Stephen stared at him. That was true. It was how Stephen had come into possession of Reddington’s threatening letter to begin with. The scullery maids had also performed their early morning shopping at the market.
We’re watching youwas clearly meant for Stephen, not the servants. Or rather, the threat was against the Earl of Densmore, whom Reddington believed Stephen to be.
“I suppose that’s as silver a lining as I’m likely to get,” Stephen said. “Until Reddington controls the castle, he’s prepared to shoot me on sight—but at least the rest of you are safe.”
“Perhaps he hopes to keep us on staff,” McCarthy said. “Finding good help can be difficult.”
Finding Stephen’s cousin was also vexingly difficult. Especially since Stephen couldn’t admit he was looking for the earl, being as he was supposed to be pretending tobehim.
“Shall I mend your hat?” asked McCarthy.
“More kindling,” Stephen said with a sigh, and handed it over. “I shan’t be venturing back outside until the real earl returns.”
“A wise decision.” McCarthy dropped the broken arrow into the ruined hat and strode away.
Stephen trudged up to the turret to reenable the castle’s defenses.
Reddington wanted legal possession of the castle. The problem was, Stephen did not have the requested deed. Although the document had reportedly been stored with the late earl’s will, Stephen had gone through every page of his cousin’s accounts dozens of times without coming across any hint of it.
Even if Stephen were to stumble across the deed, Reddington wasn’t the only one asking for it. Miss Oak, an older woman who lived in the main town, held an equally plausible yet legally unenforceable claim on the castle. Her sister had allegedly bequeathed it to her in her will.
Which was also inconveniently missing, making her claim impossible to verify.
Although he read every one of Miss Oak’s pleading letters, Stephen hadn’t allowed the older woman to enter on the many occasions she’d come to call. If she was telling the truth, any perception of a third party having a legitimate claim on the castle would draw Reddington’s ire. Now that the man was shooting arrows at anyone claiming ownership of the property, Miss Oak was safest far away.
Therefore, the castle’s deed must be in the possession of the absent Earl of Densmore. Who, at this point,everyonewanted to kill.
Perhaps that was why he’d thus far declined to return home.
Stephen dropped to the stone floor for a round of press-up exercises. His thoughts tended to ping and flail and spiral like the machines he put together. Concentrating on the flexing of his muscles and the breaths in his lungs calmed the noise and helped him to relax and to think.
He was angry, was the problem. Angry with his flighty cousin, to be sure, but also irritated with himself for being hoodwinked into this ruse to begin with.
Densmore knew there was nothing Stephen loved more than to beuseful, and had taken advantage of that trait in the name of helping out family. Since they were children, the earl had long been the only soul who stood up for Stephen. Of course he would repay that unexpected kindness with the same loyalty.
And as long as Stephen was forced to play earl, he could not bear to leave any system unoptimized. The holdings desperately needed a keeper, and its current title holder was not up to the task.
Stephen was undeniably a better earl than the earl. In addition to settling accounts and making investments and overseeing improvements on the various entailed properties, Stephen had also gone ahead and given every member of staff a rise in wages.
Long before Densmore’s father first took ill, Stephen had enacted a contingency plan to learn everything he could about the running of the earldom in case his cousin’s careless behavior left the title without any heirs but Stephen.
Now that he’d literally taken his cousin’s place, Stephen had also taken it upon himself to manage the rest of his cousin’s affairs as well. All of the estates would be profitable this year for the first time since Densmore inherited the title.
Every aspect of the earldom might be running smoothly at the moment, but there was no guarantee that these conditions would remain in effect once Densmore returned. Stephen calculated those odds to be 0.00021, or next to impossible. If he didn’t do something clever with his cousin’s money while it still existed, the wastrel would simply wager it all away in a drunken haze.
Which was why Stephen had penned letters of recommendation for all his cousin’s servants, from the butlers to the scullery maids, at every property. He had done so both as the earl and as himself, providing each employee with double the recommendation, should they find themselves in need of a new post.
The writing of so many letters, and the financial and practicalrestructuring of the entire earldom, had required an extraordinary amount of work. It had taken Stephen an entireweekto accomplish it all.
After which, boredom had threatened. Which was when Stephen turned this castle into his laboratory away from home. He missed his books and his bed and his breakfast nook. Even though there was more staff in Castle Harbrook, the building somehow felt emptier and lonelier. A bold claim from a man so lonely, he spent every waking moment filling the emptiness in his life with machine after machine.
Nonetheless, Stephen would defend this castle to the best of his considerable ability. Richard Reddington would not cross Harbrook’s threshold without Stephen’s knowledge and authorization.
No onewould.
Bells clanged overhead. Stephen jerked his head up to stare at them. Those bells were part of an early warning system he’d installed to ring when the property line had been crossed.
Had the hidden archer been followed by an even bolder attack?
