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   Copyright 2019 by (Emily Ward) - All rights reserved. In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved. Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  Strong Desires

  An unforgettable Regency romance collection

  Collection includes:

  What the Duke Wants

  A Christmas Wish

  By: Emily Ward

  What the Duke Wants

  Chapter 1

  “Are you certain this is what you want to do?” Lord Liam Francis cocked an eyebrow at the man he shared a billiard table with. Micah was known to make a few foolish calls. It was no secret, and why so many people invited Micah into their games. An easy hustle. Liam couldn’t help but smirk as he watched the man trying to figure out what shot to make. “You’ve already lost quite a bit of money.”

  Micah closed his eyes for a brief moment. “I can make the money back.” The young man didn’t sound so sure.

  Liam nodded, choosing to ignore how nervous his companion sounded. “Make your move then. Billiards is your game after all.” Liam kept his smirk. He was teasing the other man, ever so slightly. Maybe he

  “It is. It’s just an off night.” Micah was blustering now, but he wasn’t doing a very good job at it.

  Liam could tell that his victim didn’t believe that. The man knew that he had been outmatched, but was in a hole too deep to back out of now. A vague curiosity about how much money the man actually had access to crossed his mind, but he shook the thought out of his head, after all, it had been Micah’s choice to do this, and to keep going past what he could afford to lose. Liam decided to wait in silence, maybe a little bit of him felt sorry for the desperate man standing there. Going home with this kind of gambling debt to a lord didn’t end well for most people. A possible scandal was always frowned upon. And it wasn’t exactly a secret that Micah had some problems with gambling.

  He watched the shot go wrong, missed as it skipped across the table. Liam forced the small twinge of guilt away from his mind as he lined up to finally win the game. After all, there wasn’t much to be done other than end it as quickly as possible at this point.

  Micah sighed when it was all over then looked up. His face was drawn, lines of worry across it. “I can beat you next time.”

  “You don’t have the money to continue this.” Liam shook his head. “Why don’t you pay me what you owe me and we can both move on with our lives.

  Micah looked guilty. Liam couldn’t say he wasn’t expecting that. He knew the man didn’t have the kind of money he had just lost in these games of chance and skill. “I’ll have to bring it to you.”

  “How long is that going to be?” The truth was that Liam couldn’t wait forever either; the establishment wanted a portion of every penny that he won by playing these games. It was the danger of having certain friends in these sorts of places. Which means if Liam let Micah leave without paying the money that he owed, Liam would be held responsible for that bill, and that wasn’t a thought he particularly relished.

  “It won’t be long.” Micah made the promise, but he was clearly grasping.

  Liam pursed his lips. “You seem rather confident for a man that doesn’t have the money on him.”

  Micah looked down at the table. “Just a minor setback. I’ve got the money to pay you, I simply need to go collect it.” He didn’t look completely confident, but Liam was willing to play this role.

  Another person walked up to them, looking over the table. A rather large brute of a man that looked anything other than someone from high society. It was very clear this man had been watching the match and looked down at Micah. “You need to pay your debts.”

  Micah looked up and gulped. “I can pay. I just don’t have it here.” He was feeling for his money, but of course, it came up with much less than he owed. “I’ll have to go home and get it.”

  “That so?” Liam was amused. This was an old song and dance, one that he had played a dozen times or more.

  “Of course. I wouldn’t put myself into debt that I couldn’t pay.” Micah tried to feign insult, but it fell flat. Everyone could read that the young man was lying.

  Liam watched him carefully, not saying much as the man that stood across the table from him deflated. The bluster faded away, and Micah just shook his head. Liam had won this round.

  “Gambling money you don’t have is bad form.” The man shook his head. Liam must have dealt with this a hundred times, there were even times when he was on Micah’s side of this ordeal, but he had learned not to do that sort of thing, rather quickly.

  Liam watched. He had seen this at least a dozen times, the build-up to getting a favor instead of the pounds that they were owed. He knew his part to play in this game and spoke up. “Now, now. Perhaps we could work something out. After all, we’re all gentlemen here.”

  “What are you suggesting?” The large man sneered down at the young vassal’s son.

  Micah gulped under the glare. “Yes, what do you mean?” His eyes were wide. Liam could almost smell the fear off of this young man. It was clear that he may have gotten into trouble before, but never anything quite this big.

  “What if he works off the debt?” Liam suggested as if this all wasn’t a part of the plan.

  “Hm, that could be an idea.” The large man tapped his chin. “Perhaps it could work. What would you have him do?”

  “I have a few ideas.” Liam nodded as the large man seemed to accept this idea and walked away from the pair of dandies. Liam pulled himself closer to Micah. “This shouldn’t take very long of your time at all, but the men that work here, we’ve got an agreement. They get a portion of every win I make. They need their money.”

  Micah suddenly seemed to realize the depth that he had gotten himself into. The realization painted itself all over his face. Liam pushed the pang of guilt out of his mind. “Nothing is going to cause you any trouble. Nothing dangerous.”

