scandal
THE TRAITOR’S CLUB
Ford | Hugh | Jeb | Caleb
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE DEVIL’S GIFT
Copyright © 2018 by Laura Landon
Ebook edition
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN 978-1-937216-92-4
Prairie Muse Publishing
Lincoln, Nebraska 68526
www.prairiemuse.com