He nodded, following my instructions. He hesitated as he grazed my shoulder in his attempts. I thought of making a joke about him trying to get fresh with me, but he already seemed so flustered that I hadn’t the heart. I turned to face him once he’d finished and glanced down my bare chest. “I suppose I could button it myself. Unless you’d like that honor?”
His mouth opened, hands trembling. He was so adorable. I yearned to push him back against the bed and slide off his shirt, give him something to really be flustered about beneath the caresses of my hands and mouth.
Another knock at the door saved him from answering, to my annoyance.
Stuart poked his head inside. Once he noticed Maxwell, his eyes narrowed. The state of my dress likely hadn’t gone unnoticed. He straightened and stepped inside. “Shall I take over, my lord?”
I chuckled. “Just listen to that jealousy in his voice.”
Ignoring the bait, Stuart marched to my bed, where my jacket lay over the comforter. He wrinkled his nose at my choice and rummaged through my wardrobe before coming up with a maroon suit adorned with gold buttons. “The house is in quite a state. I wouldn’t have returned if I hadn’t needed to anyway, Count.”
“Oh? What’s going on? I thought I smelled smoke.” I gazed at him innocently.
“Yes, a fire in the cellar is but the tip of our misfortunes. Townspeople worked all night to put it out. Since then, more staff have fallen ill. The entire west wing of the servant quarters is being quarantined from the rest of the house. The doctor has two assistants letting no one in or out, even me. Meanwhile, I have to take over butler duties while Percival is in quarantine.”
“You? In charge? Stuart, look at you climbing the ranks.”
“It’s temporary,” Stuart insisted, pausing to consider for a moment. “I hope.” He shook away his distraction as he helped me into my suit. “And on top of it all, we have this ball tonight. I don’t know how we’ll get on.”
“Yet we’ll manage,” Maxwell assured him. “With so few guests left, and only a handful of people invited from town, it should be a much simpler affair than we’re used to.”
“God willing.”
I smoothed a hand over my suit jacket. “You said you were returning for me for some reason?” I reminded Stuart.
“Ah, yes. The duke wishes to have a word before tonight’s ball.”
“That’s why I was fetching him,” Maxwell explained.
I smiled lazily at him. “Stuart, you saw. He just couldn’t keep his hands off of me. You of all people understand the temptations he’s besieged by.”
Stuart grunted at the same time Maxwell elbowed me. “Don’t tease,” he scolded. “That’s how horrid rumors start circulating.”
I laughed.
After Stuart had finished what Maxwell had begun, he led us up to the duke’s sitting room. I suddenly had the idea that someone had seen me in the hidden room beneath the house, perhaps as I’d emerged in the gardens. I’d been so dazed from the smoke, it was certainly possible. Perhaps he would hand me over to his hunters to put the screws to me before having me killed. I’d no doubt that Lord Boulliard knew his way around instruments of torture. It would be my luck to fail when I’d come so close. And for what? A tantrum? I’d been unable to hold myself back once I’d uncovered the truth, and now I might pay for that dearly. “Do you know what he wants?” I asked, unable to bear the suspense another moment longer.
We approached the duke’s room, a dark door at the end of a hall decorated with model ships and paintings of ships upon stormy seas. It occurred to me that I knew very little about the duke. Had he served time in the navy?
“I’m not sure,” Maxwell replied. He raised an eyebrow. “Are you worried?”
It also occurred to me that he may be delivering bad news. Perhaps Helena had perished in the night. My mouth went dry as Stuart knocked on the door, and after a brief moment, opened it for us.
I blinked at the dim interior, drapes pulled closed so that it appeared to be nighttime. A candelabra was lit at the end of the room, however, so there was enough light to see by. The duke sat in a tall chair, nearly a throne, at the back of the room, facing a figure already seated on a sofa. Ambrose.
“That will be all, Stuart,” the duke said, his voice stronger than the last time I’d heard it. He glanced at Maxwell. “This isn’t for your ears either, Maxwell.”
Maxwell stilled, then bowed. “Of course, Father.” He sent me a lingering look before he followed Stuart outside, the door shutting firmly at their backs.
“Take a seat,” the duke instructed. “And don’t mind the dark. The migraines I get these days are terrible.” He sat in the shadows, so it was impossible to make much from his expression. Behind him, a grandfather clock distracted me with its steady ticking, like a heartbeat.
“I hope you’ll be well enough for the ball,” I said, taking a seat next to Ambrose, who offered me a tight smile.
“Oh, no need to worry about that. I’m very much looking forward to tonight’s festivities.” He paused, tilting his head as he surveyed me. “Ambrose has asked my permission to ask for your hand tonight.”
My eyes widened. Oh. That was unexpected. I glanced uncertainly to Ambrose, who nodded, his smile filling with warmth. His hand. I had done it. “That is a surprise,” I admitted, both elated at the idea of winning his hand, and disgusted by the man.Bothof these men. Both hunters and both insufferable. Now I only needed to see the other condition of Vrykolakas’s challenge to its conclusion. I was so close. “I’d hoped, of course.”
The duke chuckled. “I’d say my son has made a fine choice. There was never anyone else of your caliber among his suitors.”
