Duke of Manhattan Read online

  Duke of Manhattan

  Advanced Reader Copy. Not for resale, forwarding or giveaways.

  Louise Bay

  Contents

  Untitled

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Other Books by Louise Bay

  Keep in touch!

  Acknowledgments

  Published by Louise Bay 2017

  Copyright © 2017 Louise Bay. All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  ISBN – 978-1-910747-45-2

  Books by Louise Bay

  Duke of Manhattan

  Park Avenue Prince

  King of Wall Street

  Love Unexpected

  Indigo Nights

  Promised Nights

  Parisian Nights

  The Empire State Series

  Hopeful

  Faithful

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  Read more at www.louisebay.com

  One

  Ryder

  Everything was better on a private plane. Flying private wasn’t something the British aristocracy did. My family would consider it too frivolous—nouveau riche, as they described it. It wasn’t the first or the last thing my family and I disagreed on—I loved everything about the experience. The way the leather seats hugged my ass. The fact that flight attendants’ skirts looked shorter and legs looked longer. Even their attention was more flirtatious.

  The blonde beauty assigned to this flight dipped low to pour my water and give me a look down her blouse at her high, rounded breasts.

  I appreciated the courtesy.

  If I’d been going back to London under better circumstances, I might have considered seeing if her attention to detail extended to the bedroom. I liked luxuriating in a blow job and I had the feeling Melanie would be happy to make it last as long as I wanted.

  But even gripping this beautiful woman’s neck as she buried her face in my lap wasn’t going to improve my day.

  I glanced at my watch.

  “Thirty minutes to landing, sir,” Melanie said. It was a shame I’d miss out on her. I didn’t normally deprive myself, but I wasn’t in the right head space. “Can I get you anything else?”

  “No. I’m going to make a quick call.” I needed to tell my sister I was about an hour away.

  I unclenched my fingers from the soft, cream leather on the arm of the seat. It had been six hours since I’d learned of my grandfather’s fall. I didn’t often miss being in London but it was times like these where I wished New York was a forty-five-minute drive away from my family.

  I had to keep telling myself that there was nothing I could do for my grandfather whether I was sitting next to him by his bed or here in the air.

  “Have you landed?” Darcy asked as she answered my call.

  “Thirty minutes.”

  “So you’ll be here in a little over an hour. Message me just before you arrive and I’ll come down and meet you.”

  “Why? Is there something you’re not telling me?” Had my grandfather’s condition deteriorated since I’d last spoken to her?

  “No. This hospital is just hard to navigate.” She sounded tired, like she’d been up all night. I’d be able to relieve her burden a little when I arrived.

  “Is he conscious?” I asked, still unconvinced she was telling me the whole story.

  “Yes. He says he’s never felt better, but clearly breaking your hip at eighty-two isn’t good.” Her voice was tight. She was holding herself together. Keeping a stiff upper lip.

  “He’s going to be fine.” This time. “Have you had the results of the CT yet?”

  “No. You know it took them a couple of hours to convince him to have it done.” The corners of my mouth tried to tug into a smile without my permission. Darcy would hear the amusement in my voice and be furious with me for taking his side. Grandfather was an indomitable character and there was little anyone could persuade him to do if he didn’t want to. And vice versa, when people told him he couldn’t do something, he found a way. We were a lot alike in that way. He was my hero when I was young. And more of a parent to Darcy and me than our own feckless mother and father. Our father had run off with a waitress before I could remember him and our mother had never recovered and spent most of her time seeking spiritual enlightenment at various places in Asia. Our grandfather was the man who had soothed us when we were upset, who had come to school plays—who we still turned to for advice.

  “He hates people fussing,” I said.

  “I know, but after the stroke, we can’t take any chances.”

  My grandfather’s stroke two years ago had been a shock to us all. Luckily for us, he was a fighter and he’d regained most of his speech and movement. But he was frail and weak on his left side, which made him vulnerable to falls. “I know. Still it’s going to be fine,” I said with as much authority as I could muster, but if his fall had created a bleed in his brain … I took a deep breath and tried to steady my rising heart rate.

  “Victoria called,” Darcy said, her words clipped and tight.

  I clenched my jaw and didn’t reply. I couldn’t bear to hear about my cousin’s selfish wife.

  “No doubt she wanted to know if they could start counting the silver,” Darcy said.

  I took a deep breath. I had to keep it together or I’d upset my sister.

  My grandfather’s title passed to the next married male heir. As I was oldest, it should have been me. But as one woman had never been enough for me, my cousin Frederick, and his wife, Victoria would be the next Duke and Duchess of Fairfax.

