His Duchess at Eventide: Mythic Dukes, #2

Chapter One

November 1805

Wind whipped Captain Lord Cheverley’s improvised sail against his raft’s mast. Salted sea-spray stung his lips and gusts roared in his ears. Using his shoulder, he wiped rain from his eyes and then re-wedged the paddle between his left arm and leg. Thighs straining, he gripped the groaning rudder.

He hadn’t survived the unspeakable—seven years of war, a shipwreck, the loss of his right arm below the elbow, and six excruciating years of captivity—only to fail now.

Had he?

Wine-dark depths did not defer to long-serving officers of the Royal Navy. Frothy white waves were indifferent to sons of dukes. And life-hungry storms didn’t give a damn if they stripped wives of their husbands, or sons of their fathers.

Penelope. Thaddeus. Vast emptiness yawned. Instinctively, he beseeched the heavens. Please. I must survive.

No god answered, only darkness without direction, no land, no guiding stars. The blank, shifting water beneath promised death—the same, slow demise that had claimed the lives of Chev’s fellow seamen stationed with him on the HMS Defiance.

That gale, too, had materialized as if summoned by Poseidon’s trident, without warning and yet powerful enough to devour his sixty-four-gun ship. Rocks like rusted knives protruded from a deadly shoal. Waves thundered without reprieve, breaking the Defiance into pieces unfit for kindling. And his ship’s end had been only the beginning of his nightmare.

Tu n’es rien. You are nothing. Je te possède maintenant en entier. I own every part of you, now.

His raft listed. He spit over the side.

How much adversity could a man face before he surrendered to annihilation’s mercy? How god-damned much?

The wind bellowed. Siren whispers sounded, sensing weakness—supplicate, surrender, submit.

What did he have to offer the world he’d left behind? He’d thought he’d return a hero. Instead, he was broken in body and soul. If he yielded to the storm, would it not be kinder to his family and a just restitution for his sins?

Memories feathered through his thoughts. His face buried in the softness of Penelope’s hair. Her fingers, drifting in soothing circles against the small of his back.

He inhaled deep, straining against invisible bonds and roaring back into the wind. He cursed fate. He cursed God. He cursed the pirate witch who’d kept him captive. Then, he cursed himself.

His anger crystalized in breath, clouding the chilled air. He’d escaped captivity, darkness, restraints. Zephyr’s winds and Poseidon’s waves demanded the final say, but he would not give up without a fight.

Not tonight.

The bundle strapped across his back held what little remained of hung beef and brandy. His cask of fresh water ran low, but he had enough to last another day.

He smothered his weakness, gritted his teeth, and held fast to the rudder.

He’d survive.

He’d survive on the pure need for vengeance.

For years, while Penelope labored to transform her husband’s estate, Pensteague House, into a haven, she’d done her best to ignore the specter of neighboring Ithwick Manor, her husband’s birthplace. At her worst, she’d wished the house and grounds would simply wither away. Then, however, the duke had been hale, his heir, Piers, alive, and she and her son superfluous to the duchy.

Now, everything had changed. Light filtering through the ducal library’s windows chastised her for those fancies—the carpets were worn, the centuries-old relics, dust-laden, and a must-heavy scent burned inside the bridge of her nose. Hour by listless hour, time had been devouring what was left of her husband’s boyhood world. And Ithwick’s slow demise provided none of her hoped-for triumph.

Still, she had done her duty, called on the duke, and reported on Thaddeus’s education and care—not that His Grace had appeared to understand a word—and she itched to leave this place full of ghosts and greed, mother to the heir or not.

Mrs. Renton—the duke’s devoted housekeeper, and one of the few Ithwick residents Penelope trusted—wrung her liver-spotted hands.

You must stay here at Ithwick, Mrs. Renton said, her pale eyes wide. The duchy is without a duchess. The duke has lost his sense. Master Thaddeus remains too young to assume an heir’s duties, and I am certain those...those... Mrs. Renton gestured to the window, "...men mean to destroy everything that’s left!"

Moving to the window, Penelope’s gaze found the duke’s closest male relatives apart from her son. The elder was Mr. Robert Anthony, who, as a descendant of the last duke’s brother, was next in line to inherit after Penelope’s son. The younger was a more recent arrival. Son to the duke’s sister and her husband, the Duke of Warfield—Lord Thomas.

Absurd for those gentlemen and their friends to be littered about the lawn in winter, despite the unusually warm weather. Ridiculous, too, to be having a weighted disc throwing competition while attired in the latest, highly impractical fashion.

