AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
The Lord of Nothingwanted blue blood, a title and the acknowledgment of his king and theton’s peers, but his father had stolen all that from him.
Matthew Hardy might have been one of many lords of nothing, but he was the lord of his domain.And that domain was about to grow in riches and influence, if he could convince a certain duchess that his nothing was better than her something.Matthew wouldn’t be at Dante’s Hell were he not reasonably sure of his success.
He watched Madame Alice DuPuis enter her darkened boudoir.She kept ungodly hours, but she did have a routine, which made slipping into her chambers easier than he had hoped.Her brothel was legendary, and she’d recently expanded her enterprise, purchasing the Marquess of Dane’s equally nefarious hell, renaming it Dante’s Hell, as a nod to the marquess and acknowledging the many unvirtuous matters that happened within.
Marriage had altered Dane—selling the hell only part of his change; Matthew believed marriage would change many things for him, too.Why hadn’t he thought of advantageous nuptials sooner?
Matthew could marry anyone in his limited circle, but he had someone specific in mind—and Alice was the woman to help make that a reality.More than knowing everyone in London, she knew their secrets.Something else she had in common with Matthew.
“Good morning, Alice,” he said.His voice must have boomed because she jumped in surprise.Even at four in the morning, she still wore a very fine silk-and-lace dress, nowhere near going to bed.Her dark-brown hair was wound in a perfect chignon with barely a strand out of place.
“Who are you?And what are you doing in my private chambers?”She puffed up, trying to look taller than she was.But wasn’t that Alice to the core?Larger than life?Stubborn to a fault?Able to accomplish anything.And deep down, kind.Caring for the lowest, the weakest and the neediest all while building her empire.
She’d helped Matthew once.
But their shared and mostly inconsequential past wasn’t the reason he’d spent the last five odd months carefully surveilling the comings and goings at the combined brothel and hell.
Fate brought him here now.Fate and a woman.Was it ever any other way?
“Do I know you?”she demanded, squinting, head tilted in perusal.
“Yes.Doubtful you’ll remember me.”He stepped into the light.“The past has nothing to do with why I’m here tonight, though.”
“It seems to have given you the boldness to stroll into my boudoir uninvited.”She folded her arms over her ample bosom and stared hard.“What do you want?Speak your mind.I have things to do.”
He moved slowly, knowing he was still the mysterious interloper.Would she recognize the man he had become?“I want to make you richer,” he said.
She barked out a laugh.“Ha.Now that is the most humorous thing I’ve heard this week.And by the cut of your cloth, also a lie.”
Matthew strolled toward the plush settee near her unlit fireplace and settled with his leg crossed.Only a glass of whisky could have improved his mood.
“I enjoy comfort and my money is better used for other things,” he said.He couldn’t bear to spend money on silk ties and silver buttons.He did, when he had to.Matthew wasn’t a miser.He spent his money to make more money and he spent his money to get what he wanted.
“Such as?”She raised her dark brows.Gad, she was a man’s woman, if ever there was.