  It wasn’t like I needed the money. I’d made more for myself than my grandfather was worth, and I certainly didn’t care about the title. I’d never wanted to be the Duke of Fairfax. Frankly, I’d never understood why my sister being a woman precluded her from being next in line. She should get the title, the money and the estate—and all the headaches that went with it.

  Frederick and I had never been close, although as he was heir to Woolton and my grandfather’s grandson, I saw more of him than I would have liked. He was jealous and mean-spirited as a child and he’d never grown out of it. He seemed to envy everything I ever had—toys, friends and later women. Despite the fact my sister and I had to live with our grandfather because our parents didn’t want us, Frederick hated that we lived at Woolton and he didn’t. He never missed an opportunity to criticize what Darcy was doing for the estate. And constantly made comments about me running away to Am
erica. Insults I could have coped with. What I didn’t like was the fact that when I called him to tell him of our grandfather’s stroke, instead of asking which hospital he was in or about the prognosis, the first thing he did was tell me he’d call me back when he’d spoken to his lawyer.

  There was no going back for us after that.

  “Well, tell Victoria to speak to me in future. I’ll have no problem in telling her to fuck off.” The fact was, as soon as my grandfather was dead, the silver would be hers to count. And although I didn’t have the same pull toward our family’s history as Darcy did, it still didn’t seem fair.

  “We need to talk when you get here. Properly.”

  I knew what was coming. We were going to discuss how me getting married would change everything. “Of course.”

  “I mean about Aurora,” she said.

  Darcy had hinted that our childhood friend would be a willing wife a number of times. This time she sounded more determined. But I’d have to be clear that Aurora wasn’t someone I was going to marry. “I’m going to see the lawyers about things while I’m in London, too.” I was still hopeful that we’d find a legal solution to Frederick inheriting the estate.

  A couple of beats of silence passed. “You know how I feel about that,” she said.

  “I don’t want to fight over grandfather’s estate,” I replied. Darcy hated the idea that there would be a battle over our grandfather’s assets, because it seemed to somehow taint the importance of our love for the man. However, knowing how he wanted my sister to inherit, I knew he would welcome a solution. “But what’s our alternative?”

  “I really want you to consider an arrangement with Aurora—she cares about our family, and she’d make an excellent wife.”

  “I don’t want to get married.” Certainly not to someone who only wanted me for the title I’d inherit. And the alternative—that she’d want a real husband—was worse. Aurora and I had known each other as kids, first crushes, but she didn’t know me now, not as an adult.

  “I’m sure most men feel like that. And it’s not like you have to … you know … live like husband and wife.”

  “That’s not the point, Darce.” Fucking Aurora would be the least of my problems. She’d always been attractive. I’d have slept with her before now if I hadn’t thought she’d read all kinds of meaning into us having sex. But I knew myself well enough to know I could never be faithful to one woman. There were too many beautiful girls in the world. I preferred the ones I didn’t know. It was less complicated.

  “It’s not like we’re talking about the rest of your life.” I really wanted to make this better for my sister, but she’d see that I could buy her another property, really similar to Woolton Hall. I knew it wouldn’t be exactly the same, there wouldn’t be that emotional investment she had in Woolton, but her life wouldn’t change significantly. The thing was she was married to the estate—it had been her whole life since we were kids. After university, when Darcy said she was going to work full time on the estate, I urged her to find her own path in the world. But working at Woolton was the only thing she wanted to do. She loved the place.

  “I have thought about it. A lot.” We’d been talking about this for years. My grandfather’s stroke had only escalated things. “You know Aurora isn’t the right woman for me.”

  “She’s as good as anyone. She’d let you do your own thing.”

  I wasn’t the kind of guy who cheated on his wife. Marriage was a commitment, a promise to be faithful, and I didn’t break my promises so I didn’t make any that I couldn’t keep—I wasn’t about to become my parents. I wanted to look back at my life and be proud of the man my grandfather had brought up. I wanted to do my grandfather’s sacrifices justice.

  “Let’s talk when you get here. Whether we like it or not, Grandfather is eighty-two. You’re running out of time to think about this. You need to act quickly or it will be too late.”

  She thought she could convince me. As much as I hated to disappoint my sister, it wasn’t going to happen.

  Fucking was my favorite sport, and I’d gone pro a long time ago. I wasn’t about to leave the field a moment before the whistle was blown. And I was determined the game would last as long as I had blood in my veins. Besides, who was I to deprive the women of Manhattan?

