Page 21 of A Christmas Temptation for the Duke
“What if –”
“I am doing as I must, Godfrey,” he said with bite. “It is the only way, and I would hope that by now you would realize it. Just as I would hope that you would stop with all the pestering and make the arrangements as I have asked.”
Godfrey bowed. “I am yours to command.”
“Consider yourself commanded.”
“So… the ledgers?”
Daniel groaned. “Tomorrow – and do not say what I know you wish to.”
Godrey’s expression was as flat as it was knowing. “Me, Sir? I would not dream of it.”
Daniel eyed his valet warningly, knowing the man meant well, while wishing that he would know his damn place and keep his mouth shut.At the very least he might refrain from badgering me as if he does not know why I must do this.
The so-called ‘escape’ that Daniel referred to was a secret trip which he had been planning now for some time, one known only to himself and Godfrey. That was partly because he did not wish to tell those who might try and persuade him against going, and partly because he worried that if he told them, they wouldn’t care.
More than that, he was just about done with withal his responsibilities that plagued him most grievously. He did not want his duties. He didn’t want this life. What he wanted was to put it behind him so that he could start anew. Some might have called it running, but Daniel saw it as searching for the type of freedom he had never known.
He was in the process of closing out old tenancy agreements and selling off his land so that he could move his life to the Americas where nobody would know him and he could be whomever he wished.
But what do I even want to be? What will I find there that isn’t here already? Can guilt be escaped from, or will it follow me across the world so that no matter how far I run, nothing will change…
It was too late now to worry. He was set to leave shortly after Christmas, which was the reason why he planned on hosting his sisters. There he would not only tell them what he was doing but ask for their forgiveness. And whether they decided to give it or not, he would still leave.
“Is there anything else?” he asked Godfrey who was still lurking.
“Supper will be ready shortly,” Godfrey said. “In the meantime, I have had a bath run for you.”
Daniel groaned and stretched his back. As he did, he turned and glanced through window and at Pemberton Estate. Still, he could see light coming from the supposedly empty home, and still, he could not stop thinking about Lady Alison.
That was another good reason to leave, he supposed. She was a mystery that he could not solve, which was concerning in ways he did not wish to consider. Whenever he thought of her, he felt a stirring deep within. A fire burning so hot he couldn’t feel the cold winds of winter. A storm that threatened to consume him.
It is a good thing that she hates me as she does… a better thing that I will never have to see her again, because if I do….
He gave his head a shake, refusing to go down that path for the hundredth time. Then he tore his gaze free and pushed back his chair, groaning as he stood.
“Excellent suggestion.,” he told Godfrey. “A bath is much needed, I think.”
He glared at Godfrey who looked as if he wanted to say more, but the valet bowed and hurried from the room. Good that he did, because nothing was going to change Daniel’s mind at this point. It was far too late for that.
Chapter Seven
Alison was just about to make her way upstairs and to bed when she heard voices. Still in the drawing room, watching the final embers of the candles burn down to a nub as she tried desperately to fight back her depressed feelings of loneliness, the voices were distant and muffled and coming from somewhere inside the house.
She sat herself up, eyes widening in surprise. “What is that…” she said as she looked about, cocking her head, wondering if the wind from outside was playing tricks on her.
But the longer she listened the clearer those voices became.
“Mother?” She was more tired than she realized, which might have explained her thinking that the voices belonged to her family. “Felix? Is that you?”
Holding Pickle under one arm and a candle in the other hand, she wandered from the drawing room and down the hall,following the voices toward the sitting room on the lower level of the manor. When she reached the room, she saw that it was empty, but surprisingly, she was still able to hear the voices. That was when she understood what was happening.
Oh no… oh no… oh no…
The voices were coming from outside the house. She gasped and took a step into the room, making for the main window, beyond which she could now hear those voices clearly. But she kept to the edges of the room, creeping carefully because she dared not make a noise.
“… I’m tell ya, I seen a candle burnin’ inside.”
