Danise laughed. “You understand my son. He may put on a good show, but deep down, I think he knows he’s not actually the upper class.”
Ella let out a snort. “I can’t wait to see what he teaches me about being nobility.”
“I can’t, either, to be honest,” Danise said with a grin. “Now, let’s get you settled upstairs, and I’ll send word. Time for your duchess lessons to begin.”
Chapter seven
Dietrich
Dietrich paced anxiously as he waited to hear from Beatrice.
He would need help to teach Ella how to be a duchess, and who better to do it than his friend, who had suddenly become a lady when she married Lord Dunham in a marriage of convenience that had turned out to be a love match unlike any he’d ever seen.
Beatrice would be able to help him—he knew it.
He just had to get her to see that he needed help, without putting important details into a letter that could be read by someone else.
His fingers twitched, and he stopped pacing long enough to reach for his pocketknife and a scrap of wood from the pile he kept near his desk. He never knew when they would come in handy, and perhaps carving would distract him for a moment.
He had always loved wood carving, ever since he was a boy watching his father carve. When he had become old enough to get his first knife, he had been so excited to practice.
But then the girl that he’d given his first carving to had disappeared, and with her, his enjoyment of it.
Now he only did it when he was trying to avoid thinking of how Eliana was still missing, or when he desperately missed his father. And at this moment, it was both of those.
If only his father was here. He would have some advice for him and would help him know what to do.
The problem was that Dietrich was fairly certain that Ella was actually Lady Eliana Vaughn, but with her refusal to meet the duke, his hands were tied.
He didn’t want to say anything to the duke and get his hopes up only for him to be disappointed, and he didn’t want to delay their meeting. But if Ella was anything like the duke...she would be stubborn enough to not do anything she wasn’t ready for.
His knife snicked away at the wood as he started carving mindlessly, not sure what he was making, but it didn’t matter. He just needed to make something, something to keep his hands busy while he waited.
He should probably go check on his horses, but the idea of facing his men did not seem appealing when he was so discombobulated himself. So he stayed in his office, carving away at the block of wood until it was no longer a block but a little wooden pumpkin.
He stared down at it, his jaw tightening. Of course he’d made a pumpkin—as if he needed one more thing to remind him of the girl he’d watched walk away all those years ago.
He swore under his breath, set the little wooden pumpkin down on the edge of his desk, then opened the door and strode out of his office.
That hadn’t helped, so maybe he should check on the animals after all.
It couldn’t be worse than hiding in his office and thinking of her.
The barn was blissfully clear as most of his men were at lunch. The duke had come through with additional hires, bringing his staff from three to a veritable army of seven, all reporting to him.
Sometimes he wasn’t sure what to do with them. He didn’t feel prepared for managing that many men.
He’d thought that the duke’s arrival would give him less free time—and yet, with the four new men, he was even less hands-on in the barns than before.
Which was fortunate, because while he didn’t mind working—in fact, he would have preferred to work more—he’d been a little preoccupied the past three days since realizing who Ella was.
It was good to know that his men were taking care of everything while he was distracted.
He approached Turnip, his favorite gelding, and began scratching his nose.
“Hi, buddy,” he said quietly. “I don’t suppose you want to help distract me.”
The horse let out a whicker, rubbing up against him as if asking for more attention. Dietrich took a deep breath and leaned in, resting his head against the horse’s neck. It was peaceful here with all the men at lunch and only the horses and their noise to distract him. But there was another noise, and he looked down to find Jay prowling around his feet, asking for attention.
