Page 89 of A Deal with her Forbidden Duke
“Why?”
They both hurried to the office door, wrenching it open.
“They probably think if the former Lord Kinsfeld got away with so much debt then so can they.”
Alexander swore. “He hardly got away with it.” He leaned over the balcony, witnessing the scene below, and fury spiked in him. “Hargrove!”
Lord Hargrove—the supposedlybannedLord Hargrove—looked up at him in fright.
Alexander did not care that he was spotted coming from the office. He would smooth that over later. For now, all he saw was red as he stormed down the stairs.
“You dare come back here when Mr. Matthews had you barred?” Alexander roared, his distress boiling over into this man who was a bane of his existence.
Hargrove leaped back. “Perhaps Mr. Matthews ought to get more attentive guards!”
Alexander reached out and snagged the man by the collar, forcing his back to a table. “What bothersome troubles do you bring to Raven’s Den tonight?”
“Nothing, Your Grace. Only a friendly game!”
Alexander snarled and looked to the man Hargrove had been sat with. “He says it is nothing.”
“I disagree, Your Grace,” he said quickly. “Lord Hargrove has been trying to court my sister, but he has kept his gambling habits a secret. I challenged him to a game. Should I win, he has to tell her. If he wins… well, I did not like that he might get away with lying to her. I won, fair and square, and he knows my sister will not stand for such habits!”
“Your Grace,” Horace called out. “I’ll have the guards handle him again. You can… return to your game.”
“Of course,” Hargrove sneered as Alexander released him, accepting the dismissal in exchange for protecting his secret. “The Duke of Silverton is allowed to play upstairs—exclusively. Do you think we do not know how much you frequent this establishment, Your Grace? You look down upon those who gamble, yet you are here quite often yourself, up on that fancy balcony, as if you are too good to play with the mere earls. Does Her Grace know of these habits?”
Alexander’s blood boiled—that bastard dared bring his wife into this conversation?
“Word around thetonis that she killed her husband to marry you,” Hargrove continued, “Shame she is only marrying the same type of man. You arenobetter than us! And it is abouttime your wife knew what she has gotten herself married to once again!”
He spat at Alexander’s feet, and Alexander was about to land a blow to the man, his rage snapping at the mention of his Duchess in the mouth of such a vile man, when a guard hauled Hargrove up by his jacket.
“Do not make me banish you again, Lord Hargrove,” Horace called. “Iwillbe watching.”
The guards carried the yelling man off, and Alexander turned back to Horace, who thanked him.
“You may go back to your game,” Horace said again, for those still hovering.
Alexander shared a look with him and nodded, heading back up the stairs.
Once he was there, he ducked into the shadows and slipped into Horace’s office.
“I need to tell her,” he muttered to Horace as he followed moments behind him. “If I do not, then she will hear damning gossip from everybody else that will be hard to disprove. I cannot break her trust by letting her hear untrue gossip.”
Horace nodded. “It’s a hard but good choice. How about another drink?”
As he poured for them both, the door burst open. Alexander shot to his feet, only to find one of Horace’s employees—all of them paid very handsomely to keep quiet about any meetings they stumbled upon involving the Duke of Silverton.
“Mr. Matthews, sir!” The employee gasped, fingers yanking at his shirt and cravat. He heaved for breath, sweat beading at his temples. His face was pale as he stuttered. “I–I saw a ghost, sir! He—he was real and everything! All real.”
“What are you speaking of?” Alexander asked, feeling a slight headache starting.
“A ghost!” the employee shouted, clutching his head. “Right here, in the gambling hell!”
“Frederick,” Horace sighed, “there are no such things. Don’t be bothering us again, you hear me? Go back to your table. And once you’re done for the night, take tomorrow off.”
Frederick didn’t look happy at the dismissal, his eyes still wide, but he nodded, knowing he would not get anywhere.
