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“Papa?” Leah asked. “Where is the Duke?”
“He’s headed off, sweetling,” he said. “He’d just come to deliver some dark news.”
“Without saying goodbye?” Leah demanded, looking put out.
“What news, Uncle?” Selina asked at the same time.
“He had some urgent business to attend to,” he said. “Evidently, Lord Quimby’s daughter was stopped by those brigands. She was out alone, with her maid.”
Selina herself froze. She knew, suddenly, what the Duke’s urgent errand with her Uncle had been.
Aunt Georgiana and Leah began talking about the brigands. Meanwhile, Selina stared at the carpet in front of her. It was a cream color, with a blue border. Her pulse raced a little at the thought that it might have been her—had she been out late in the afternoon.
Uncle Latimer came to the window, looking out at the Duke as he rode off. “He says,” Uncle Latimer said in a low voice, which couldn’t be overheard on the other side of the room. “That you were out walking.”
“Yes,” Selina replied. “I was with my lady’s maid. I never left the estate.”
“I trust that you understand why you are not to do that anymore,” Uncle Latimer said.
Selina looked up at him. “Indeed, Uncle.”
“He was very concerned for your safety,” Uncle Latimer replied. “He’s right, too. You shouldn’t be out alone. Not when there are bad men afoot.”
Selina nodded. “Don’t worry, Uncle. I won’t leave Kirby Hall unless I’m accompanied by someone who can protect me.”
“Thank you, Selina.” He patted her on the shoulder, then turned away. Selina turned her eyes to her book. She was fuming a little. The Duke expected to be obeyed. He was not about to order her around, especially while he was still planning to marry Leah.
He went behind her back and then had her Uncle approach her! It was underhanded, sneaky.
She resolved to send the letter, which sat in the writing table. It would be best for all parties, if she were far away when he ended the engagement. Or, if he went through with the wedding. There was no way she could stay.
* * *
Jasper rode with his mother and brother in the barouche-landau, pulled by their pair of Windsor Greys. He watched as the countryside passed by the window. The clop of the horses’ hooves was loud on the road.
Reuben and his mother were talking animatedly. Jasper listened half-heartedly. His mind was on Lady Selina.
“Do you think he’ll show us the automaton?” Reuben asked.
“For certain,” the Dowager Duchess replied. “Lady Selina will never have seen it!”
They were talking of the Sandbourne Estate’s most interesting treasure. A clockwork swan, which swam in a river of glass, while clockwork fish jumped in the stream. Stephen’s father had acquired it from a jeweler.
Sandbourne Hall was a large grey stone mansion, set in the very center of fields, filled with the Ayrshire cows that Stephen bred. Ayrshire cows were cream colored with bright red splotches. They grazed out in the fields around Sandbourne. It was a bucolic scene—one which was as familiar to Jasper as his own home.
The barouche-landau stopped in front. Jasper stepped out, holding out his hand to help his mother down. She took his hand in her own, which was bird thin.
Stephen’s butler greeted them at the door, leading them through the entryway. The walls were papered in maroon, and there were gold accents. It was smaller than most of the other mansions in this part of the county. It was cozier—less drafty.
“This way, Your Grace,” the butler said, leading them into Sandbourne’s parlor, where he was surprised to see Lord and Lady Langley, and their eldest daughter, Lady Ella, as well as Lord and Lady Kirby, with Lady Leah and Lady Selina.
Jasper’s eyes went directly to her like she was the North Star, and he was hopelessly lost in a dark wood. He noticed how her eyes dropped to the floor. She smiled demurely. But he couldn’t read her thoughts like he’d been able to the other day, while they’d sat out on the grassy hill overlooking Kirby Hall.
She was wearing a grey silk dress, which brought out the golden tone of her hair. Around her neck, she wore a string of pearls. She looked delicate, elegant.
How he wished that it was just them, with only Faith at the most, reading her book a short distance away. He would beg her to tell him everything—what she was thinking, what she was feeling. He wanted to go to her and to ask her why she looked away from him, but then Stephen had walked over to him.
“Welcome! Welcome!” he said beaming.
