Rosehill straightened, alarmed. “What? She’s been consorting with pirates again? Which ones?” His voice had risen in panic.
Tom laughed, resting heavily against Bates’s desk in the main room just outside my door. “I was joking. She’s been ransomed before?”
“Why would you joke about something like that?” Rosehill’s tone was clipped and horrified in a way he usually reserved for Lady Davina.
“Well, I thought it was too absurd to have happened previously. What are you doing then?”
“Oh, I was planning to do a bit of traveling, and I wanted Will’s advice first.”
He wants to travel?That did not follow my experience with him.
“Where are you going?” Tom asked.
“I do not know. Yorkshire? Scotland? I’m still considering my options. That is why I’m here.”
“Right, apologies. I’ll just leave you to your considerations… Kit, see you tonight.” Tom rose, nodding to his brother-in-law before heading out the door, bell announcing his departure. Bates adjusted his stack of paperwork irritably.
Kit wrapped himself around the door, peering his head in my office. “Sorry to interrupt, Your Grace. Will, I need to leave a few minutes early tonight. Kate wants a family dinner.”
“And she wants you there? Did she find you a wife?”
“Funny… No. Tom thinks Jules is expecting and Kate wants to have the whole family there for the announcement.”
“I hope you’re right. If that’s the case, congratulate them for me. Tell Wayland he can come in if there’s anything to discuss. Or one of us can call on them.” Kit nodded, returning to his office and paperwork.
Turning back to Rosehill, I said, “Apologies. You said you wished to discuss travel plans?”
“Good for Juliet,” he muttered, seemingly to himself. That was when I recalled the marriage settlements I had drawn up and destroyed some weeks later. She had been Rosehill’s wayward fiancée.
“I’m sorry. We should not have been discussing that in front of you.”
“No, it’s just… She worried she wouldn’t be able to have children. I’m pleased for her. Regardless, I suppose that is none of my concern.”
“So, travel?” I asked, trying to drag us back to a more appropriate subject. “You do not usually consult me on such matters.”Especially not the morning after I ravished your late brother’s wife on the balcony of a gaming hell.
“Well, I’ve been meaning to travel for some time, and I expect I may settle more permanently at one of the estates. I would need to set up provisions for Mother and Davina. Gabe traveled a great deal. Did he have anything in place?”
What is he up to?
“Not that I’m aware of. But I was not his solicitor, your father was still alive, and your sister was still a child. I imagine the arrangements were somewhat less complicated.”
“Right. It’s been so long I nearly forgot. I’m so forgetful. You were friends, right? You and Gabriel?”
“Friendsis a strong term… Why are you asking me about your brother?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of something gold through the window. It was not possible. There was absolutely no way she was outside, eavesdropping.
“Oh, you know, just reminiscing.”
“Right. You mentioned Yorkshire and Scotland? If you’re looking to make improvements, I would recommend the Scotland property. It has been left relatively untouched and could probably use some work. I think it would be well worth your efforts. If it were in better repair, should you choose to take a wife, you could summer there. Or you could sell it at great profit.”
Just outside the window, a commotion sounded, and a distinctly male voice all but shouted, “Bonjour, madame!” His accent made my eye twitch.
A sharp cracking noise was followed by athunkagainst the wall.
Perhaps a feminine form breaking a milk crate she was leaning on, startled by the greeting.
I rose and moved to peer through the window.
