An end that was not going to happen.
A knock sounded at his door, and he slid the drawer closed. “Come.”
A moment later, Cogsworth appeared, a silver salver in his hand. Sterling quashed the flash of disappointment when he found that his visitor was not his wife.
“Two missives have arrived via courier, milord,” Cogsworth said.
He rose, rounded the desk, and crossed the room toward the butler. “Two, you say? One, at least, should be from Mr. Ledbetter, informing me of his arrival—and our imminent departure.”
“May I say, sir, how quiet the castle will be once you and the viscountess and Lady Caroline depart—not to mention Babette.” He chortled.
Sterling returned to the desk, propping one hip on the edge as he flipped through the sealed missives. One was from his steward, Mr. Ledbetter.
“Yes—but only imagine how noisy it would be if we tried to separate Babette from the viscountess.” He thumbed off the seal and unfolded the parchment.
Cogsworth’s mouth twitched. “You make a fair point, sir.”
“Never fear, we’ll be backen massebefore you know it.”
He scanned the brief missive. Ledbetter was delayed. It seemed the train he’d anticipated taking had track problems, and he would be forced to travel via coach.
Another knock sounded. A lighter knock.
“Come.”
His sister this time.
He looked past her as she entered. He thought he’d managed the business unobtrusively—until he saw the amused smirk on her face.
“Sorry to disappoint, Sterling. Annabelle is not with me.”
“I have no notion what you mean,” he said, sounding defensive to his own ears. “But as you’ve mentioned her, where is she?”
“Composing a letter to her parents, apparently informing them of her marriage, as she believes they somehow never received word of it.”
“I see.”
“Sterling, I’m sorry, but I must know why you have withheld the news of her parents’ letter from Annabelle? Is this…” She glanced over her shoulder and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Is this to do with Gaston’s death?”
Chapter 34
“Ah.” Sterling straightened off the edge of his desk and tapped the correspondence he held against one thigh. “In a word—no.”
“Then why the secrecy?” Worry tightened the corners of his sister’s dark eyes.
“I have my reasons. Reasons that do not concern you.”
Her expression turned mulish. “I wish I could believe that. You cannot blame me for doubting.”
“I can. I have told you that you have nothing to worry about as far as Gaston’s death is concerned.”
“Then…whyhave you neglected to mention Annabelle’s parents’ correspondence to her? Surely you see how anxious she’s been, the more time that goes by without any word from them?”
He huffed out an exasperated sigh. “If you must know, the letter I received did not contain any sort of congratulatory message for Annabelle, and I have not decided how to deal with it.”
“What do you mean,deal with it? What did it say?”
“It was an acknowledgement of the marriage—and a demand for compensation.”Of sorts.
