Free Duchess by Chance by Wendy Vella

instantly.
    Luton
    “Please have a fresh horse brought round, Werhnam.” Daniel folded the note and slipped it into his pocket. “I have decided to return to Stratton right away. I will be bringing the duchess back to London with me so prepare her rooms,” he added before heading to his own to change clothes. When he had made the decision to bring her back with him he had no idea, but he knew he wouldn’t leave her behind again.  
    “So you are going back to Stratton?” a voice greeted him as he walked back out the front door twenty minutes later.  
    “I thought you’d run for cover, Kelkirk.” Daniel shrugged into his greatcoat and pulled on his gloves. Simon was dressed similarly and stood waiting at the bottom of his stairs.
    “Me?” Simon said, placing a hand on his chest. “I’m wounded. I merely went to retrieve my horse, and leave a message that I was accompanying you to Stratton for a few days.”
    “And why did you think I would be returning to Stratton?” Daniel looked down at his friend, who was now slapping his hat against his thigh and looking vaguely interested in a large barouche that was trundling past.
    “A hunch.”
    Daniel snorted, then rolled his eyes for good measure, yet remained silent.  
    “And I yearn for the wide open spaces and lush green hills of Stratton,” Simon said, adding with a wide smile, “It has been an age since I visited there and I feel that Luton has been denied the pleasure of my company for far too long.”
    “You attended my father’s funeral.” Daniel’s voice was dry as he walked down the stairs to take the reins of his horse from his groom.
    “Is it wrong to want to meet the wife of my dearest friend?”  
    “Dearest?” Daniel responded. “I’m flattered.”
    “Don’t let it go to your head,” Simon muttered, urging his horse forward to fall in beside Daniel’s.
    “I just received a missive from Luton indicating that Huxley called at Stratton and that his intentions were not honorable. The servants saw him off, yet Luton was sufficiently concerned to write to me.”
    “Good Lord, so the threat was real. Is the duchess all right?”
    Nodding, Daniel added, “Yes, but she asked Luton not to inform me of Huxley’s visit, however that combined with what Grandmother told me was enough to alert my fears.”
    “You can’t be surprised by your wife’s request, surely, Daniel.” Simon looked at him. “She was raised by those heathens and then forced into marriage with a man she does not know. Even taking into account the threat from Huxley, she’s hardly likely to want you to return now, when she has probably found a measure of peace for the first time in her life.”
    Daniel knew his friend’s words were true, yet that did not make him happy about the fact that she had not notified him. He was her husband, and she was his responsibility whether he liked it or not. He should not have had to rely on his butler to alert him of Gilbert Huxley’s visit.
    “In truth, I may need your help,” Daniel said.
    “How so?”  
    Daniel looked at his horse’s ears and then viewed the streets before him. Lord, this was hard. “I don’t know if trouble awaits me but if it does, I would be pleased to have you at hand.”
    Simon nodded but remained silent, sensing Daniel had not finished.
    “And in truth, my wife may be more comfortable with you around.”
    Simon stared at him. “What?”
    “You can converse like a woman,” Daniel growled.
    “I don’t believe that was a compliment.”
    “It wasn’t.”
    Simon mulled on that for a minute. “So you’re having trouble communicating with your wife? You, the silver tongued duke who woos woman as easily as the rest of us breathe?”
    “It’s different with a wife, Kelkirk, especially one wed under duress. The words don’t seem to come as easily as they would in a ballroom.”
    “Or bedroom.”
    Giving his friend a foul look, Daniel continued. “I want her to return with me to London and hope