“I must change my clothes, Elliot. If you could furnish me with fresh water, I can be presentable in two shakes.”
Elliot groaned. “And then we must hurry. My carriage awaits us downstairs to take us to Hyde Park and keep your promise. I only hope the Lady has not grown tired of waiting.”
Seth levered himself out of his chair, swaying momentarily and steadying himself. He clapped his hands together.
“Elliot!” he declared flamboyantly, “I am quite persuaded of the urgency of your errand. If you wouldn’t mind fetching me wash water, I will do my utmost to be ready and try to salvage something from this appointment.”
Elliot looked skeptical but acquiesced, grumbling to himself as he left the room. Before he had gone far, though, he called back.
“It seems I am also your appointments secretary as well as your servant. There is a gentleman downstairs waiting to speak to you. I shall send him up.”
Seth was about to ask who the gentleman was when he heard a voice he recognized.
“Never mind, Lord Arkendale, I am already up.”
The voice was precise and smooth, slightly out of breath. A man appeared in the doorway, bowing to Elliot as he passed him in the hall. He wore black, a large overcoat that he seemed to huddle within. His head was bald, and his skin pale. His eyes were dark and birdlike. He was slender with long, fragile-seeming fingers and a thin smile.
“Ah, Master Monkton, what a pleasant surprise,” Seth exclaimed insincerely.
“Indeed, I have not spoken to you in person since I executed your father’s will, Your Grace. Partly because you have proved yourself a difficult man to find.”
“You have been looking for me?” Seth furrowed his brows, feigning ignorance.
“On occasion, when you have not responded to my correspondence,” Monkton replied, looking around the room. “I did not expect to find the Duke of Redmaine in such…surroundings.”
Seth glanced at the room. “Humble to be certain. But then, humility is a virtue. My father was Christian, if nothing else. I think he would approve.”
Monkton puckered his lips. “Do you think so? He was also a very austere man with refined tastes. I am not sure a garret on Fleet Street would meet with his approval.”
“But within sight of St Paul’s, you will note. Is this another clause of the will which I have not been apprised of?”
My father controlled my every action or tried to when he was alive, and this odious reptile seeks to do the same in death. Damn him and his clauses!
Seth sat, putting one booted foot up onto another chair and waving a hand to indicate that Tharpe Monkton, solicitor to the Redmaine family, should also sit. Monkton declined with a thin smile.
“There is no such clause, Your Grace. Your father did not anticipate that you would favor Whitechapel and Cheapside overHillcrest. No, the only clause in the will is the marriage clause. That is the only barrier to your inheritance.”
“Hardly a barrier. I have my inheritance. I am Duke.”
“But to remain in control of the majority of your lands and your title, you must marry one of the three women specified by your father. Three women deemed to be suitable matches. Lady Catherine Halsey, Lady Sarah Vickers...”
Seth raised a hand as though to dismiss Monkton’s words. He needn’t be reminded of his ill-fated dukedom.
Most dukedoms passed cleanly, father to son, no questions asked. Bellmonte was never that simple. It was a patch job from the start—granted to his great-grandfather as a political favor after the Civil War, back when half the peerage was still being shuffled around like a deck of cards. Special remainder, conditional grant—it meant the Crown could revoke it if the heir didn’t meet certainexpectations. Not law, exactly. More like a threat written in gold ink. And his father made damn sure he knew it.
“I do not wish to be reminded of those names, my dear Monkton. There is still much pain in those remembrances. I did not break off either of those engagements, as you may recall.”
“You did not, but you aren’t exactly blameless, old chap,” Elliot chirped, appearing with a full basin of water.
Seth glared at him.
Do not ruin everything, Elliot. The wrong word to this snake, and my future becomes very uncertain very quick.
“I dispute that. The lady in each case broke off the engagement despite earnest protestations on my part,” Seth added.
He willed Elliot not to elaborate on his statement. Monkton looked from Seth to Elliot with interest.
“Of course, the clause would be activated ifyouhad ended the engagements. I wonder what Viscount Arkendale meant when he said you did not help?”
