“You must have simply overlooked the carriage,” Marksman said without missing a beat. “We sent it around to the mews as we expect to spend an hour or more with our new friend.”
Lord Amgen’s countenance fell, and Audrey knew real compassion. “I suppose I must continue to wait for Lord Honfleur’s return.” It bothered Audrey greatly how others suffered at her uncle’s hands. She had been excessively ignorant of what really went on in her uncle’s house. Had he practiced a similar sham against others when they lived for a short while in Naples and then again in Spain? She strongly suspected such was so.
Marksman suggested, “Why do you three not remove to the parlor? I will join you momentarily.”
Lord Duncan said, “Come along, lasses. It will be good to enjoy time with Miss Moreau, will it not, Theodora?”
“Yes, Papa,” Lady Theodora repeated dutifully.
Audrey gestured to a room along the hall. “This way.” She usheredthem forward, but she glanced back to her brother, who inclined his head in reassurance of all being well.
Therefore, Audrey lifted her chin and led the way to the room. Once they were inside, she turned to Lord Duncan. “What does Lord Marksman mean to do?” she whispered.
His lordship motioned them deeper into the room. From the hall, hurried voices in whispered phrases could be heard. Once Lord Duncan, Lady Theodora, and she were settled in a tight circle of chairs, Lord Duncan suggested quietly, “Likely the boy is paying your uncle’s debts in order to protect you.”
Before Audrey could respond in protest, they could hear the exterior door close with a decided click of the lock.
Lady Theodora’s ire arrived. “Why would Marksman care to defend Miss Moreau? She can be nothing to Alexander.”
A voice from the open door ended the discussion. “You err, Theodora. Miss Moreau is the most important person in my life.” He extended his hand to Audrey, and she rose to cross to where he stood.
“Most important person?” Lady Theodora sputtered, also rising quickly to her feet. “Pray tell, when did Miss Moreau take on such a role?”
Lord Duncan shook his head in apparent disbelief. “I have told you repeatedly, boy, not to rile a Scottish lass.”
Marksman grinned as he caught Audrey’s hand and brought the back of it to his lips. “I apologize, Dora,” but his smile grew, indicating he had known no shame in teasing the woman. Audrey suspected her brother was enjoying tormenting Lady Theodora. “Miss Moreau is very important to me, for she is my sister Annalise.”
Lady Theodora looked to her father for confirmation, and the earl nodded his head in agreement.
“How is such possible?” Lady Theodora stammered.
Lord Duncan gestured to the empty chairs. “It appears Marksman still is his same impetuous self, and he has claimed his sister before theEnglish government was prepared for him to act. Today, we must determine how to correct Lord Marksman’s natural mistake, protect England’s shores and its kind, and provide shelter for Miss Moreau as the sister of an earl.”
Beaufort knew hewas in danger of losing his heart to Marksman’s sister, but when she placed the signal in the window, he waited until he was alone in the watch house and then made his way across the street. She smiled when she greeted him, and he again feared he was too far gone for his own sanity, but he accepted her natural childlike happiness at his appearance.
“I have made us a small meal. Nothing fancy. Bits of what all I had,” she said apologetically, though he had never viewed another meal that had been more appealing, even the oysters and champagne Julia served with some regularity, for she thought the meal increased his prowess in bed.
“It is quite lovely, my dear,” he said. “You wished to speak to me.” Beaufort was not confident he should stay.
Miss Moreau apparently did not notice his hesitation. “My brother and Lord Duncan called today. Evidently, Alexander was not to tell me of our connection.” She looked at him then. “Did you truly not know of my being Lord Marksman’s sister?”
“I did not,” he admitted. In fact, if he had known, Navan would have saved her from the fire and then left her alone.
“Lady Theodora came along. She was quite dreadful to me,” she shared as she poured tea for both of them, though he had yet to enter the room nor close the door behind him.
“I fear,” Navan warned, “if you are to claim Marksman as yourbrother, you must become friends with Theodora Duncan, for Lord Duncan’s daughter and Marksman have long been, how do I say this,attractedto each other. It is assumed they will marry someday.”
Miss Moreau frowned. “I suppose I knew such was true, but…”
“I imagine by now you realize Marksman and I were raised in the same household. We, along with three other young lords, are often referred to as Lord Duncan’s sons.”
“Until recently, I did not realize there were more than you two, though now that I think about it, Alexander said something similar previously. I just had not made the connections,” she admitted. “You said Alexander’s brothers would be envious of him, but it is just beginning to make sense.”
“Did not Moreau warn you against associating with us?”
A frown crossed her expression. “He warned me against Marksman,” she admitted.
“Your uncle has likely always known your connection to Marksman. I cannot imagine that Darwood Lisey did not speak to the bayman of how he came to have your mother as his property. Perhaps even her real name was on the paperwork. Just as likely Honfleur’s orders forbidding you from leaving the house were meant to prevent you learning you had a family before Moreau. I do not often bet, but I would bet your uncle has been aware of the connection since you were a child. I am only surprised he did not previously demand a bounty and sell you to your brother. But, then again, I suppose he might not have initially realized Alexander Dutton had succeeded to the earldom. He may have thought it was one of Robert Dutton’s brothers.”
