Free The Duke I’m Going to Marry (Farthingale Series Book 2) by Meara Platt

anger as Laurel. She was as caring and loving as Daisy, and almost as clever as her twin, Lily. In truth, Lily was a freak of nature. No living being came close to her intelligence. Yet Lily always turned to Dillie first for advice.
    Hell . He was thinking of Dillie again. He hadn’t meant to, for he had bigger problems at the moment. Apparently Graelem and Gabriel were worried about something as well.
    “We’ve just come from the Prince Regent. Those blackguards who tried to kill you last November weren’t Napoleon’s agents. No connection whatsoever. He’s worried about you, wants to know who else might want you dead,” Gabriel said, drawing him into a quieter corner of the club room.
    Ian frowned. “I have plenty of enemies.” Including my own family.
    Graelem glanced around to make certain no one was standing close enough to overhear them. “That doesn’t narrow it down much.”
    He’d told his two friends and the Prince Regent of the attack. Of course, he’d had to report it in full to Prinny, but hadn’t gone into quite the same detail with his friends. If they ever found out that he’d recovered in Dillie’s bed, or that she’d nursed him back to health, he would be a dead man.
    He would tell them eventually. Now was not the right time.
    “Forget about the incident. My only concern is that it represented a possible threat to the royal family. If it’s just some husband after me for a supposed wrong, then leave it alone. I was hurt. That ought to be enough to satisfy the old clot who sent those blackguards.”
    Gabriel rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and sighed. “I still don’t like it. You’re being far too casual about the incident. You almost died.”
    He shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “First of all, I’m still alive. Second, no one would care if I did die.”
    “We would,” Gabriel insisted.
    “So would the Farthingale family,” Graelem added. “You helped to save Lily when she was abducted and they’re forever grateful.”
    “I didn’t do all that much. Ewan and his Bow Street runners were the ones who saved her.”
    “What you did was important,” Graelem insisted, getting that stubborn look about him. “Lily’s parents, not to mention Dillie, were in unbearable pain. Those twins practically share one heart, and when they were forced apart, Dillie felt every painful rip. You stayed beside them the entire time, gave them hope that Lily would be found alive.”
    He arched an eyebrow. “Never realized I was quite that magnificent.”
    Gabriel punched him on the shoulder. “You aren’t. But the Farthingales think you are.”
    Ian cuffed him back with a laugh. “I’m sure I can count on both of you to assure them that I’m an utter ass.”
    Several of the older members ruffled their newspapers and let out angry harrumphs.
    Gabriel glanced around and caught the attention of a club steward. He pointed to the glass Ian had set down when they’d first walked in. “This is a woman’s drink. We need a bottle of fine aged whiskey. Your best. Spare no expense. And three glasses sent to the billiards room. Put it on the duke’s account.”
    Ian let out a laughing groan.
    “Make that two bottles,” Graelem added, but his grin faded once the ancient steward slowly shuffled off to do their bidding. “We have another matter to discuss with you. It concerns Dillie.”
    Ian’s laughter faded. Had someone hurt her? He’d rip the blackguard apart with his bare hands.
    “She has a suitor,” Gabriel said once they’d reached the privacy of the billiards room and shut the door behind them. “Lord Ealing’s eldest son, Charles. The Farthingales believe he’ll ask for her hand in marriage soon.”
    Ian said nothing, for his body had just taken a hard slam to the ground. It was ridiculous, of course. He didn’t plan to marry. He didn’t want Dillie. So why didn’t he want anyone else to have her? He was like the dog in Aesop’s fable who didn’t