Page 3 of Her Runaway Duke
“Light the rooms you are using if that will keep you warm, Thornbury.”
“I am not concerned for myself, Your Grace, but the staff?—”
“Light the rooms for them, then. Leave this one.”
“Very good, Your Grace.”
The butler closed the door softly behind him, leaving Levi alone in the drawing room, dark but for the light emitted from the three large windows. On the rare sunny day, the room would be alight, but today, on a day as gloomy as his mood, it simply cast a blue glow around the room, although it was enough to read the paper before him.
He should have ended his subscription months ago, but he found that as much as he hid from the outside world, he could not help his curiosity at how it was continuing on without him.
The article was small, on the bottom right side of the third page. Most readers probably skimmed over it, no longer interested. But the fact that it remained was enough to irk him. When would they be done with him?
The door opened with a creak once more, causing Levi to throw the paper down in exasperation.
“Your Grace?” Thornbury had been with him long enough that he did not shrink away from his tempers, although Levi somewhat wished that he did.
“I told you, Thornbury, I do not want a fire.”
“It is not that, Your Grace. You have a visitor.”
Still facing away from the door, Levi sighed as he rubbed his fingers against his temples. “Tell Fitz to go away.”
“I had a feeling you would say that,” came his friend’s far-too-jovial voice from behind him. “So, I showed myself in. Thank you, Thornbury. I appreciate your attempt at properly announcing me.”
“Lord Fitzroy,” Thornbury murmured before the door shut with a click behind him.
Levi tried to surreptitiously place the scandal sheet in the book next to him, but Fitz was too fast. Levi envied the light, unburdened skip in his step as he took a seat in the chair next to him, reaching out and snatching an untouched sandwich from the tray on the table between them.
“Still reading that shit, I see.”
“It is drivel, yes, but drivel people read,” Levi muttered. “Why will they not leave me be?”
“It is not every day a man survives your experience, ascends to the highest ranks, and then responds by hiding himself away in a run-down estate outside of London,” Fitz said, crossing one knee over the other and then bouncing it up and down. The man could never sit still, always moving in one way or another.
“You make it sound as though I am someone to be admired.”
“You are.”
Levi snorted. His friend couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“I came to share a thought with you.”
“A letter would have sufficed.”
“And miss this electrifying conversation? What a shame that would be. Besides, how would I know that you would open and read what I had to say?”
Levi remained silent, for Fitz had a point.
“You have been in hiding long enough. It has been over a year and, as you say, there is still much speculation as to what has become of you. A man becomes a duke and suddenly disappears? Many think you are dead, you know.”
“Let them,” he said before adding, “They also think I’m a murderer. Which I am sure is worse.”
“No one is saying that much anymore. The issue is, you have done nothing to rebuild the entailed estate and you have a dukedom that could sorely use you, Levi.”
“They do not need me. Others are seeing to it.”
“It’s not enough,” Fitz said, leaning forward, his elbows on his thighs as he looked closer at Levi, but Levi refused to meet his gaze.