  Micah’s face hardened with resolve. “I doubt it will be any sort of problem.”

  “Excellent.” Liam walked over to his new friend and placed an arm around the man’s shoulders. “It’s a very simple task, after all.”

  Micah nodded as he was led out of the small billiard room. “Will this take long?” He was wringing his hands, just enough to make it clear that he felt backed into a corner. He was hesitant, but Liam knew that he had the man on the ropes. Micah was going to agree.

  “Somewhere to be?” Liam smirked. “Or can I assume your family is concerned about you damaging your reputation?”

  “The last thing they need is someone damaging my sister’s prospects,” Micah admitted. The shame was clear on his face. He must have truly loved his sister to feel that way. Liam took note of it. Perhaps it was something that he could use to his advantage later.

  “I assume you’ve already done some damage on that end yourself.” Liam was laughing softly as he walked down the street with the man. “Don’t worry. If everything goes according to plan no one will ever know.”

  “Oh. What is it I’m doing?” Micah glanced around the streets they were taking. The pair was weaving down less populated streets.

  In fact, they were heading out of the business and past the housing districts. The warehouses were the places that they needed to be. A place that very few people were at outside of business hours and this was very much after business hours.

  “All I need is for someone to play a bit of a guard at a certain location. We simply don’t want people snooping around the place. It’s a simple occupation. All you have t
o do is talk to anyone who comes in and get them not to ask questions.”

  “How would I be doing that?” Micah looked curiously at the man that was leading him down the road.

  “Don’t worry.” Liam patted the young man on the shoulder. “This won’t take very much of your time at all, after all, no one should come by, and if they do, you simply have to convince them that they don’t want to be around there.”

  “How would I do that?” Micah actually seemed to have genuine curiosity underneath his concern. This was more worrisome to Liam than the worry. Curiosity could end in a dangerous situation in this type of business.

  “Well, I’ve found that talking to people draws much less attention to yourself. After all, it’s a simple matter of distracting people from watching too closely.” Liam was explaining it calmly, even if the man with him was looking around the place, somewhere between agitation and excitement. It was a feeling Liam knew well, something he had felt when he had first gotten involved with this kind of business.

  “No violence?” Micah still held a slight frown on his face.

  Liam shook his head. “That won’t be necessary, fighting attracts too much attention, so we aren’t looking for anyone to hurt others. What we want is someone that won’t be threatening.” Liam explained as he led the way to a small warehouse in a rather empty district of the city.

  “That’s good.” Micah didn’t sound convinced.

  “The last thing this endeavor needs is any sort of violence,” Liam explained it again, starting to wonder if Micah was the sort of man that could understand this sort of work. “We’re looking for more finesse than that.”

  Micah thought on it for a long moment as they continued to walk.

  The warehouse didn’t look particularly dangerous, and it certainly didn’t look like a place that anything illegal happened at. Liam led the man inside, revealing stacks of crates that just seemed to be waiting for whatever purpose was planned for them. “What am I guarding?” Micah ran his eyes over the place.

  “That’s not important, is it?” Liam shook his head. “Just keep people from looking in the crates, and you’ll be fine.” Liam left the implied warning in his voice as he spoke, letting his companion know that he wasn’t allowed to look in the crates either.

  Micah nodded at his companion. He wasn’t even making an attempt to hide the concern on his face. Liam noted that he had probably never done anything of this sort before. After all, this wasn’t the sort of opportunity that came along every day, still, Liam wasn’t worried. Micah wasn’t being asked to do anything dangerous, just some simple business of keeping nosy people out of the place.

  Micah was nodding along as he was getting the tour of the place, not really saying much as the location he was going to be at was shown to him, an upstairs area with a good view of the front entrance. “Just stay here and if someone comes up, walk down to meet them. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Of course.” Micah nodded and pulled a chair over to next to the window. Liam watched for a while, waiting to see if he would let his curiosity get the better of him. The silence hung around them in the air, overwhelmingly loud as they both sat. Neither shared so much as a glance, content to leave the men to their thoughts.

  Liam thought for a moment about Micah’s sister. She was a beautiful girl, known to be a bit of a wildflower, and the kind of woman that men dreamed about taming. Liam had never felt the need to tame her though, but she was more something to watch from a distance, beautiful and strong, growing free. Like a flower. It’s never as good once it’s in a vase on a table as it is when it’s growing in the wild.

  He shook his head. There were more important things to focus on. He stood. “Since you’re settled in, I’ll leave you to it.”

  Micah turned. “Wait. You’re just going to leave me here? Alone?”

  Liam nodded. “It’s your job, so of course I am.”

  “You don’t see a problem with this?” Liam smirked as Micah looked like he was about to start panicking.

  “I don’t see a problem at all. This is your job, not mine.” Liam made his way down the stairs before Micah could argue with it again.

