Page 123 of His Duchess in Disguise
Emma looked up at the Duke, her eyes shining like sapphires. “Thank you, Your Grace. I look forward to adventuring with you.”
He raised her fingers to his lips and brushed them lightly across the back of her hand. “And I with you. Now, go make yourself ready. Mrs. Noddicott, I believe she arrived with a very modest amount of baggage. My mother’s clothes are still hanging in her rooms. See if you can find some gowns that will not be too matronly to expand Miss Hoskins’s wardrobe.”
In less time than she could have thought possible, Emma found herself whisked into a guest room. Rags and her meager belongings, including the tack for Beauty and the saddlebags, were brought up as well. Mrs. Noddicott herself acted as her maid for the evening, helping Emma complete the toilet that Matthew Blank had interrupted.
Dressed in a nightgown far finer than any she had ever known, Emma curled up in the comfortable bed in the guest room and watched the low fire that smoldered on the hearth. It smelled spicy, a scent that was somehow soothing, as was the murmur of the flame. Completely worn out by the day’s events, Emma slept.
Chapter 28
After Mrs. Noddicott whisked Emma away to a guest room. Mrs. Chambers dispatched a footman to Mary Higginsby’s house, even though it was well past midnight and long before cock’s crow. Leo allowed his secretary to herd him up to the study.
“Are you quite sure this is a wise move, Your Grace? For all you know she is an imposter, and Matthew Blank is an accomplice. You’d not be the first gentleman to be bilked out of a fortune by an opportunistic woman.”
“Do you truly believe that, Hamilton? We’ve both seen dock harlots, camp followers, and doxies of all levels of life. We’ve retrieved our men from their clutches, and rescued innocents from soldiers who too fully embraced the freedom of being far from the restraints of home. Does she strike you as being any of those things?”
Hamilton laughed a little ruefully and shook his head. “One of the innocents, perhaps. She seems amazingly wise about practical things, yet is astonishingly trusting. You could as easily be as vicious a predator as Cleweme.”
Leo sat down in the leather chair behind his desk. “I almost feel like one, Hamilton. She is so very alone in the world. She does not have a father or a brother to protect her. Even her aunt, who by her account is fond of her, has little power to shield her. Through marriage, I can extend the blanket of my name and even set up a trust fund that will be guarded from the importunate, such as her father or even herself. But I have to ask myself if this is the right thing.”
“If you want to protect her, Your Grace, it is probably the only thing. All that remains uncertain is an heir for Menhiransten.”
“And therein lies the rub. Even should we be so fortunate as to conceive a child right away, if I am dead by sundown seven days from now, how can she prove that the child is mine? Poor mite, I am setting her up for a fearsome contest to defend Menhiransten from the crown, no less.”
“Your Grace, I believe she is far better equipped for the task than many a gently reared miss. But your points are well-taken. Even with the testimony of a faithful maid and our household staff, it is a wise child that knows its own father.”
“And if the child should be a daughter, the estate will still devolve to the crown. Well, I shall simply have to survive this duel. But I do not intend to leave the beautiful and resourceful Miss Hopkins, or Mrs. Brady as she soon shall be, without a feather to fly with should the need arise. Nor do I want her to be without familiar servants and friendly faces about her. I think she has had enough of that.”
“What do you have in mind, Your Grace?”
“I want you to send two of our men up to London. Ask them to seek out Mrs. Able and Mr. Jones and see if they can be persuaded to act as personal staff for Emma. Mrs. Chambers is already casting about for a suitable maid. More than that, should this duel go awry, I want you to act as her man of business. You’ve guided my investments for long enough that I feel you can be trusted to keep away the sharks and hyenas who are likely to prey upon a young widow with an endowment.”
“Where would you set her up, Your Grace? In the event of your death, I mean.”
“I own the townhouse outright in my own name. It is not part of the estate. With your help and with familiar retainers for her personal staff, I believe she would do well enough there. She is already accustomed to running a house.”
“That much I can do. But what about her father? Or Percy, for that matter?”
“For that, we are going to have to rely on Willoughby, Willoughby, and Chase. While Willoughby, Junior, might be an irritating pimple of a man, he is an excellent estate lawyer and will know just how to tie up the funds so that neither her father, a suitor, or future husband can get at them. And he will certainly know how to keep Percy Harlow’s sly fingers out of the pie.”
“Did you have this all thought out, Admiral, or are you making it up on the fly?”
“Have I not always laid plans on the fly, Hamilton? And do they not always turn out well?”
“Well, to be quite honest, Admiral, there was that time when the axle broke on the cannon carriage . . .”
“Not my fault and quite beyond my control.”
“And the time that you were sure the local wine was just fruit juice…”
“Darned fine juice it turned out to be, too. With a healthy kick to it.”
“Yes, indeed, Admiral. And there was the Arabian stallion you bought from a Spaniard – the one that turned out to be permanently spavined.”
“I concede. Some of my plans have been less than stellar. But this one . . . Hamilton, where would I ever find a young woman with more address, grace, and sheer fortitude?”
“I’ll admit that she seems to be a fine young lady, Your Grace, but you’ve known her for less than three days. And during those three days, you’ve known her to be involved in at least two, possibly three confrontations. Are you sure that your chambers will not turn into a battleground?”
“I don’t think they will,” Leo said thoughtfully. “Although you might have a point. She doesn’t seem to be the compliant sort of person who will readily take orders. But surely we can work that out.”
