Page 93 of The Duke of a Thousand Desires

“I don’t understand.”

“She was standing on the chair,” she said, drawing her wrist free of his hand.

He thought suddenly of Ravenna’s dream, and it was all he could do not to shout for Rhys and race back to Caverley.

“You believe that my sister meant to jump?”

“That moment haunts me,” she said in an aggrieved voice. “I should have done something. The earl ordered me to leave. I pretended I did not hear him. Her ladyship was holding to the curtain for dear life.”

“My God.”

“She often left the windows open to partake of the air.”

She fumbled for the lace handkerchief she had tucked in her sleeve. As she dabbed at her eyes, Simon heard a disturbance from behind the parlor wall. Rhys muttered a spate of salty Welsh deprecations. By the vigor of his curses he gathered his brother-in-law had mastered the situation.

“What else did you see?” he asked, composed on the surface, inwardly prepared for anything.

“The earl ordered me to leave again. He warned me not to alarm the staff, that he would watch over her ladyship. I obeyed him, your grace. Should I not have? When I reached the door, I glanced back once.”

Simon raised his gaze. Some hard object bumped the wall. Could it have been a man’s head? It sounded like a ripe pumpkin. “What are you doing, Rhys?” he called to the rear of the cottage.

“Rearranging the furniture,” Rhys said with dark cheer. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Littleton. I have not broken any of your belongings.”

The housekeeper lowered her handkerchief, staring past him. “Her ladyship was talking to Kieran in the courtyard below the window when I left her. I didn’t hear their conversation, although the fact of it seemed to anger the earl. He reached up to her ladyship as I closed the door.” Her voice faded. “Did he push her? Or was he trying to pull her from the window? I don’t know.”

“Did Kieran witness this?”

“He was standing behind her ladyship’s horse, which was saddled and ready to ride. He testified that he didn’t see what made her fall.”

“This is what he told you?”

“Kieran is a tender person.”

“Who was committing adultery with my sister.”

Her eyes brimmed with tears. “The earl traveled for weeks at a time. She was often lonely. Kieran took her riding when she asked.”

“A tender person who betrayed his master?” he said with unconcealed cynicism.

“He’s paid the price.”

Simon stared at her, refusing to be moved. “How so?”

She shook her head in confusion, her silver curls caught back severely in a comb. “He swore he would confess everything to you. He intended to find you the last time I spoke with him.”

He stood, blinking, the smoke from the untended fire burning his eyes. “When was that?”

“Saturday last. What day of the week is this?”

Simon moved the stool from his path. The spaniel settled between the woman’s feet. “Kieran set off to find me? Is this why Bruxton claims he has gone missing?”

“Yes. The earl is livid. He’s terrified of what Kieran might say to implicate him in your sister’s death. Kieran wants an audience with your duchess, too. He knows that she saw him at the party in London. He was distraught that he frightened her.”

Simon did not waste time asking for a more detailed account. There were holes in the housekeeper’s story. It was possible the woman did not understand past or present circumstances any better than he did, or did not wish to remember. Her loyalty had been bought. She’d been told what to believe. She feared for her life.

He would help her as he had promised. For now he hadn’t a minute to lose. He banged his fist on the parlor wall, snapping out a cursory explanation as Rhys reappeared, none the worse for wear. Four minutes later they mounted their horses and galloped from the half-timbered cottage to the shadowy road that led back to Caverley Hall.