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Chapter Twenty
Rose sat in the gazebo of Lord Rockgonie’s manor as she had done at other times this past week.
This time, Elsa wasn’t the only servant with her.
Kenneth had sent his valet with a letter which she was currently reading and from all indications, it seemed like her lover wasn’t going to make it to the manor today.
She finished reading and handed the letter over to Elsa who was standing behind her, for safekeeping.
Her mind began wandering in a trance, only to return when she noticed that Kenneth’s valet hadn’t left and was still standing there watching her.
“Is there another message from Lord Walsrock besides the letter?” she asked.
“Oh, none, My Lady,” the valet responded.
“Well, shouldn’t you be heading back to your Lord to make sure that he is safe and sound? Or are you going to leave him out there in the midst of wolves?”
“There is nothing I’ll rather be doing now, My Lady. However, Lord Walsrock has prohibited me from showing my face at that meeting,” he responded. “I think he made that decision to protect my identity.”
“He must really care about you,” Rose said, after realizing the extent of Kenneth’s decision for his valet.
“And I care about him as well,” Leonard replied.
She looked him over once and decided to engage him in a conversation. After all, this was the man Kenneth had entrusted with their secret correspondence. He definitely was to Kenneth what Elsa was to her.
She’d seen him once when Kenneth had sneaked into her mother’s garden at midnight. He’d been accompanying his Lord. Yet he had vanished before she could even ascertain that he was there.
“What is your name?” Rose asked.
“Leonard, My Lady. Leonard Arnold,” he replied.
“And how long have you been working for Lord Walsrock?” she continued with her line of questioning.
“For ten years, My Lady. I was employed to be his valet when I turned eighteen.”
“That’s a really long time. It’s no wonder he trusts you the way he does.”
“I will say that is a factor, My Lady. But he probably trusts me the way he does because we grew up together. Or rather, I grew up on the manor alongside him.”
“Really?” she asked in surprise.
“Yes, My Lady. My mother used to be a maid in the Duke’s manor. I was literally born in the Duke’s stables,” he chuckled in response.
“And your mother? Does she still work for the Duke?”
There was a brief pause before Leonard answered her question.
“My mother is dead, My Lady,” he stuttered in reply.
“Oh, my!” she gasped.
For the second time in two days, she felt miserable for asking someone about a family member who had passed on.
She decided to stay quiet before she made any more damning statements. From what she could tell, though, Leonard was a good person.
He might have been unlucky to have been born poor, but that definitely didn’t determine how she viewed him. She could also see why Kenneth had grown to depend on him so much that her lover practically trusted the valet with his own life.
After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke again.
