“You already offered me a job,” she said flatly. “And I already said no.”
“Ah,” he retorted, holding up a finger in illustration. “But that was when you had another offer.”
Her temper flared. “Whichyouruined!”
“I was doing you a favor,” he said. “At the very least, I saved you the trouble of re-packing your bags once Bassett let his true character show.”
Privately, Letitia agreed. And privately, she was a little pleased that the duke assumed—correctly, she might add—that she would have left a position where such an expectation was part of her employment. She didn’t judge those who didn’t, of course; the fault was wholly in the hands of the gentlemen who abused their positions, not the women who lacked the resources to get free.
But it was still nice.
Not that she intended to let any of that show on her face.
“How did you know?” she asked instead. “About Lord Bassett, I mean. His proclivities can’t be widely known, not if the Duchess of Godwin recommended him to me.”
The duke waved a dismissive hand. “No, of course not. Helen would never stand for such things. Bassett keeps his villainy under wraps, since his wife’s family is the one with all the money. But I make it a point to know the kinds of things people want kept quiet. It has the way of making my life a great deal easier to navigate.”
He said this in a very matter-of-fact sort of way, but it still caught Letty’s attention.
“So, you like to keep secrets, but not share them,” she said, still letting annoyance color her tone.
Frankly, the duke should have stormed out of here about four peevish comments ago, she reckoned. Or, no—he should not have come here in the first place, but since hehad, he should have been put off by her bad attitude. But instead of making a fuss over their relative social positions, the duke smiled a little crookedly.
“You make a fair point,” he said. “Fine. I will be more forthcoming. But I must ask for your absolute discretion.”
Letty was too surprised to do anything but nod.
The duke sucked in a long breath, as if steeling himself.
“Right. Well, the child—Iris, as she told you—appeared at my doorstep about a week ago. I do not know who she is or where she came from, but she possesses an emblem that suggests she is somehow affiliated with my family. Before exposing her to the chaos of the family at large, I wish to have some information—and, I will admit, to give her some time to adjust. The only person she has spoken to, in any capacity, isyou, Miss Knightley. I understand that I cannot keep her hidden away forever. Therefore, I propose the following: you agree to work with her for a month. Encourage her to speak more. Learn who she is and how she came to be at my doorstep. If you do those things, I will not bother you further. Indeed, I will use all the information in my not inconsiderable arsenal to aid you in finding a position that suits you.”
He said all this in a rush, as if being the one to share his secrets physically pained him.
Letitia regarded him for a long moment. It was, after all, a great deal of information.
“You really have no idea where she came from?” she asked eventually. “You aren’t just keeping more secrets?”
The duke put a hand over his heart, a mockery of a vow.
“I enjoyed revealing myself just a little that one time, Miss Knightley. I would not put myself in a position where I need to do it again.”
That rang true enough, and that distracted her enough that her pert tongue got away with her before she could think the better of it.
“Yes, I could see how that might hurt a man like you,” she commented absently, then caught herself.
But curse the man if he wasn’tsmiling, a crooked kind of smile, like he actually was enjoying himself.
She decided to press her luck a little further. She had little power in this position, but she wouldn’t have anymorepower if she let him walk away from what was apparently the bargaining table.
“And what if Idon’tdo the things you ask?” she inquired delicately. “What if I still refuse?”
He gave her a thoughtful nod.
“To be perfectly frank with you, Miss Knightley, I am in rather desperate straits. So I would like to believe myself a gentleman enough to take your refusal at face value, but...” She tensed herself against a threat. “I daresay I am more likely to come asking you again. I can be quite annoying if I put my mind to it.”
She was so shocked that she ignored the perfect opportunity for a rebuttal that he had given her.
“I... that’s it?”
