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“Thank you, you are correct,” Robert said, tugging on the front of his jacket and shooting a look at his wife. “It has been a very tiring day. My apologies for our rudeness.”
“We understand completely,” Nathan reassured him.
Lily was not so sure. Mrs. Jones still appeared unhappy, but she was not going to press it for now.
Still, she wondered if Nathan had considered the possibility his brother’s death might have nothing to do with his father’s treachery.
ChapterTwenty-Six
Nathan
With Robert and Letitia finally in their rooms and out of the way, Nathan took refuge in the library. He needed some time away from people to think.
It seemed as if danger was closing in on those left of his nearest and dearest, his friends and wife, and he did not know how to keep everyone safe. Having them all in his house added to his feeling of responsibility, even though he knew the burden of a host only went so far. And the majority of his guests knew of the danger.
While nothing further had happened since the day of the assassination attempts and Lily’s kidnapping, that only seemed to indicate somethingmusthappen soon.
Nathan felt safer on the estate, despite knowing his brother had been murdered, until he’d uncovered the list. Now, the more he thought about it, the more it seemed the danger here was greater than he feared.
Someone willing to betray their country would hardly balk at interrupting a funeral gathering.
Clenching his jaw, Nathan flopped into one of the chairs.
It was not the same ashischair back at Talbot House in London. Perhaps he should have someone fetch the chair for him. He could do that now that he was the lord of the manor.
“Dammit, Sebastian,” he muttered, leaning back in the chair. “I never wanted this.”
It was not his brother’s fault, but he did not yet know where to lay the blame.
More disconcerting was realizing just how much Robertwantedthe title. Robertandhis wife. Nathan had not missed the implications of their lack of excitement at Lily’s introduction. They had covered well enough once they got over the shock, but Letitia was a grasping social climber on the best of the days, and Robert had always felt cheated out of the money he presumed came with the estate.
Not that Robert would have the first idea how to make the estate profitable. His cousin had never seemed to grasp that it required actual work, any more than Nathan’s father had. Though his cousin was not a gambler, Nathan still shuddered at the idea of Robert and Letitia inheriting. They might not gamble the coffers away, but they would likely empty them, regardless.
“My lord?” Harker’s voice drifted into the room.
Though Nathan wanted more time to sit alone and think, he knew where his duty lay.
“Over here, Harker.” Nathan raised his hand, waving the other man over. “Please, sit.”
His father would have had a conniption over Nathan asking one of the staff to sit with him like an equal, which gave Nathan petty enjoyment. Anything he could do to spite his father, even in death.
“I am sorry to bother you, my lord, but there are a few urgent matters your brother was attending to that still need attention.” His tone and expression apologetic, Harker sat down gingerly, clutching a folio in front of him. Nathan wondered if Sebastian had made the older man stand on ceremony as well.
Considering Sebastian had been thoroughly trained by their father, it was likely. There were some things lords who were trained to be lords took for granted without thinking. Nathan had not been brought up that way, and his time in the military had given him a very different perspective of people than he’d had going in.
Nathan sighed inwardly but knew Harker would not approach him this late, on the night before his brother’s viewing, without cause.
“Very well. What was Sebastian up to?” he asked.
“The most urgent matter is the mill.”
* * *
Lily
Where the devil was her blasted husband?
Frowning, Lily paced back and forth in her room, the silky fabric of her peignoir drifting around her. She looked down at it and scowled. The flimsy nightgown and robe were creamy ivory, the silk of the nightgown not quite opaque, which was why she put her peignoir over it. She was not brave enough to don the nightgown on its own. The low-cut neckline was made up of lace that covered her breasts—mostly and with quite a few small holes—before turning into silk that cascaded down to her ankles. The lace was itchy, but she had not expected to be wearing it all that long.
