Pyramid was happy to see his mistress and quite anxious for her to give him full rein. Kenna was not so lacking in common sense that she gave in to her mount. She kept him to a comfortable pace the entire time and thoroughly enjoyed the peace of her trek around Dunnelly. A new, heavier snowfall had covered everything during the previous night and the leafless trees were shaded in white. The air felt surprisingly warm and Kenna welcomed the odd silence of winter. For the first time in days she felt free of Rhys Canning.
She did not give him any thought at all until she returned to the stables ninety minutes later and saw the stall beside Pyramid’s was empty. “Has someone taken Higgins for exercising?” she asked Donald Adams as he helped her dismount.
The groom shook his head. “No, Mr. Canning’s man arrived but a few minutes after you left and shortly after that he and the other were tearing out of here, hellbent on reaching London before nightfall. The boys and I barely had the tack off Powell’s horse when we were putting it on again. Your brother offered him a fresh mount but he didn’t want one. Came down to the stables to see them off, he did. Looked a might out of sorts.”
“Out of sorts how?”
“Can’t say exactly. Sad, I think. Worried, for sure.”
“Why did Rhys leave? Didn’t you hear anything?”
“Not a word m’lady.” Adams rubbed his chin with his hand. “They were here and gone. He didn’t even take his luggage. Left his coach behind, too. Never saw such a rush.”
“Thank you, Donald,” Kenna called behind her as she hurried out of the stable. There was no sense in trying to pretend she hadn’t left the house so Kenna went straight to Dunnelly’s front door. Henderson greeted her with an ominous, “They’re waiting for you in the study,” and Kenna went in before her courage failed her.
“Where have you been?” Nick demanded, ignoring Victorine’s imploring look to lower his voice and show a little tolerance.
Kenna took a seat on the sofa beside her stepmother and accepted the comforting hand Victorine offered. “I was riding, Nick. I had to get out of that room else expire of boredom.”
“I gave strict instructions that you were not to leave. Must you tempt fate at every turn?”
Kenna frowned. “What do you mean? I assure you I am feeling quite the thing.”
Nick swore under his breath and looked at Victorine for help. He had nearly given Rhys’s suspicions away after promising not to.
“Your brother is naturally concerned that you chose to go out alone, Kenna,” Victorine said softly. “What if you’d had a relapse?”
“But I didn’t and I was not tempting fate. You exaggerate, Nick,” said Kenna calmly. “Now tell me why Rhys left. I assume he came to say goodbye and found me gone.”
“I came to tell you he was gone,” Nick corrected. “And that’s when I discovered you had taken leave of the house.”
Kenna squelched her disappointment, refusing to credit that she could feel any such emotion because Rhys left without trying to say farewell personally. “So why has he left Dunnelly? Adams said something about his valet arriving? I didn’t know his man had gone.”
“Neither did I,” said Nick, taking a seat behind his desk now that the greater part of his annoyance had fled. “Rhys apparently sent him to London on some sort of business. He rushed back today to tell Rhys there had been an accident involving Rhys’s father and brother.”
Kenna’s hands went immediately to her paling cheeks. “What kind of accident? When? Are they seriously hurt?” The heavy silence which greeted her questions was answer enough. “Oh, no! They’re dead?”
“Richard is,” Victorine said. “Rhys’s father was still clinging to life when Powell left London. Rhys doesn’t hold much hope that he’ll still be alive when he gets there, but he had to try.”
Even though Kenna knew there was no love lost between Roland Canning and his younger son, she could well imagine how much Rhys was hurting. “Of course he had to try,” she said. “What happened, Nicky?”
“Roland was at the duchess’s townhouse. Sometime during the night there was a fire. It took down three homes before it was contained. There were six other victims. Richard never had a chance. According to the reports the fire started in his room. Roland was quite badly burned when a staircase collapsed under him. He was trying to help get the servants out.”
“Poor Roland. It seems odd he should be hurt helping others. I always thought him such a selfish ogre.”
“He was to Rhys,” said Nick. “Richard was everything to him after his wife died. Rhys ranked a poor fifth behind politics, business, and the rest of humanity.”
“It’s so sad,” Kenna said quietly, getting to her feet. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go to my room.”
“And stay there,” Victorine added.
“Yes, of course.”
Kenna’s thoughts were all for Rhys as she climbed the stairs to her room. It couldn’t be easy for him, no matter that he and his father had never gotten on. And to lose his brother at the same time. How he must ache.
“Janet!” Kenna cried out, startled when she came out of her reverie and found her maid in the room. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m supposed to pass this on to you,” she said, holding out an envelope.
