“Truman. Mr Ellis Truman. Bath City Gaol, oui, that’s where you’ll find him, Mr Arnold. Though between you and me, from what I read in the paper, you’d be better off having nothing to do with him.”
Owen nodded his thanks and stepped back from the carriage, wishing the coach driver well as he pulled away. The light in the sky was beginning to fade behind the carriage as it disappeared off in the direction of the drive. Owen hovered by the stable, watching as the front door opened and the duke stepped out, his silhouette banked in the orange light of the setting sun. As he placed the top hat on his head, Owen felt his gaze darken.
The more he heard about the duke’s business, the more convinced he was that no good could come from it.
“What have you been playing at, Your Grace?” he asked, whispering into the air as if it could somehow answer him.
Chapter 22
“Jessie, you must speak to him.” Diana crouched down beside the maid, with her words so eager that Jessie practically fell over in her place by the fireplace.
“Your Grace, what are you doing?” she cried with spirit. “Leave me be; I am attending to the fire.”
“I need your help.” Diana glanced towards the door, nervous of being discovered by Gilbert, but he was too wrapped up in his preparations to leave to have noticed her absence. “Gilbert is leaving.”
“Leaving? Good,” Jessie said firmly, attempting to return to her work, but Diana took her arm, trying to capture her attention. “What do you want, Your Grace?”
“I cannot speak to him, Jessie. Every time I do, he shuts me down. You can find out where he is going.”
“Me?” Jessie jumped to her feet, making Diana waver in her crouched position and nearly land in the fire. “I do not want to speak to him anymore. No, my mind is made up. I’m only staying here for a short while until things are settled, then … I’ll be gone. For good.”
“Then in the meantime, please, Jessie, help me.”
“Help you? Why?”
“Because you’re the only other one in these walls other than Owen and I who truly knows now what kind of man Gilbert is,” Diana said in a harried whisper, watching as something in Jessie’s face quivered.
“I am not your friend, Your Grace. I may accept I was wrong about the duke, but that doesn’t mean I have to like you now.”
“I am not asking you to like me. I’m asking you to help me.”
Jessie sighed and glanced back to the sitting room doorway, fiddling with the long sleeves of her gown.
“Where is he?” she asked.
“Preparing to leave now. Go quickly.” Diana hurried her out of the door, being careful to close it behind the maid. Once closed, Diana pressed her ear to the door, listening for the conversation, but all she could hear was the muffled tones of Gilbert and Jessie’s goodbye.
Diana had already wished Gilbert goodbye, and there had been no affection in it, no kindness whatsoever, merely a warning from Gilbert not to cause trouble while he was gone.
When Diana heard the front door close, she ran across the sitting room, tucking the skirt of her gown into her hand to aid her run and reaching for the window, where she watched Gilbert climb into the carriage. Beside him, Owen oversaw the bags tied to the coach, ensuring the footmen had fastened everything firmly.
Diana felt the flicker of a smile watching Owen, remembering the last time she had been alone with him. They had stolen a few kisses in the corridor the night before, but that was all. With Gilbert in the house, they hadn’t been able to risk being in each other’s company for any length of time.
“I do not like this,” Jessie said as she pushed open the door, appearing back in the sitting room. Diana pushed away from the window, hurrying back to Jessie’s side.
“You do not like what?”
“It feels odd telling you these things,” she said impatiently, gesturing at Diana. “I thought you were …” She trailed off, looking down at her feet and shifting her weight between them. It was the strangest manner Diana had ever seen in the woman. It was a far cry from when Jessie was outspoken and rude to her to this odd restrained and rather nervous manner.
“Jessie, I am not a monster,” Diana said cautiously.
“I didn’t think you were.”
“You just thought I was undeserving of him?” Diana asked, watching as Jessie lifted her eyes and slowly nodded. “Well, I suppose I cannot blame you for that. I do not care for him, and he never cared for me either. From a distance, our marriage must have looked like a cold thing indeed.”
“I was jealous.” Jessie’s words came suddenly as she lifted her eyes to meet Diana’s.
“You were?”
