Page 37 of The Duchess’ Little Miracle

The silence went on for so long... ten seconds, twenty, thirty, that Seraphina began to wonder if he intended to politely excuse himself, to retreat back behind the impenetrable wall of his title and leave her in the dark.

When he finally turned to her, she held her breath.

“No,” he said quietly. “She is not.”

Seraphina did not interrupt. She did not gasp, nor did she lean forward in dramatic surprise. She simply kept her hands loosely folded in her lap, waiting.

“She is my half-sister,” William said. “My father’s child. The late duke was an unrepentant rake. He tore through half of London for decades without a second thought, leaving a trail of ruined reputations, unpaid debts, and broken promises in his wake. Truthfully, Seraphina, I would not be at all surprised if I had three or four more half-brothers or half-sisters scattered across the kingdom that I know nothing about.”

He took a slow breath, lifting one hand to rub the back of his neck, massaging the muscle at the base of his skull before he continued.

“A few months ago, I received word from a small orphan asylum,” William continued. “Alice had been found. She carried no luggage, no name on her linens, and not a single shilling to her name. All she had was a letter addressed to the Duke of Norwyn.”

He stopped to look directly into Seraphina’s eyes.

“Apparently, years ago, the late Duke had given his seal to one of his mistresses,” William explained. “He had pledged to her that if she ever found herself in desperate straits, if she ever needed assistance for the child, she was to write to him, and his family would honor the obligation. When the woman passed away, she left Alice with that letter. The managers at the orphan asylum saw the crest on the wax seal and immediately contacted me.”

“I later learned her mother had been forced to abandon her at that place only because she was terribly ill,” William continued. “She had no money, living in squalor after being ruined by my father, and she was simply too sick to care for the child any longer.”

Seraphina watched him closely, the truth hanging heavily in the room. “What of Alice herself? What do you think happened to make her... the way she is now?”

William shook his head slowly, a shadow crossing his features. “I truly do not know. When I brought her here, I asked her. I tried to understand what she had endured, but she refuses to utter a word about it. Whatever she went through before she arrived at my gates... it broke something inside her. She has had a remarkably rough life so far. I only hope that, in time, she can have a better life here. A real life.”

Seraphina stared at him, feeling a warmth bloom in her chest.

There was no distance in the way he spoke of the girl. He did not view Alice as an unwelcome burden, a stranger’s child thrust upon his household, or a stain to be managed. He spoke of her with total, unhesitating responsibility, a protective devotion that few men in his position would ever dream of offering to an illegitimate child.

“That is noble, Your Grace,” she said.

“Cleaning up after my father is hardly a new endeavor for me,” William added, a wry line touching the corner of his mouth. “Even before he passed, I was effectively managing the estate and acting in his stead. In a way, taking on his unfinished obligations is something I am already well accustomed to.”

“I suppose we shall simply have to figure it out as we go,” Seraphina said softly. “I will make it my personal project to see that she finds her footing again. That was the end of our bargain, was it not?”

William’s expression softened. “If anyone can bring her out of her shell, Seraphina, I suspect it is you. You’ll probably talk her out of it.”

He paused, clearing his throat as his tone shifted. “Speaking of bargains and arrangements... that brings me to my update.”

Seraphina straightened in her armchair, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “You found something?”

“We did. Anthony and I,” William said, turning to face her “We spent the last week traveling from one estate to the next, speaking with the caretakers, checking on the inventories, and ensuring the grounds were secure. We only made a breakthrough at one of our cottages. The caretakers there had good information for us.”

He turned his head to meet her gaze.

“Based on what Mr. and Mrs. Higgs shared, along with the paper stock and the handwriting on those notes, we are almost certainly looking at a woman of high peerage,” William explained. “Someone who had intimate access to my father’s life and holdings. Mr. Higgs promised he would personally go through the cottage records to track down the precise name, so Anthony and I are currently waiting on his update.”

Seraphina’s brows drew together as she absorbed the news. “So you’re telling me your family, or at least someone tied directly to your father, is behind this?”

“It seems highly likely that the culprit is one of my father’s former lovers,” William said bluntly. “A woman of noble birth.”

Seraphina leaned back slightly, her mind racing as she tried to piece the disparate threads together. A thick fog of confusion settled over her.

“I do not understand the correlation,” Seraphina said aloud, looking across the mattress at him with a troubled frown. “What could a former mistress of your father possibly want with you and me? Why use your family crest to send me letters? Was it so that I would look in the wrong direction?”

William shifted on the bed. “It is possible,” he explained. “Might be a coincidence as well, or it might be deliberate. I think it is deliberate, but Anthony thinks it’s just someone who doesn’t want to be found; hence they try to make it seem like the letters are coming from me.”

“But why you specifically?” she asked. “She could have just... not sent it with a seal. Why hide the crest in the paper? Did she think I would not find it, or did she want me to find it? To seek you out?”

“You do not need to wrap your head around that just yet,” William said quietly. “You are not the one who needs to carry the weight of this investigation. Anthony and I will handle the information from Mr. Higgs and figure out the missing link. Your only task is to play your part at my side, keep Alice safe, and let me do the worrying.”