Read Online Ducal Encounters 02 - With the Duke's Approval by Wendy Soliman - Free Book Online Page A

enjoys entertaining our allies and takes personal credit for defeating Napoleon,” Clarence said, only years of training preventing him from showing the contempt he felt for the man’s arrogance.
    “I gather he has uniforms made, prances about in them, and re-enacts his part at Waterloo to his long-suffering guests,” Nate said.
    Winchester nodded. “Take it from one who knows. He does. He has actually convinced himself he was there and takes all the credit for the victory.”
    “Remarkable,” Vince said, shaking his head.
    “Did anyone stand out this evening, Romsey?” Winchester asked. “Anyone with special reason to be annoyed with you?”
    Clarence shrugged. “I know things about a lot of the people in attendance tonight, most of it not to their credit. But it’s not within England’s interests to reveal that information, and those men are astute enough to realise it.” Clarence scrubbed a hand down his face. “Or put another way, they are not desperate enough to kidnap a young lady to buy my silence. Tension still runs high throughout Europe, but the prince actually helps by inviting the leading lights from Europe to feel at home here in England.”
    “Which is not his intention,” Winchester said, grimacing.
    “Even if they did feel desperate enough to resort to kidnapping, how would they know to target Anna?” Nate asked. “To the best of my knowledge, you have not spent time in her company in public before tonight.”
    “Quite. Whoever took Anna went to considerable trouble to get into the duchess’s garden,” Winchester said. “So their plans had to be made in advance. And they then laid in wait when the temperatures were freezing, on the off chance Anna might appear.” He looked as dubious as Clarence felt. “You really have upset someone, Romsey.”
    “Evidently.”
    The brothers shared a speaking look that excluded Clarence. “It doesn’t seem plausible,” Vince said for them all. “Unless the rogues planned to sneak into the house, dressed…I don’t know, in livery perhaps, passing themselves off as servants, or even as guests. It was so crowded, no one would have noticed. Once inside, they planned to capture someone that way. But then they saw Anna and made off with her.”
    “It’s possible,” Winchester agreed, absently fondling the ears of one of his dogs, “but unlikely.”
    “I concur,” Clarence said.
    “The temperature is a very good reason why you and Anna shouldn’t have been out there in the first place,” Nate said, scowling.
    “I did point that out to Lady Annalise, but she laughed off my concerns.” Clarence inclined his head. “Your sister was anxious to avoid Roker.”
    “Ah.” Winchester nodded. “Roker is an idiot.”
    Clarence offered a wry smile. “You sister agrees with that assessment and, apparently, likes snow.”
    The brothers shared a brittle smile. “That is certainly true.”
    “But still, taking her outside in sub-zero temperatures?” Vince shook his head.
    “Have you ever tried to stop Anna when she has her heart set on a particular course?” Winchester asked his brothers.
    “Hmm, you have a point.” The tension in Vince’s shoulders eased, and Clarence knew he had been vindicated, at least to some degree, by Lady Annalise’s brothers. That was all very well, but forgiving himself would not be so easily achieved.
    “Wherever she is,” Nate said, pacing the room like a caged tiger, “I hope she has some light. Our sister is afraid of the dark.”
    “She accidently locked herself in a dark cupboard on the nursery floor at the Park when she was little,” Winchester explained. “It was some time before she was found, and she never got over the experience.”
    “Not that she would admit it,” Vince added, a fond smile playing briefly about his lips before he returned to his scowling. “But it’s nonetheless true.”
    “Dear God.” Clarence ran a hand through his hair. “We have to find her.”
    “She will be so very