Page 12 of Her Wily Duke

“Because he insists on presiding over my lessons,” she said, “even though he doesn’t have the slightest knowledge of music. Yesterday, during the hour for which I was with Lady Caroline, he stood in the doorway, his hands folded, quietly watching us. There was a gaiety to his whole aspect, as if he was delighted to be with us. He’s been that way almost every time I’ve gone there. He gives me this look like I’m the most interesting person in the world, and nothing would please him more than for us to spend the day together.”

“I think that you might find that very pleasant,” said Mr. Mowatt. “Perhaps he’s naturally genial.”

“But you know quite well that he isn’t,” said Emme, rising up in her chair. Her blue eyes glittered indignantly. “He has the nastiest reputation of any man in the county, of any Duke in all of England. The other Dukes refuse to speak to him unless they are forced to, or so the gossip indicates. He’s tyrannical to his servants and tenants. Yet judging from the way he treats me, you would think I was his own sister.”

“Maybe you are,” said Mr. Mowatt, his eyes twinkling. “His long-lost sister.”

“Oh Father, don’t joke about such things,” said Emme. “You know very well that I’m not!”

“I would suggest that you stop over-thinking it.”

“Why would you believe that I’m overthinking it?”

Her father set down his tea.

“Consider what you’re suggesting: that a twenty-eight-year-old Duke who owns half this county is enamoured of a girl of eighteen. Such things might happen in stories and in the dreams of young women, but this is real life.”

“I know it sounds absurd,” said Emme. “I know it sounds like I fancy him, but I don’t. He’s horrid. His breath reeks of leeks and garlic. His nails are filthy, and the birds of the air might well build a nest in his hair.”

“Say what you will,” said her father, “but I’ve been young, and I know that when a young woman is enamoured of a young man, her mind will do anything to convince her that he returns the attachment. If the man in question happens to be a handsome noble, the temptation to delude one’s self will be even stronger.”

Emme huffed and flung out her legs over the arm of the velvet couch. It was just like her father to tease her, when she was trying to have a serious conversation.

*****

It had been a few weeks now, and each day brought more bad news, as Adam went through the estate ledgers with the beleaguered man they employed as an estate manager, as he rode about the district, meeting the tenant farmers, and the villagers, getting them to talk, to tell him the truth of their situations.

These were, of course, all things that Frederick should have done.

And hadn’t.

Slowly, he thought, the staff, tenants and villagers were coming to trust that he was back to stay, and that he truly intended to fix things, as he assured them that he would, even whilst having no idea of how he might actually achieve that.

After his first few attempts to discuss his findings with Frederick were greeted by derision and anger, he simply stopped telling his brother anything, until he reached a point where something required Frederick’s signature. Those things, he had no choice but to consult Frederick about, and so far, almost all of them Frederick had denied, refusing to see the sense, refusing to spend the necessary money. How they could be so short of funds, when Frederick had increased the rents unreasonably, and squeezed everything he could out of the lands, and the tenant farmers, without doing anything to maintain them, Adam struggled to comprehend – surely his brother had not gambled away so much?

But there was no denying the fact that the harvest had been bad, the people were exhausted, and their cottages desperately needed repair. He worried about how they would get through the coming winter, for with nearly all of this year’s harvest in now, as August rolled into September, they most definitely did not have enough on hand to feed everyone, plus feed the cattle, and still keep seeds for next year’s planting. With things in this state, if the winter was hard, it could well leave farmers and villagers dead from starvation. He still had a few months in which to hopefully improve things, before the depths of winter, although he wasn’t quite sure how, yet. And next year, if he could convince Frederick to allow him to apply the new farming techniques he had been learning about…

As he went about his days, he saw Miss Mowatt in the distance, at times, as she came and went for Caroline’s lessons, and every time he saw her, he was struck anew by her beauty - but he never approached her, for it simply didn’t feel right to do so. He shouldn’t disturb the respectable young woman, and with the problems he faced in trying to put things right on the estate, he could not allow himself to be distracted – and he was quite certain that Miss Mowatt was easily capable of distracting him, whether she intended it or not.

So he tried to put her existence from his mind – which was difficult when Caroline spoke of her enthusiastically and often – and focussed intently on doing whatever he could to right the wrongs which his brother had perpetrated.

More and more, as he lay awake at night, worrying about all of it, the plan which he had thought would be a last desperation measure began to seem less extreme, and more necessary. But he would resist taking that path for another few weeks at least.

*****

The weeks had been passing rapidly, it seemed to Emme, and the weather was ever colder, the Summer having faded into Autumn and Winter looming ahead of them. When she walked about the village, all she heard about was Lord Whitewell, and how he was trying to arrange maintenance on the cottages, how he had made sure that the harvest was in, that no one was short of food – for now, at least.

All of those conversations had one thing about them, though – everyone was afraid of what winter would bring. No one said it, exactly, but it was becoming clear to Emme that the harvest had not been good enough, and that, given the extent to which the Duke had raised the rents in the last year, very few people had enough money to buy extra food.

That worry didn’t stop everyone from being most impressed with Lord Whitewell, as Emme herself was, once she understood how much effort he was putting into trying to help the tenant farmers and the villagers. She saw him sometimes, on his black stallion with the white feet and white star, or his chestnut mare, riding about the estate, but she rarely saw any sign of him when she went to Foxridge Park to teach Lady Caroline. She never had the opportunity to speak with him, but she found that she wished to, which thought at first surprised, and then confused, her. After all, the one time he had spoken to her, she had all but fled the Music Room, so confused was she by his attention to her.

At least his attention did not frighten her, as the Duke’s almost did. And the Duke was there for almost every lesson, watching her.

Chapter Five

Adam saw the fear of starvation in the eyes of the farmers now, as the cold weather became more intense, and he knew that he was rapidly running out of options.

Frederick still refused to allow him to take the actions necessary to prepare the estate and its people for the winter, and he continued to spend money on things for his own pleasure. He no longer went even to the larger cities nearby, but he still corresponded with other wastrels who liked gambling, still made and took bets for ludicrous amounts, on the most illogical subjects. And still lost money as a result.