Page 25 of Fit for a Duke
‘Well,’ she replied pensively. ‘I suppose, when you put it like that…’
Ezra gave in to temptation, picked up a strand of her hair and ran it repeatedly through his fingers. ‘Precisely.’
‘Stop that!’ She pulled her hair free of his fingers. ‘I cannot think coherently when you distract me by being provocative.’
‘Perhaps I enjoy being provocative.’
‘I suspect that you rather enjoy living too, but that situation will not endure if you continue to behave with such little regard for your own wellbeing.’
‘No one can get to me here, on Lady Fletcher’s land, not unless I want them to. I will see them coming a mile off.’
‘I told you earlier that this is not part of the Fletcher estate.’
‘So you did.’ He raised a brow and shrugged.
‘I rest my case, at least insofar as your cavalier approach to your own welfare is concerned.’ She huffed. The gesture caused her breasts to swell as they fought against the confines of her habit. Ezra’s eyes were drawn to the sight and he found it hard to look away again. ‘This monastery was occupied by monks from the Benedictine order, who were apparently dedicated to a balanced life filled with work and prayer. Quite what happened to this particular order once the monastery was sacked is unknown. I would like to think that they fled to a more liberally-minded land.’
‘There is no such thing, at least in religious terms. Every faith I have studied insists that it worships the one true god and that all the others are infidels. The Catholics are no better than anyone else in that regard. In fact, they can be downright cruel. Haven’t you heard of the Inquisition?’
‘Of course I have.’ She conceded the point with a tilt of her head. ‘And for your information, you left the confines of the Fletcher estate about a mile behind you. Not that you will be especially safe there since there are no end of places where people can gain access. I have mentioned it to my aunt but since my uncle’s death she has left everything to do with the estate’s management to her steward and probably doesn’t spare it a thought. Her priority is to marry her daughters off, and you are expected to oblige in that regard by admiring my cousin Beth, who has quite the sweetest nature imaginable, to say nothing of a lovely face.’
‘She is a vision.’
Clio shook her head at his diplomatic response. ‘Clearly, my aunt has set her sights too high.’
‘When it comes to my own wellbeing,’ Ezra said, keen to turn the subject away from his own matrimonial ambitions, or lack thereof, ‘I shall just have to depend upon Merlin to protect me.’ They both glanced at the snoozing dog and simultaneously burst out laughing.
‘Whom do you suspect of wanting you dead and why?’ she asked, her expression sobering. ‘Who succeeds to the title if you are no more?’
‘No one, that is the problem,’ Ezra replied. ‘I have no other male relatives who could possibly raise a legitimate claim.’
‘So the title and its properties would revert to the crown.’
‘Precisely so, but there is a substantial family fortune independent of the duchy.’
‘Ah-ha! Your maternal cousin, Mr Conway, will doubtless harbour expectations in that regard.’
‘I can see that you have already taken his measure.’
‘As I say, I enjoy watching people.’
‘Silas makes himself useful to my mother and in so doing assures himself of a comfortable living, but he is incapable of violence. He almost faints at the sight of blood.’
‘Don’t underestimate him. All that business with the handkerchief is for show. He wants people to see him as a harmless fop and to underestimate his ambitions. I noticed him several times last night, watching you with a bitterness that he couldn’t properly disguise.’
‘I have never seen it.’
‘Which is precisely why you underestimate him. You see what he wants you to see, but I don’t doubt for a moment that the man possesses a calculating character. You are everything that he is not and never will be. Human nature being what it is, he naturally resents you for a situation that is none of your making. You did not ask to be born tall and strong and handsome and sought after and…’
He was charmed by the manner in which she blushed when she unintentionally, he was sure, blurted out what she was thinking. ‘Why, thank you!’
‘Ridiculous man! That was not intended as a compliment. It was a simple observation based on my understanding of human nature. We all aspire to be what we never can be. Anyway, when he was looking at you with a combination of envy and something more sinister, you had your back to him. I wondered about it at the time, but it makes more sense now.’
‘Oh, Silas is aware that his tenure at Wickham Hall is dependent upon my continued approval of his presence. It’s a situation which he pretends not to be concerned about, but which puts him on my list of suspects.’
‘Who else is on it? Oh, come on, your grace, you can’t clam up on me now that we are partners.’
Ezra flexed a brow. ‘Partners? I do not recall agreeing to any sort of partnership.’