Penelope touched one of the pins in her tightly knotted hair and then rested her hand against the neckline of her outdated muslin. Unexpected discomfort blossomed in her chest. Hot, outsized discomfort.

Had Mr. Anthony, Lord Thomas, and their friends no shame? Even now, beyond the restless channel, young men were sacrificing their lives defending these craggy shores in a war that had already cost Penelope her husband.

It appears to me—Penelope’s voice tinged with bitterness—Mr. Anthony and Lord Thomas’s only aspiration is a perpetual, decadent house party.

It is worse than decadence! It is unnatural ambition.

Unnatural ambition? Pen knew them to be irresponsible, certainly, but to accuse them of intentionally usurping the duchy’s power?

Don’t you see? Mrs. Renton asked. Mr. Anthony brought suit to have your husband declared dead—you need look no further for evidence.

Penelope turned. Mr. Anthony claimed the suit was necessary in order to free funds for Thaddeus. That was, however, before they’d discovered the surprise codicil to Cheverley’s will granting Penelope full possession of Pensteague.

Mr. Anthony, Mrs. Renton replied, also claims His Grace is in complete accord with every decision he makes. But, you’ve seen for yourself—His Grace’s words are unintelligible. As for Lord Thomas, he often returns late—Mrs. Renton lowered her voice—smelling of tipple and perfume.

Penelope frowned. The amorous exploits of her husband’s cousin weren’t any of her concern.

On the other hand, she could not deny His Grace’s troubling condition. The duke’s blank stare had sent shivers through her spine. For the first time, she’d felt a measure of compassion toward the tyrant.

But compassion for the duke and a willingness to intercede on his behalf were two very different positions.

"If those actions weren’t awful enough, Mrs. Renton continued, several women have left our employ so distressed they did not request references. The remaining women serve as mistresses and little else."

Penelope’s flush spread to her cheeks. A man had to be vile-hearted to take advantage of anyone in their employ in such a way. If you would, Mrs. Renton, supply the names and direction of those who left. I will provide references for them from Pensteague.

Thank you, Lady Cheverley. Mrs. Renton bobbed a short curtsey. But what of Mr. Anthony and Lord Thomas?

Penelope gazed back out to the lawn. Were they merely reckless libertines as she’d long assumed, or were they greedy, dangerous men emboldened by the duke’s illness, Thaddeus’s youth, and his mother’s perceived lack of connections?

Anthony had come to Ithwick following the duke’s sudden illness at Piers’s request and had taken over the duties of steward. After Piers’s death, Lord Thomas had arrived. They’d been indifferent to Penelope and only cursorily interested in Thaddeus, and she was happy enough to allow things to remain as they were.

But what if they were intentionally robbing Ithwick? What remedy could she bring? She’d need solicitors, barristers, and witnesses to bring suit.

Though Pensteague thrived, she returned every sixpence earned to the estate...the only way she could care for the wounded seamen who regularly appeared on Pensteague’s doorstep.

She’d taken the land her husband, Cheverley, had been granted as part of his mother’s marriage settlement—a small cottage with surrounding forests and wastes—and transformed it into a thriving estate with choice livestock, crops, fallows, and coppiced wood. She’d raised Thaddeus without assistance from his ducal grandparents. She’d remained dutiful and loyal to Cheverley—and, by extension the duchy—all while striving to provide the wounded seamen Pensteague sheltered the dignity of a generous livelihood. And now, Pensteague was hers and hers alone.

Why should she place all she protected and all she’d built at risk?

Mrs. Renton, she began, you’ve always shown me kindness⁠—

You were devoted to young Lord Cheverley, Mrs. Renton interrupted, sniffling. I had hoped⁠—

Allow me to speak plain. Penelope’s own dashed hopes were difficult enough to bear, thank you. To Lord Cheverley’s family—everyone but the late duchess—I have always been an interloper. It is not my place to interfere.

But there is no one else, Mrs. Renton replied. Mr. Anthony acts as if he is master of Ithwick. You are the only one who can stop him.

Mr. Anthony has been inclined to be pompous for as long as I have known him. But pompous and criminal did not negate one another, did they?

Pen attempted to rationalize again. Isn’t it natural Mr. Anthony take an interest in running the estate? He is, after Thaddeus, the next in line to inherit.

"Mr. Anthony and his coterie are draining the coffers. They are depleting the livestock. Their mismanagement is so severe, long-time tenants are choosing not to renew their leases. Please help us, Lady Cheverley. If you do not protect Ithwick, I fear there will be nothing left for young Master Thaddeus to inherit. Mrs. Renton paced the length of the rug, paused, then glanced up at a painting. If Lord Cheverley were here now, it’s what he would wish you to do."

