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“I sympathize with you,” the duke said softly taking the young man’s measure. A sudden urge to give Speenham a stiff set down had to be ignored. He was here for information.
“Indeed, today my father is off to Walboro for he received word from a friend that my cousin, Edward was seen in that vicinity,” Alfred said on a hushed tone.
“Allow me to ask if your and your father believe Lord Sherborne guilty of the crime of which he has been accused?” the duke asked quietly as he studied Alfred for a reaction.
Alfred’s eyes narrowed and the duke realized the young man was not as much a fool as he presented to the world. Speenham was in fact, actually studying him. Well, well, thought the duke, this would prove interesting.
Alfred seemed to choose his words carefully, “Ah, do we, his family, think him guilty? It has been difficult not to. He was seeing Celia clandestinely and then the page from her diary, with Aunt Agatha swearing that Celia meant to force his hand to marry her. Perhaps in a desperate moment…who knows?”
“And what of his sister?” the duke pursued.
“Amanda, poor lovely, my darling Amanda. Why she had nothing to do with it. No, no. However, she is his loyal twin and also inclined to impulsiveness. One must not blame her for helping him to escape…in her mind, I am certain she was rescuing him from a false accusation.” He shook his head, “My father put it well, only this morning before he left for Walboro. He said, mark me Alfred, Amanda is a spirited female, but we’ll not allow her to be ruined by these actions.”
“Am I to understand that your father intends to locate his nephew and bring him to stand trial?” at this point the duke found it impossible to disguise his displeasure.
“Indeed, what else can he do, but you needn’t worry about Amanda. If she is to be my wife one day, we will not allow this terrible crime to implicate her in any way.”
The duke nearly choked. The thought of the spirited Mandy as wife to the pompous ass before him galled. “Your wife?” the duke raised a brow and had a strong urge to land him a settler. “Impossible. I had no word from you asking for her hand, and she is my ward.”
“Well, as to that, I haven’t yet started to court her, but it is my intention. When we put this matter behind us, if she is still under your guardianship, I will of course, apply to you for her hand,” Alfred said without heat. He frowned and continued, “And I never discussed it with Amanda as of course…”
“Never mind,” the duke waved it all off. “Back to the meat of the matter. We must remember that there is bound to be mud slung about and as you and your father are related to the Sherborne twins and I am connected as their guardian, diffusing the situation is urgent.”
“Precisely, but there seems to be nothing for it,” Alfred sighed obviously unconcerned.
The duke tried another approach, “Were you well acquainted with poor Miss Celia?”
“She was exquisite and sophisticated in a most alluring fashion, unlike Amanda who is while stunning, quite a hoyden,” Alfred said and sighed.
Again, the duke had the strongest urge to plant a fist in the man’s face. He managed to control himself and said only, “Odd.”
“What is?”
“That Miss Celia should have set her cap for Lord Sherborne when she had you in the vicinity obviously taken with her,” the duke stared hard into Alfred’s eyes.
Alfred’s vanity appeared fluffed by this and he rose to the occasion, but the duke rather thought he was putting on a show. “Exactly so. However, she was aware that my father would not allow the match. He did not care for Celia or the fact that she was as poor as a church mouse.” He shook his head, “He thought her beneath our name, said he would cut me out of his will if I chose any woman he did not approve of.” Alfred’s shoulders sagged and reached for his cup of coffee.
“And she knew this?”
Alfred nodded, “Aye, she knew.”
“I see,” the duke said slowly.
“That is why I believe she settled down and decided to have my cousin, Edward. She knew that was her only chance at this point…”
“Really? Tell me, was there any other who had a tendre for Miss Celia?” the duke asked gently, conspiratorially.
Alfred took the bait, “I had heard rumors about the Viscount Skippendon…said he had remained in the country for so long because he had an eye in her direction.”
This stunned his lordship as nothing up until that moment had. “Are you certain?” he asked.
Alfred shrugged his shoulders, “I can’t be certain, I never saw them together. Could be all a hum.”
“I see,” said the duke more rattled than he thought this meeting would have left him.
* * *
Mandy awoke with a start and gazed about her dark surroundings. She propped herself up on the straw bed and peered through the bleakness of her chamber and sensed rather than saw that she was alone.
