Tall, Duke, and Dangerous (Hazards of Dukes #2) - Megan Frampton Page 0,28

make.

And now, oddly, he felt like talking.

“You met my grandmother the other evening.”

Thad nodded. “I hadn’t realized you and she were friendly.”

“We’re not,” Nash said, getting up to pour another drink. “She’s here because of my father.”

Thad hesitated, as though unsure of what to say. “Your father.”

“Yes,” Nash said, returning to his seat. “It seems she disliked my father as much as I did, and for the same reasons. She’s here because she believes my heir is like him in some important respects.”

Thad grimaced. “Oh. I see.”

“Yes, you do.” Nash sighed. “She insists the only way to prevent my cousin from inheriting is for me to marry and produce an heir.”

A pause. “She’s correct.”

Nash scowled. “I know.”

“So—you’re going to get married?” Thad sounded skeptical. Likely because Nash had told him and Sebastian he would never marry, and Nash suspected they knew why.

Nash grunted.

“And your grandmother is here to assist?”

Another grunt.

“Ah.”

Thad swallowed the rest of his whiskey in one gulp. “How will that happen?”

Nash frowned. Wasn’t it obvious? “I’ll meet some lady, we’ll dance a few times, and I’ll speak to her father.”

“You’ll dance. And speak?”

Why did Thaddeus have to sound so skeptical?

Nash scowled even more. “I can dance and speak, you know. I just prefer not to.”

Nash leaned over to the bar cart and poured another serving of whiskey into his glass.

“You say that.” Thaddeus did not sound convinced. “And you’ll spend the rest of your life with this person you danced with and spoke with a few times.”

Nash nodded. It was precisely what he planned to do—the less he cared for his future bride, the better it would be. For everyone. They’d marry, have an heir or two, and then go their separate ways.

Thaddeus shook his head. “I wish you luck.”

Nash tried not to take it personally that Thad sounded as though he would need a lot more than luck.

“You’ve—what?” Finan asked, dodging a blow.

Nash growled. “I’m going to train her.”

Finan rocked back on his heels, an exaggeratedly shocked expression on his face. “You. The one who you insisted is just like a sister to you. That you won’t marry, but you’ll train in the art of self-defense?” Finan shook his head in woeful regret. Nash wished he had already managed to land a punch, that way Finan couldn’t keep making those rueful expressions.

“I can’t have her unprotected.”

“What about your protection?”

“That’s what I have you for.” Nash bounced on his heels, his fists up in position.

Finan sighed, raising his own fists. “You’re still an idiot. And she’d still be the perfect wife for you.”

“Not going to happen,” Nash said, before launching a blow that narrowly missed Finan’s jaw.

Finan danced back, his eyes gleaming. “I suppose you have some ridiculous reason that makes sense in your brain why you won’t even consider her.”

Nash landed a hit to Finan’s side. He staggered, then popped back up, still bouncing on his toes. “Good one.”

Nash shifted to avoid Finan’s fist, which landed in the air instead of in his stomach.

“And what will any of your prospective brides think about you spending time alone with Lady Ana Maria, the lady you’ve known since childhood who is not at all related to you?”

“They won’t know.”

Finan’s eyebrows rose. “Ah! So this self-defense training will all be conducted in secret. Even better.”

“Shut up.”

Finan held his hands out in a smugly satisfied gesture. “You’re making my point even better than I could. And all without saying a thing.”

Nash advanced on Finan, who held his hands up in surrender, his eyes laughing as he stared Nash down.

He wished he’d exhausted himself into oblivion in his boxing salon. Because if he had, he would have been passed out in his bedroom by himself instead of taking tea—tea!—with his grandmother in the largest of the receiving rooms.

“I’ve made a list.”

The paper wavered in her hand, as though she were trembling. He knew she wasn’t frightened of him. Perhaps it was old age? Was she ill? Was that why she was so determined to see him settled? So she could die in peace, knowing that the dukedom wouldn’t be passed on to someone like his father?

Not that he could ask her any of that. She would likely refuse to answer, and then he’d be left having revealed how he did not want her to die, not when he’d just found her. Or her him.

And who would have thought he’d have wanted even more family? Given he was employing all the ones he’d found in his house already.

She held it up to her