Free The Way to a Duke's Heart: The Truth About the Duke by Caroline Linden

Scott wanting to torment us more than to profit from Father’s indiscretion?”
    Charlie hadn’t, although he still didn’t know what to make of the idea. Gerard had suggested that Scott didn’t really care about the money he’d tried to extort from Durham, that his true purpose was merely to torment and harass his sons. That would explain why the demand for money was made only once, months ago, and never repeated, but otherwise it made little sense. Why had Scott sent the letters only to Durham, not to any of them, if his aim was to rattle them and not Durham? And why hadn’t he sent more, once the scandal broke? It had been several weeks since a gossip sheet ignited the furor over his father’s clandestine first marriage, but not a single scurrilous letter had arrived in over two months. Of all the people Charlie could think of who might wish to torment him—and he allowed there were some—he couldn’t think of one who had the restraint not to.
    “He hasn’t sent another letter,” he reminded his brother. “If he wished to torment us, wouldn’t he have tried to draw a little more blood, once his threats blossomed into public scandal? Edward would have paid a small fortune to end the rumors, if Scott had approached him at the right moment. If his sole purpose was to torment us, he must have great discipline in savoring his triumph in silence, without even a single word of gloating.”
    “True.” Gerard thought a moment. “What lady at the York Hotel did Scott meet?”
    Charlie’s smile was slight. “An interesting creature. She despises me.”
    “What did you do?” asked his brother, half in interest, half in suspicion.
    “I believe I inconvenienced her,” he said mildly. “Without any forethought or intention, but it roused her ire.”
    “Is she part of the blackmail scheme?”
    “I’ve no idea.” But he thought it still possible. Such hostility must spring from something more than a dislike of his appearance. Indolent! Surely it would take more than a passing glance to determine that.
    “What are you going to do?” Gerard, as ever, leapt right to action. “Shall I send out inquiries about her as well? I know an excellent fellow here in Bath who would be glad to take up the task, Lieutenant Carter from my regiment.”
    “I’ve already learned a good deal about her, thank you.” Charlie raised one eyebrow at his brother’s expression of surprise. “Do try not to look astonished. It required nothing more than sitting in the tearoom, chatting with her elderly companion.”
    “The tearoom?” Gerard repeated incredulously, a tinge of horror in his voice. And no wonder; sitting with Mrs. Bates would be truly awful to Gerard, who never had been able to sit still for long, especially not to converse about fashions with elderly ladies. He was very like their father in that.
    Charlie chose to accept it as a compliment to his superior patience. “Indeed. It is a fine place to meet ladies.”
    “I suppose it must be.” Gerard grimaced. “What did you learn?”
    There was no reason not to tell his brother everything, but for some reason he hesitated. He could see no connection between his family and Tessa Neville apart from Hiram Scott, and no idea why Hiram Scott had begun blackmailing their father. It was possible the postal clerk had mistaken Scott for the true blackmailer as well. It was really a slender thread of possibility that he was on the right track by following Mrs. Neville, but he was still determined to pursue her. Besides, he had nothing else to go on. “Nothing of any obvious import,” he said slowly. “But she leaves Bath tomorrow—to follow Scott, I believe—and I intend to follow her.”

Chapter 5
    T he trip south to Frome was every bit as trying as Tessa had feared.
    Eugenie had nothing to do with it. Contrary to her usual fretting over the inconveniences and discomforts of travel, she was quiet the entire journey. Tessa enjoyed the peace at first, but then grew