Page 70 of The Enigmatic Governess of Buford Manor
He will talk when he is ready. In the interim, I must tell Nicholas what I have witnessed. Do we have something to fear from Captain Balfour also?
Chapter 24
“Nicholas, my word, you must get to sleep!”
He glanced up, his eyes bleary from the notes he was reading in the dying flicker of the candles on the desk.
“I have an interview with – “
“Nicholas, there will always be interviews, conferences and events to attend,” his mother sighed, stepping inside the study and closing the door behind her. “You must arrange time for your family and home. Moreover, you must account for sleep! You will do no good to anyone should you fall ill.”
“Mother, I do not know how you say that with such nonchalance. It is not as if I was properly trained in any of this. I am up to my eyes in legal jargon and town plans. I haven’t any idea what half of it means and – “
“Nicholas, look at me!”
The duchess’ voice was stern, and Nicholas grunted, flopping back in his chair as if he was a child about to be reprimanded.
“I am looking, Mother. What is it?”
“Darling, I know you are concerned and overwhelmed but I assure you, no man is ever prepared for dukedom. Your father certainly was not.”
Nicholas tensed at the mention of the man, an image of his dead body filling his mind.
Will I ever think of anything else again when I hear father’s name, it will always be the dead man I carried home in the eye of a snowstorm?
“I am nothing like father was,” Nicholas muttered, lowering his eyes back to the papers meaningfully. He hoped his mother would take the not-so-subtle hint and retire for the night.
“You are more like him than you care to believe,” she replied softly, gliding across the floor, a long velvet robe enveloped over her robust frame.
“As you say, mother.”
His exasperation was mounting and while he knew it had nothing to do with her, she was currently the only person in his way.
There is too much to do, too many interviews to be had. How did father manage? Tis insurmountable.
“Nicholas, you must heed what I am saying,” Duchess Buford insisted. “You will do no one any good if you work yourself into an early grave. There is a reason I have asked Captain Balfour to stay at Rosecliff.”
The new duke glanced up, his back tensing slightly at the mention of Balfour’s name.
“I daresay, whatever the reason, he has more than overstayed his welcome. I was about to ask him to leave on the morrow. I feel that his presence is like an umbra in Rosecliff.”
“You will not ask him to do any such thing,” she replied sharply. “Moreover, you must admit that the only one who finds his presence dark is you. You must let go of your anger. It is misguided. What happened to your father was a terrible misfortune but – “
“I know it was, Mother!” Nicholas snapped, not wanting to discuss it a moment longer. “I fail to see how Captain Balfour’s presence here benefits any one in spite of the circumstances surrounding father’s death.”
“Are you denying that he has been useful in these past months? He and Peter have met with half the families in East Anglia on your behalf. They are working together to ensure that the transition is smooth, and you are not overworked in the process.”
Nicholas snorted but he did not reply. The duchess was not wrong. Peter Alderson and Daniel Balfour had both done more than necessary while everyone else seemed to have faded into the background without so much as a thank-you note.
Tis their guilt which guides them,Nicholas thought at first but eventually he had come to terms with the fact that without the assistance of both Balfour and Peter he would be much worse off.
He knew his mother had asked Balfour to stay, a fact which the captain had smugly presented to him at first opportunity. Nicholas did not care for the man, but he needed to put his personal feelings aside for the good of Buford.
That is what father would expect of me,he thought grimly.
“Nicholas, you are my only child and I care for you,” the duchess sighed. “But you have a streak of pride which will be your folly.”
“All right, Mother,” Nicholas sighed. “I accept Captain Balfour’s assistance but only for a short time longer. I believe I am getting a handle on affairs now.”
