Page 50 of A Baby to Seal the Duke’s Fate

“And a baby that is not yours.”

“Not mine, no, but in my charge.”

Barnaby nodded slowly, not with agreement but with sarcastic belief.

“Well, I am glad that the nursemaid is working out well.”

Leopold nodded, his mind drifting even as he tried to keep his expression neutral.

“The entire household has been calmer since she arrived.”

Barnaby looked at him. “That is good.”

They walked on in companionable silence for a while before Barnaby said, “I have been going through your father’s financial records as you asked.”

Leopold’s attention sharpened immediately. “And?”

Barnaby’s tone stayed light, but his expression had changed. “There is something odd.”

Leopold stopped walking.

“Odd how?”

Barnaby halted beside him and adjusted his weight. “I found a private account. Separate from the estate. Regular payments going out for more than twenty years.”

Leopold frowned. “To whom?”

“I am still tracing it.”

Leopold’s jaw tightened. “Your wording suggests you think it matters.”

“I do think it matters.”

“Why?”

Barnaby looked at him for a beat. “Because the account closed the day your father died.”

Leopold stared at him dumbly. It sounded like Barnaby was implying that his father was sending money to someone, and doing so secretly. But to whom? And why?

“Are you certain the payments stopped then?” Leopold asked.

Barnaby nodded.

“There are no recent withdrawals after that. Whatever the payments were for, they stopped with him. And unless I can find more information, the destination for those payments may have gone with him to his grave.”

Leopold looked down at Cecily, who had gone quiet against his shoulder, then back at Barnaby. “Keep looking.”

Barnaby inclined his head. “I intend to.”

Leopold resumed walking, though his mind had turned over at once. A private account. Twenty years of payments, all ending on the day his father died.

It should have felt disconnected from the rest of his life—from the estate, from Cecily, from the strange new order of his household. Instead, it tugged at the edges of everything, and that was what unsettled him.

Barnaby changed the subject as they crossed back toward the house. “There is also the matter of the Montrose boundary dispute.”

Leopold gave a quiet groan. “Do not say the name as though it is a curse.”

Barnaby’s mouth twitched. “It nearly is.”