Page 82 of In Compromise with the Earl
She tried to stand, but her knees were weak, and just before she stumbled back to the bench, Leo grasped her around the waist. “Seems as if you need some help, dear.”
“I have not eaten all day,” she replied as they made it to the Hall.
“Oh no,” he said as he helped down the corridor from the back door and helped her up the stairs. “That’s unhealthy. You must eat something.”
“I know,” she huffed out a dry laugh. “But hunger hardly presents itself when one is confused.”
They made it through a corridor and were heading to the front staircase when the Dowager came around the corner. She stopped short and her eyes landed on the two, her gaze shooting to the arm Leo had around Aphrodite’s waist.
“Leo, you’re here,” the Dowager greeted. “And Aphrodite, has something happened?”
“I am lightheaded,” she replied. “I went riding without a meal this morning.”
“Ah,” the Dowager nodded. “Well, go to my drawing room, I’ll have a meal sent up, and for you too Leo. You know you are welcome to stay.”
“Thank you but no,” he said. “I’ll only help this lovely lady to the room, then I will be off to the church for this evening’s service.”
As they mounted the stairs, the Dowager trailing after them, Leo helped her to the drawing room. “Again, don’t assume that is what is wrong. Talk to him about it before decided that it is a calamity.”
Facing him and his honest expression, Aphrodite inclined her head. “I’ll try, thank you.”
With a bow, Leo left then while the Dowager took a seat, her expression uneasy and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What did my nephew mean about that?”
Having leaped many hurdles with the Dowager, Aphrodite had started to trust her but she did not feel it fit to tell the Dowager that her son could have been unfaithful.
“A few nights ago, Oswald left our bed to go work in his study. He told me nothing is wrong, but I cannot but help to feel there is,” she replied. “Now, Leo told me that it is his habit to keep things from others, I cannot but wonder what it is.”
“My dear nephew might not be the one to give you an unbiased view about my son’s behavior,” the Dowager replied. “He only knows half the stories at best.”
“I still trust him,” Aphrodite replied. “Sometimes it is best to take another’s opinion that is not so close a person.”
“Leo has always been special to us, but after my husband died, I made sure that my nephew was handled with a delicate touch,” the Dowager replied. “You see, my husband’s brother got involved with a disgraced woman, but then the moment a titled Lord came along, she ran off and abandoned them.”
“Oh,” Aphrodite nibbled her lip. “My sympathies.”
A maid came with a full tea service and a meal for Aphrodite and a sliver of honey cake for the Dowager. After fixing her tea, she drank and felt the weakness began to lessen.
“My husband noticed a few things about Leo,” the Dowager said. “Leo is very charming with a weakness for misunderstanding things at times.”
“He told me he counseled Lady Claire about her marriage with Oswald,” Aphrodite said. “And based on what Oswald said, I cannot believe he was mistaken about that.”
“I suppose,” Henrietta replied. “Just take what he says with a grain of salt.”
After her meal and a conversation that had veered away from Leo, Aphrodite went to find Oswald, only to discover his study was empty. From the unopened books and still-closed drapes, he had been gone for a long time. She sagged on the wall and pressed a hand to her eyes.
She had lost him again.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gazing through the murky fog at the ramshackle tavern in Seven Dials, Oswald cursed. “What the deuce is Duke Strathmore doing here?”
Earlier that evening, Oswald had found himself back at White’s, planning on how to confront the Duke when the man in question strode into the club as if was his personal playground. He was ready to confront him there and then, but he needed to be discreet.
Patiently he waited until the Duke left and he slipped away as well, calling his carriage to follow the man. When they had ended in Seven Dials, a slum in St. Giles, Oswald was both intrigued and repulsed.
After a half hour of waiting and watching, Oswald descended the carriage and made his way to the front door. He had to step aside when a man, holding onto a scantily-clad women stumbled out of the door.
The drunk squinted, “W…what’s a high-to-do toff like you, skulking ‘round these parts?”