  Chapter 2

  “What are you talking about?” Eleanor didn’t seem that concerned, barely glancing up from the needlepoint in her hand.

  “I heard some rumors today.” Amelia looked distraught, but that didn’t surprise Eleanor. Amelia was distraught about just about everything.

  Her friend had come by for a short visit, but there was already talk of important news that Eleanor was supposed to hear. She wasn’t holding her breath for it being anything that she could actually do anything about, but she owed it to her loyal friend to listen to it. “What is it?”

  “I overheard something. I think you need to hear it.” Amelia was shifting her weight from one foot to another.

  Eleanor glanced up again. “Is someone in trouble?” She was waiting on the rumors to start up. After all, Amelia was always worried about how she was seen.

  “You could say that.” Amelia was clearly stalling.

  Eleanor sighed. “You know that you can tell me anything, right?”

  “I know.” Amelia nodded.

  “Are you in trouble?”

  Amelia shook her head, perhaps a bit too rapidly. “No. No. Not me.”

  “Then who is it?” Eleanor tilted her head. “Did I do something to piss off the society ladies again?”

  Amelia shook her head. The girl was looking paranoid. Eleanor glanced back up, then went back to her needlepoint. It didn’t surprise her at all to see her friend paranoid like this. It was the way she reacted to just about everything. Amelia was one of those girls that had been cowed by the system.

  Eleanor hated that, but she still loved the girl. They had known each other from the time they were young children, spending much time together because their mothers were friends and they were the same age. She sighed lightly and looked back up to her friend. “What is it then?”

  “It’s important.” Amelia still wasn’t saying it. She was frustratingly taking her time explaining it.

  “What’s important?”

  “Micah may be in trouble.” Amelia was frowning at Eleanor, disappointed. Eleanor watched her face carefully for a moment before putting down her needle, carefully putting it into the cloth that she was working on. Amelia had her friend’s attention, but it was clearly attention she didn’t want to need.

  Eleanor shook her head. “When is that man not in trouble?” She wasn’t happy being interrupted by whatever scandalous thing her brother was doing. It was going to happen, and she had promised herself that she wasn’t going to go drag him out of trouble anymore. Especially not after last time. “I’m certain he will be fine. He always is.”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “Of course, it is,” Eleanor explained. “He’s never quite been the type to fit in.”

  “This isn’t like the normal times.” Amelia kept trying to explain more about it.

  “Normal times?” Eleanor shook her head.

  “This is different.” Amelia was still beating around the bush.

  It was starting to get on Eleanor’s nerves, but she tried to play along with it. “How different?”

  “Extremely different.” Amelia nodded slowly. She was chewing on her lip. Her hands were clasp in front of her and she seemed moments away from starting to wring them.

  “How different?” Eleanor repeated the question, hoping to get more of an answer from the woman.

  “I don’t know how to say it.” Amelia was admitting this, and Eleanor tried to go back to her needlepoint. Amelia wasn’t going to let that happen. It was like she had to say something, but she played with her skirt for a few seconds before she continued, her words taking a more formal bent than the way the friends usually talked to each other. “It is vital that you know.”

  “Know what? That my dear brother is off causing trouble again? Probably off in bed with some trollop or gambling more of our m
oney away?” Eleanor scoffed.

  Amelia tried to argue. “It’s not that simple.” Amelia shook her head, the girl had a head of blond hair that made most women jealous, beautiful and bright in the soft flicker of candlelight that was lighting up the room. “He’s in a warehouse near the docks.”

  “I assume he’s gambling?” Eleanor wasn’t surprised by this at all. “He’s always gambling.”

  “Not that we can tell. No this is something worse. He’s in a warehouse full of stolen goods, and I heard the constable speak of moving into the location soon.” Amelia was wringing her hands as she rambled about the situation. There was no denying that fact that knowing this was bothering her.

  This caught her attention. “What?” Eleanor shook her head. “When? And where is this place?” She stood up, ready to take action.

  “I don’t know much, just what I overheard Papa talking about.” Amelia started to explain. She was wringing her hands. The girl was nervous. And it just annoyed Eleanor even more.

  Eleanor needed answers and she wasn’t going to let her finish the excuses that were about to be laid out. “What is it?” She was tapping her foot, the hard sole of her shoe echoing on the wooden floor.

  “Micah may be in some trouble,” Amelia repeated it to her friend, hoping that it would all sink in.

  “He’s always in trouble.” Eleanor sighed.

  Amelia nodded. “But I think this time might be worse for him.” The blond woman held a sigh back, and Eleanor took another moment to examine the frustration on her friend’s face. It was very real and very much there. She knew that Amelia had to think that this was pretty serious, and it alarmed Eleanor even more.

  Eleanor was ready to take action, to jump into the fray and get things done. But she needed more information. Her brother might have just destroyed her family, and while she didn’t believe that she was a woman built for society, she didn’t want to put her father’s position in society at risk over her brother’s foolishness. “When will that man ever learn?”