  I tried not to shudder as I opened the door to my grandfather’s room. I hated that very particular smell you got in hospitals. I wasn’t sure if they all used the same cleaning products or whether death and disease carried their own fragrance.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Grandfather bellowed at me from his bed as I stepped inside.

  I chuckled. “Now that’s not a very nice welcome. I hope you’re being slightly more charming to the nurses.” I winked at a girl in her early twenties who was checking blood pressure readings.

  “Everyone is making such a bloody-awful fuss, Ryder. I’ve been falling over for eighty-two years. I’m not sure why everyone’s acting like I’m on my death bed.”

  I shook my head. “You broke your hip, Grandfather. Did you expect no one to care?”

  “They’re talking about surgery,” Darcy said from behind me.

  I spun around. “Surgery? What for?”

  My sister looked pale as I pulled her into a hug.

  “The hip. They’re saying he needs a partial replacement,” she mumbled against my shirt.

  I squeezed and released her. “He’s going to be fine. I’ll speak to the doctors.”

  “I already did. They said surgery almost always follows a fall like this.”

  “Stop fussing,” Grandfather called from his bed.

  I laughed. If sheer force of will could keep someone alive, Grandfather would live forever.

  “You look good.” I patted my grandfather on the shoulder.

  He shrugged off my hand. “How’s business?” he asked, always ready to live vicariously through me and my life in New York. His whole life had been managing the family’s holdings, which included Woolton Hall, a large, stately home outside London, the surrounding land and nearby village, which was rented out to villagers, and a townhouse in London. I never asked him if he resented the responsibility that came with the title, or if he might have done something else, had he been given a choice over his future. But he was a man of honor and commitment, a man to be admired. The person I aspired to be.

  “It’s good,” I replied. “I’m trying to buy a small luxury fragrance business at the moment.”

  “Fragrance? Doesn’t really seem like your thing.”

  “My thing is anything that makes money.” I had an eye for spotting growing businesses and buying them just before their loans were called in or their lack of cash flow paralyzed them. “It’s a solid business that needs investment to take a step up.”

  “And you’re going to give them what they need?” he asked, pointing his finger at me.

  I shrugged. “I’m a generous guy. You know that.”

  Darcy rolled her eyes. “No doubt there’ll be more in it for you than them.”

  I nodded. “But there’ll still be something in it for them. And that’s the point. I don’t screw them. I’m just shrewd.” I was excited about the company I was targeting at the moment. The business hadn’t been up and running very long and yet they’d done incredibly well. Retail wasn’t my sweet spot but this business was worth stretching myself for.

  “How are things back at the house?” I asked as I pulled a chair up to my grandfather’s bed.

  “The stables need a new roof,” Darcy replied. “And frankly so does most of the west wing.”

  “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” my grandfather replied.

  My sister had taken over the majority of the running of the estate in the last couple of years. She’d worked side by side with my grandfather since graduating and he’d carefully passed down all that he knew.

  “Grandfather, Darcy always knows exactly what she’s talking about.”

  He growled and looked out of t
he large windows onto the Thames. His lack of argument was as much of an admission as we were going to get.

  “I’m going to make a phone call,” Darcy said. “Do you want anything while I’m gone?”

  I squeezed her hand. I knew what running the estate took out of her, especially as she knew eventually she’d have to walk away from everything she’d done. I’d never understood why she didn’t leave, find something of her own to put all of her energy into.

  She twisted her hand free and shot me a tired smile.

  “We need to talk,” my grandfather said as soon as Darcy had gone. I never liked those words coming from anyone’s mouth. Bad news always followed.

  I leaned back into the chair, ready to take on whatever it was that he had to say.

  “I’m getting older, Ryder.”

  Christ, had Darcy been on at him about me marrying Aurora? We’d agreed to keep Grandfather out of it. I didn’t want him to worry that he was leaving behind a big mess for Darcy and me when he died.

  My stomach turned over and I leaned forward. “If you’re worried about the hip surgery, don’t be. You heard Darcy; it’s perfectly normal after a break. You’re going to be fine.”

  “I need to tell you something before I go in to surgery.” His eyes fixed on mine just like they had when I was a child and I was in trouble. I hated to disappoint him. What had happened? “It’s about my investment in Westbury Group.”

  “Your investment?” My grandfather had given me a couple of thousand pounds when I started up and in return he’d taken a special share. But he’d always refused to take any dividends from the company and he’d never shown any interest in the day-to-day operations. I’d almost forgotten about it.

  “We should have sorted this out a long time ago. I guess I just liked the idea of being an investor in your success.”