“I will pat his head,” Serenity said, “so he knows he’s loved and we hardly noticed that one of his legs is missing and he’s practically blind.”
The viscount rose from his chair. “Your Grace, I will take my leave of you, as it appears you have your hands full at the moment. Thank you for your assistance yesterday. I will have your clothes returned in good order when I am back to Town.”
“You should bring them back yourself,” Valor said. “I am pretty convinced you are not a murderer and you could see how Nelson gets on.”
The viscount nodded and said, “If Lady Grace is agreeable.”
Grace almost fell off her chair. She steadied herself and said, “As you wish, Lord Dashlend.”
It was a rather nonsensical answer, but Grace did feel it had a certain elegant nonchalance to it.
“Perhaps I do wish, then,” the viscount said.
“All right, all right, I think that’s settled,” the duke said jovially. “Now, time to shove off with this collection of lunatics.”
Grace rose and curtsied to Lord Dashlend. What a morning!
*
RICHARDBURDOCK,SECONDBaron of Montclave, stood in the drawing room contemplating his mother.
“You will need to be on the scene, whichever way it goes,” the dowager said.
Theitin question was regarding whether or not Dashlend was alive.
Lord Dashlend was his cousin and also, conveniently, his neighbor. Because of the proximity, the servants of both houses often spoke. Occasionally, something of import was said and that news traveled straight back to the baron and the dowager.
Never had a more important piece of information arrived to their drawing room—Dashlend was missing at sea. Fishermen had been hired and had gone out for two days with no sight of the viscount and his valet.
“He always fancied himself the yachtsman,” Montclave said with a derisive laugh. “Very fitting that he should meet his end that way.”
“If hehasmet his end,” the dowager said. “We must not allow hope to cloud our thinking. If he is dead, wonderful—all problems are solved and you are the new heir to the earldom. If he somehow survives, he is not yet wed and has no issue. We must arrange to keep it that way.”
“I do not see how I am to stop him from a wedding,” Montclave said.
“Nor do I,” the dowager said, her tone tinged with impatience. “That is the sort of thing where one must size up the situation. If he lives, keep track of him. If you perceive that something is developing and heading toward a church, find a way to get in the middle of it. The past year has been very convenient as he was mostly on the continent. But now, he will be in London and encircled by hopeful ladies looking to tie him up in matrimony.”
Montclave did not think it was much of a plan. “Perhaps he is not inclined to the married life. After all, he hasn’t bothered with it up to now.”
“If he is alive,” the dowager said, “I expect his misadventure at sea will have put some starch into him. He will come back a changed man and may well decide it is time to do his manly duty.”
“I suppose the earl will point that out, even if he does not see it himself,” Montclave said morosely. “The servants say the old fellow is irate that Dashlend might be dead without leaving an heir behind him.”
“If the earl were not abed with his gout, I suspect he’d be swimming the sea looking for his only son. Get yourself to Town. We do not know where news of his fate will land first. He keeps that ridiculous boat of his nearby Hull, so news may arrive to London before making its way here. If it is known here first, I will send word.”
Montclave stopped his pacing. “I have an idea. Why do not I install myself in his house in Town, under the guise of leading the search for my dear cousin? The earl cannot travel just now even if he wished to. Ought I not step forward to lead the search from the comforts of Dashlend’s house in Town?”
The dowager, a spry lady of late middle years, nodded vigorously. “Excellent, Montclave. Very clever. It is in these moments that I see your father in you.”
He set off to give direction to his valet on what ought to be packed. He would move into number five, Chesterfield Street. With any luck, Dashlend was dead and he would not be required to ever move out of that house.
As the new heir, his life would be transformed. The clubs would fight for his membership. He would be invited everywhere. He would be given the utmost respect.
It would all suit very well.
Chapter Five
MILES SAT INthe sunny garden of the inn with a pot of coffee, musing over his circumstances. He had noticed, throughout the course of his life, that when one was in the middle of a thing, one did not have the faculties to really examine it. It was only when the moment had passed and there was time for reflection that clarity arrived like an oil lamp to illuminate the darkness.