Pen’s lips flattened at the invocation of her husband’s name. Reluctantly, she turned her gaze to the painting she’d avoided since entering the room—a portrait of Cheverley and his older brother as boys.

Though in the portrait, Cheverley’s pale blonde hair had yet to darken, his stance already hinted at future swagger. His sheepish half-smile acknowledged worlds he had yet to understand, let alone conquer, but his pale blue eyes alit with a sickle-sharp cunning and an insatiable thirst for adventure.

A thirst that would rob her of a husband and Thaddeus of a father.

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. Foolish, foolish man.

She did not, however, regret their brief affair and whirlwind marriage. The experience had been transformative and grand—to the extent her sixteen-year-old mind could comprehend grand—a rush that had taken her from the threshold of womanhood to the full blossom of her feminine power. And what followed, though unpleasant, had been the gauntlet that formed her character.

She sighed.

Thirteen years had passed since she’d seen her husband, six since he disappeared off the coast of France, though she hadn’t known the gut-wrenching details of his final hours until the recent trial to prove his death.

Cheverley’s ship had left the Channel Fleet on orders to capture a French privateer. Soon after the privateer was won, Chev ordered his first mate to sail home the prize. Then, a sudden storm parted the ships, pushing the HMS Defiance off her reckoning by three degrees. But three mere degrees had altered the ship’s course enough for the naval gunner to meet a gruesome, rocky end.

In the horrible hours it took the hull to break to pieces, Chev sent part of his crew in a cutter, hopeful they’d find harbor. He remained with his ship...exactly what Penelope would expect of her husband—always certain he could find or forge a way, always driven to display mythic heroism, even at the expense of those he held dear.

In this case, Chev failed. The cutter capsized. The few survivors drifted for days before being rescued. As for Cheverley, after reviewing the evidence, a judge declared him dead. No man, he said, could have survived the wreck.

Then again, her husband had not been just any man.

A burst of low, male laughter rose up from the lawn.

They laugh while they drain the duchy dry, Mrs. Renton murmured. They wouldn’t have dared to set foot in the house in the first place if...if...

...If Lord Cheverley were here, Pen finished quietly.

Yes, she was weary. Yes, she could not spare the expense.

But could she truly turn her back on this part of her husband’s past, forever denying skeletons that were not so much in a cupboard as atop a neighboring hill?

Perhaps, Mrs. Renton whispered, Lord Cheverley will yet return.

Penelope’s neck prickled.

If she were honest, on nights when the moon’s glow brightened the sheets of her marriage bed, loneliness pierced her heart like one of her husband’s hand-crafted arrows, and she sometimes allowed herself to imagine Cheverley would return.

Mrs. Renton—she squelched irrational hope—we must be careful what we wish. If Cheverley survived, a terrible fate must have befallen him. If he is alive, he is suffering.

She turned away from the portrait.

What would Chev have wanted her to do? If he were here, he would have wanted her to remain tucked up in the proper little jewel casing he’d prepared while he forged forth to set everything to rights in a spectacular show.

But he wasn’t here. He hadn’t been here for thirteen years.

The better question was—what did she wish to do? How much of what she’d built in Cheverley’s name could she risk?

She turned about, taking in the ducal library and considering the stern faces of her husband’s ancestors glaring down from centuries past.

If Mr. Anthony and Lord Thomas were corrupt, what would she be teaching Thaddeus if she remained ensconced in comfort while corruption flourished?

Corruption bred fear. Fear bred distrust, anger, divisions and even—if left unchecked—bloodshed.

She did have a responsibility, loath as she was to admit it. Whatever the cost now, it would pale in comparison to the future cost if these men succeeded in fully usurping the duchy’s power. She must find a way to root out and remove the corruption. Not only for Thaddeus’s sake, but for the sake of those, like Mrs. Renton, whose livelihoods depended on Ithwick.

Mrs. Renton, I concede. Lord help her. Thaddeus and I will take up residence at Ithwick, care for the duke and keep a close eye on Mr. Anthony and Lord Thomas. Having the heir and his mother present should gentle the worst of their conduct.

And if they ask why?

I will tell them I intend to weave a shroud for Cheverley on the medieval loom upstairs.

Bless you, my lady. Mrs. Renton’s brows knit. But is it wise to bring Master Thaddeus? As Master Thaddeus’s guardian, Lord Thomas could make trouble.

Let him try.

Thaddeus goes where I go. In fact, Thaddeus was so protective, she couldn’t have confined him to Pensteague if she wished. "Besides, both the duke and Lord Thomas serve as guardians. Thomas cannot assert himself without exposing the duke’s state. And, in a few months, Thaddeus will be fourteen—old enough to choose his own guardians."

