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“Reprehensible,” the duke replied.
“And yet you’re here doing her bidding.”
“That is not what I’m doing.” His tone was sharp.
“What do you call it then?”
The other man considered a moment, then made a wry face. “I did give in to Grandmama’s nagging. I admit it. She is relentless.”
Jack could vouch for that.
“My wife convinced me we should…take the path of least resistance.”
This was the woman Harriet Finch called a friend. What was she after? Was she another virago, issuing orders to dukes? Jack felt as if a net was closing on him.
“Grandmama has no real power over you, you know,” the duke added.
“Beyond nagging me to death with her criticisms.”
“Beyond that, yes.” The dashed duke smiled at him.
“Nor do you,” replied Jack grumpily. “I could throw you out of my house.”
“You could indeed. I almost wish you would. But Cecelia wouldn’t like it.”
“Why not?”
“She wants to help.”
Help who, to do what? Jack wondered.
“I assume your Traveler friends will keep quiet about your stay with them?”
“If I ask them to. And who would they tell?”
“Indeed. And no one else in the neighborhood knows you. So you can appear at your new home without awkward questions.”
No one except Harriet Finch. He wouldn’t be telling this duke about their meetings. He had no reason to trust him. And he could make no move without speaking to her. “I haven’t said I would,” he answered.
“I really think this is best,” the man said.
That might be kindness in his eyes. Jack didn’t know him well enough to be sure. “I don’t know.”
The duke waited.
“I’ll think about it.”
The visitor seemed about to say more, then he shrugged. “Very well. It is your choice.”
That was a fresh attitude. “I don’t suppose you would just go back to London and tell Lady Wilton you couldn’t find me?” Jack asked as a last hope.
“I might, but she would send someone else. Or come up here herself to wreak havoc.”
Jack shuddered.
“If I begin to set things in train, we could stage your ‘appearance’ tomorrow.”
“Not so fast. I haven’t agreed.” Perhaps there was some other way out? But whether there was or no, he had to get to Miss Finch.
