Read Online When You Give a Duke a Diamond by Shana Galen - Free Book Online Page A

fiancée, and made his way to her mother. “Have you seen Lady Elizabeth?” he asked without preamble.
    The marchioness’s expression grew concerned, and she put a hand on her bosom. “Eliza? No, I thought she was with you. Oh, dear. I hope she hasn’t run off again.”
    “Run off?” Pelham narrowed his eyes.
    “I—oh—” The marchioness flapped her arms.
    This would not do. Pelham couldn’t conceive how the Cyprian might convince Lady Elizabeth to disappear, but he would not be trifled with. The woman needed to be shown exactly whom she was dealing with.
    “I’ll be right back.” Pelham dumped the pelisse he still had strewn over one arm into the marchioness’s hands and marched through the ballroom until he reached the hall. A footman in the prince’s livery bowed to him, and Pelham demanded, “Have you seen the duchess?”
    “Which duchess, Your Grace?”
    Pelham clenched his fists impatiently. “The one they call Duchess,” he ground out. “The courtesan.”
    “Ah.” The footman smiled. “The Duchess of Dalliance.”
    Was that her sobriquet? Devil take her.
    “Yes, Your Grace. She just took her leave.”
    Pelham was already striding for the doors. “Did she call for her carriage?” he called over his shoulder.
    “I don’t believe so, Your Grace. She arrived in the countess’s carriage.”
    Pelham stopped. “Which countess?”
    “The Countess of Charm.”
    Of course. Pelham stepped under the portico of Carlton House and ordered a groom to fetch his coach. “And be quick about it,” he demanded. “If you can’t be quick, bring me one of my horses.”
    Pelham paced while he waited, grunting out greetings to the ball’s late arrivals. The duchess couldn’t have gotten far on foot. He could easily catch her, if the damn groom didn’t observe all the niceties of Society and allow every other carriage to go ahead of him. He would catch the courtesan and teach her to manipulate him as though he were one of the fools fawning over her.
    Just as he was about to start off on foot, his coach thundered onto the drive. His coachman reined the horses in, but at Pelham’s gesture, held them only long enough for the duke to jump in. “Drive to the gates. Slowly. I’m looking for a woman on foot.”
    “Yes, Your Grace!”
    They reached Pall Mall without spotting her, and Pelham was about to instruct the groom to head for the park when he noticed members of the crowd outside the gates of Carlton House, craning their necks to stare along the street. Pelham followed the direction of their gazes and saw a figure in shimmering silver.
    “Found you.” He stuck his head out the window. “Fetch her.” He ordered his footman and pointed at the duchess.
    “Your Grace?” The footman looked horrified and understandably so. It was not every day his employer asked him to kidnap a woman off the street.
    “Never mind.” Pelham shoved the door open, not even waiting for the coachman to fully stop the carriage. He jumped out, landed easily, and went after her. The crowds outside Carlton House didn’t part quite as easily as those inside the ballroom, and he had to shoulder his way through.
    Until he was recognized.
    “It’s the Duke of Pelham!” someone shouted.
    “The Dangerous Duke!”
    And then everyone moved aside, and he had a clear shot at the duchess.
    And an audience.
    Several long strides later, he reached her. He grasped the flesh of her arm between her glove and the sleeve of her gown and released her just as quickly. Her skin was amazingly soft—a fact he wished he could erase from his mind. And where were his bloody gloves? He’d misplaced them somewhere, another indication the night was going to hell.
    “You!” The duchess was staring at him. “Did you follow me?”
    “You tell me my fiancée has been”—he lowered his voice—“murdered, and don’t expect me to follow you?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t have time to discuss this. If he sees me, if he catches me…” She