She recast her gaze toward the group of gentlemen below. Another drunken cheer rose from the lawn.

You needn’t worry any longer, Mrs. Renton. She spoke with bravado she did not feel. I will become Ithwick’s unlikely champion.

But were her adversaries indolent man-children, or were they a crawling nest of vipers?

And, if they were a nest of vipers—she chilled—which would be the first to sting?

Chapter Two

Lungs— Cheverley inhaled —on fire.

He came fully awake, coughing like a man possessed. Air pricked in his chest, stubbly as a beggar’s cheek. Every attempted inhale thrust another shard of glass between his ribs. If only he could sit, he could...

He expelled a guttural oomph as his chin landed in straw. Yes. Pain rippled through his bones. Right.

No arm.

Yet, somehow, the sensation of a hand remained, right down to the jarring ache in his non-existent—though strangely fisted—fingers. He rolled onto his back and blinked into the dim light breathing in air thick with tallow’s heavy scent. Above him, a roof of thatch. Beneath him, stillness.

He’d made his way to land, at least.

He’s back.

A man’s voice. Not one Cheverley recognized. English, though. Which was an immense relief...for unclear reasons.

Lord have mercy. A woman. T’ain’t right. He was dead, he was, when you pulled him out the water.

Out of the water.

He frowned.

Where had that come from? He didn’t give a sixpence about grammar. What passed for English on his ship would have curled a schoolmaster’s toes—not counting the sizable portion of the crew who had other native languages.

Wait... His ship? Was he a captain, then?

He looked dead at first, the man agreed. But he’s coughin’ now, ain’t he?

He was. He snatched another illusive, rasping breath.

Should have left him. You ain’t got no reason t’be dragging in strays like you do.

A cat’s hiss suffused the shadows. He shivered.

Go on, the man cooed. She’s all talk.

The feline mewed.

Mark me, lass, the man continued, they’ll be a prize for this one.

The woman snorted. I ain’t no lass. And that one ain’t worth a half-penny. Can’t you see he’s missing his arm?

The man grasped his ankle and twisted. Chev cried out, punctuating with a kick.

Areeah! Stop that. The man lowered his voice. Look here. That is the Hurtheven crest. No telling the other two—his scars cut right through. I wager he’s quality, though.

Chev stilled. Hurtheven...?

Quality? The woman harrumphed, dismissive. What’s he doin’ with his clothes all tattered, then? He ain’t nothin’ more than a fisherman. Or worse. She paused. "He could be from the other side."

What did she mean, the other side? He concentrated. Ah, yes. War. Between the kingdom and France.

Chev lifted his head. Not—he coughed—French.

You see? The man said.

The woman folded her arms. "Just what a...Frenchman would say, ain’t it?"

Good Lord.

What’s this here on your ankle? The man tapped Chev’s bone.

Cheverley yanked back his leg. As he stared down at a trio of crests, two faces from his boyhood pieced together.

Hurth...Hurtheven, he repeated the title the man had supplied.

Yes, one of the faces was Hurtheven. Hurtheven—whom he’d met...at Eton? That sounded correct. Hurtheven...who was a good sort, even if he had been mad enough to insist the three of them scar their ankles with pins and ink. It had stung, damn it all.

He frowned again.

How had he remembered that detail? And what of the other boy? He touched the second crest. The boy’s family title remained elusive, but as he touched the third, the name of his own family seat came rushing back.

Ithwick.

Suddenly, he knew he was Captain Lord Cheverley, the second son of the Duke of Ithwick—not that he was going to proclaim the fact to these two. He didn’t know where he was. He barely knew who he was.

Hurtheven would have to be enough.

I work...for—Almighty! Every dammed word was a struggle—the Duke...of Hurth...even.

Knew it! the man crowed.

"Pfft. You said he was quality. Not that he worked for quality."

It doesn’t matter, the man replied. Hurtheven’s sure to give a prize. A shilling at least.

A tuppence at best. What good’s this one to anyone, let alone a duke?

"Hurtheven will...reward. Get word... Please." Forcing out the final word, Chev collapsed.

He closed his eyes against a wave of nausea. The louse had better provide a reward, even if it had been a long time since they’d seen one another.

But why?

He couldn’t remember, and the reason was important. Very, very important. There were other things he should remember too. Things even more vital.

The image of a woman shimmered beneath his lids. A woman with blonde hair, smooth as corn silk. Graceful and willowy yet brimming with a determination that was the essence of life.

Penelope. His wife.

A prize he had whisked away to store and to protect.

In his memory, his lips touched her collarbone before