“No, not Modesty. At least, I don’t believe it could be her. We’re looking for someone else. And I must go out and speak with my tenants to try to solve the puzzle,” he said. “I need to put a stop to this.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Only for a very short while.”
“I don’t want you to go,” she said softly.
“I don’t want it either. But this must be dealt with. It’s bad for business to have these rumors at play, and it’s also bad for you and me. I don’t want people confronting you at every turn asking you whether I am stepping out on our marriage, telling you I’m a terrible rake.”
“You know I don’t believe them,” she said. “What I said yesterday, about the rumors being based in truth—well, I didn’t mean it like that. I know they aren’t true.”
“Still, I need to discover who’s making it their business to say these vile things. I need to stop them. I’ll be back with you as soon as I possibly can, though,” he pledged.
“Will you be back for Modesty’s ball?”
“Yes, I know how important that is. I promised I would be in attendance, and I mean to. We will both be there, just as we agreed, and we will use it as an opportunity to show Modesty and anyone else who has doubts that our marriage is both real and something we both want.”
“I’m just glad to know that we both feel that way,” Caroline said with a smile. “I can live without the rest of society understanding it. But as long as you and I understand, everything will be all right.” She smiled. “Go. Tend to your business. But come back to me soon. Promise that you will.”
“I promise. And I will miss you with every moment I must be away,” he pledged. He meant it. Missing Caroline would make this painfully difficult, and he greatly anticipated the moment when he could return to her side.
He wanted to kiss her, but it would have felt too much like a farewell. He gripped her hand briefly instead, let it go, and turned to prepare for the journey that lay ahead, feeling very much as though he was leaving half of his heart behind him.
CHAPTER 31
“Thank you for your time,” Levi said.
“No, Your Grace, thank you,” said the man. He introduced himself as Mr. Peterson, a bachelor living on a small share of land. He looked like he had been managing the plot well, and Levi was pleased to see that his holdings were being well tended.
Mr. Peterson hadn’t been much help, though. While Leviwasgrateful for the man’s time, Mr. Peterson hadn’t been able to provide any valuable information about the person behind the rumors. He had confirmed hearing them, but he hadn’t given a description of the man who had shared them beyond saying that he was of average height and average build with medium brown hair and an unremarkable face.
Well, that could be anyone at all,Levi thought sourly as he made his way back up the path to the post where he had tied his horse.I’m no farther along than I was when I began this search. No nearer to being able to return home to my wife!
He missed Caroline terribly already and wanted nothing more than to finish this job so that he could return to her. Surely he would find something soon.
But right now, he couldn’t help feeling as if he was searching for a needle in a haystack.
A break was called for, and little though he wanted to do it, he had an important job to do. The word would get out among the tenants that he’d been here in the country, and that meant the only thing he could do was to get ahead of it and visit his mother before she could contact him and demand to know why he hadn’t.
But he hated these visits. He did care for his mother, but he couldn’t honestly say helikedher. He didn’t enjoy her company. She was everything he disdained about society ladies—snobbish, shallow, arrogant. She was everything he had not wanted for himself and was the reason he had turned away from the idea of marriage altogether.
Still, the visit was necessary, so he rode up to her door and knocked.
She didn’t open the door at first, though he was sure she had seen him approach—he had watched the upstairs curtain flutter on his arrival, as if someone was hiding just behind them and watching him on his way up.
She was doing this for the drama of it. He was certain of that. It was so like her to make the most out of every little thing, to act as if she had been interrupted in the middle of a busy and important set of circumstances instead of sitting about the house.
Sure enough, when she appeared at the door, she managed to look harried. “Oh, Levi,” she said with a put-upon air of distraction. “I wasn’t expecting any guests today.”
“Well, I’m in the country, Mother, and thought it only proper to pay you a visit.” He stepped through the door. “The house looks well kept.”
“Not nearly well enough! I don’t know how many times I have to tell you—I need to renovate.”
“You’re welcome to make renovations.”
“Not with that pittance you afford me to live on. I’m no better than a farmer’s wife out here.”
“Mother, that’s not true at all,” Levi sighed, following her to the sitting room. “You have the finest home in the country.”
