Page 41 of Her Bear of a Duke

"Do you plan to tell her at all?"

"Eventually, yes, but for the moment there is too much to do. That is precisely why I have come to see you. Catherine is growing up, and she has started to have questions about her mother. When she asks about my brother, I find it easy to tell her about him, but I do not want to lie to her and I do not know the first thing about Miss Elizabeth. I was hoping that you might."

"I… Your Grace, I know only what your late brother told me. He must have thought that he would survive his duel and continue to send them money and then you never would have known a thing, and so he did not think to tell me more."

"I am not asking for much, only whether or not Elizabeth was truly her name."

Mister Smythe looked around for a moment, and Morgan knew that he was hiding something from him. He did not know what it was, nor how big of a secret it was, but it had to be something.

"Your Grace, know that what I did was for my client, your brother."

"What was it, Smythe? I shall not blame you for whatever it was."

"He claims that he left a letter for you. It was in your household, and I assumed you might have found it by now. Now that I am thinking about it again, however, I am realizing that he had hidden it somewhere. I do not know where, but it is my hope that you will be able to find it upon your return."

Morgan felt his mouth fall open. For three years, he could have had the answers he wanted, but the letter containing them had never been seen. After so much time had passed, it could have been anywhere. Had it been stored improperly, it might even have begun to fade, but Morgan at least knew that it had to have been hidden away in darkness, as he would otherwise have seen it by that point.

"Why did you not tell me of this?"

"I thought you would have seen it for yourself. With all of your staff, I assumed your home would be cleaned entirely so often that someone would see it. I do not know where he must have left it."

Morgan sighed, exasperated. Everything he wanted to know may well have been contained in a single page, but he had no way of knowing where it was.

"I do apologize, Your Grace," he continued. "I would never have done anything to make your search more difficult."

"There is no need to apologize. You would have assumed that my brother was intelligent enough not to do anything that might cause trouble for me, but you did not know my brother as well as I did. I shall have to return home, and continue my search there."

He left soon after, and on his journey back to his lodgings he thought to search those too. There was every chance that it had been sent there, if Thomas wished to leave it somewhere that hecould take it away should he have won the duel. He sighed as he entered the building, and began his search.

He remained there three more days, turning everything there upside down in hopes of finding what he was searching for. There was nothing, and he felt his frustration growing the more he looked. He would have to return to his niece knowing nothing further than he had when he left for London. He did not want to disappoint her, and so he continued on even though he knew he would not find anything.

He, of course, did not find it there. He boarded his carriage to return home and throughout the journey he tried to think of places that might not have been seen in so long. There had to be somewhere, he knew that, but he did not know just what it was.

Suddenly, he froze in place, his heart pounding. Before he had left, he had told his wife that she could change the household to her liking.

She could not find the letter before he did.

CHAPTER 15

"He has not abandoned you, I assure you," Emma promised Dorothy, as they took tea before beginning their work.

"He vanished yesterday, and has not told me personally where he has gone. What else could he possibly have wanted to do?"

"Why are you upset about that?" Cecilia asked. "You knew that this marriage would not be a love match. He has left you well taken care of and with complete control over what becomes of the household. If you ask me, that is quite the perfect situation."

"Perhaps it is for you, but I would rather see my husband than not know where he is and how long he will be away for."

"Dorothy, you must not think like this," Beatrice said gently. "I know that this is not something that you expected, but it could have been urgent."

But Dorothy knew better. They had enjoyed each other's company, and she had thought that they were coming closer to one another, but he had pulled away at the last moment and left her behind. She knew that marriages would have difficulties, especially ones formed in the way that hers had, but she thought that they understood one another, and the fact that he clearly did not think the same upset her greatly.

"So," Emma said, trying to brighten things, "you have asked us here to redecorate?"

"You cannot in your condition, I forbid it, but yes. I plan to change everything about this place, as I wish to make it a home that I wish to live in."

"It is the right thing to do," Emma nodded. "It is awfully dark."

"The late Duke liked it this way, but I cannot stand it. I would like to make it more to my tastes, even if they are not fashionable by any means."

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