“I certainly understand that. Now I must find out what happened to those letters,” Bett said, opening the door to see Adams walking through the foyer. “Adams, a word, please.”
“Yes, my lady. The tea tray has been ordered,” he said, walking to her.
“Thank you, but that’s not what I wish to ask about.”
“Oh? How may I be of assistance?”
“Have I received any letters of late?” Bett saw the butler frown. What was going on? Adams had never been deceptive before.
He hesitated and looked around before answering in a whisper. “Yes, but I was told to deliver all correspondence directly to the baron.”
“Even my personal letters?” she asked, barely containing her outrage.
“Yes. Those were my orders,” Adams said.
“Thank you, Adams. That will be all,” she said. She knew the servant would have to do as Peter commanded. It wasn’t his fault.
Bett returned to the sofa to discuss this latest revelation with Olivia. “I think my brother-in-law has been keeping my letters from me. I don’t know why, but I intend to find out.”
“Why would he do such a thing?”
“I have my suspicions, but I shall not air them until I have a chance to talk with him and find out the truth.”
A knock on the door silenced their conversation, and a maid brought in a tea tray and placed it on the low table.
“Thank you, Colleen. That will be all,” Bett said.
The maid curtseyed and left the room.
Bett poured out the tea and handed Olivia a cup.
“Oh, thank heavens for a nice strong cup of tea.”
“Olivia, please help yourself to some refreshments. I cannot rest until I find out what happened to my letters,” Bett said, standing.
“Where are you going?”
“Lord Williams is upstairs with his wife at the moment. I’m going to look in his study for the letters. That’s the most likely place for him to keep them. I don’t think even my brother-in-law would have had the nerve to destroy them.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Well, it’s not a good idea for him to keep my letters from me either. Please don’t worry. A quick look and I shall return momentarily.”
Bett walked to the door and peeked out. Adams was no longer in the foyer, and none of the other servants seemed to be around. She hurried down the hallway and quickly slipped into Peter’s study. Where would he keep her letters? She’d only been in his study a few times and not recently. She walked to his desk and saw a stack of correspondence.
Could it be that simple?
Did Peter believe no one would ever dare to come into his study without him being present? She quickly looked through the pile, and at the bottom of the stack, she found what she was looking for.
There were both of Olivia’s letters with the seals broken. He’d obviously read her personal correspondence. There was one more letter addressed to her, and she figured that was Noah’s note. She would read it once she was back in the parlor.
How dare Peter do this?
This was beyond the pale, even for Peter. Yes, he’d been a bit heavy-handed of late, but he’d never done something deceitful before. She grabbed her letters and quickly returned to the drawing room, closing the door behind her.
“That didn’t take long. Did you find them?”
Bett held up the letters. “He’s read your letters. The seal is broken on both of them. There’s a third one that I assume is from Lord Harrison, but he obviously hadn’t read that one.” She broke the seal and quickly scanned the note. All this time, she had wondered if Noah had been thinking about her, and now she had the proof.
