“Don’t,” Stephen choked out, leaping to his feet. His insides tightened and knotted, complex as a sailor’s knot.
He strode to the window, staring out unseeingly at the gray, rainy landscape beyond.
“He died convinced you still lived, and sure that you would return,” Letitia said unflinchingly. “I lost my son, yes, but I knew that I had not lost my grandson. I knew in my heart that youwere alive, and now here you are. But it has been years, Stephen, and the world does not know that the Duke of Redcliffe lives.”
“I claimed my place as Father’s heir.”
“Yes, but you hide your own existence. Why won’t you reenter Society? Enough hiding behind yourOrionpersona. You box anonymously, you run that club of yours, and you hide from the world. I don’t understand you, sometimes.”
“I don’t understand myself, either,” Stephen murmured, pushing a hand through his hair.
“You are safe, Stephen. Nobody can touch you.”
“I am not afraid of being abducted again.”
Letitia got unsteadily to her feet and made her way across the study. The tip of her cane clicked against the floor, heralding her approach.
“You should not jump up and down from your chair like that, Grandmother,” Stephen murmured, still staring out the window.
Raindrops chased each other down the glass pane. As a child, he used to watch the drops and make wagers with himself on which drop would reach the bottom first. It was a game that his father had created to keep them entertained during long, dull carriage rides.
There had been no glass windows on the ship. There was nowhere for the drops to chase each other. There were only cramped, stinking rooms of tarred wood, or the open deck, lashed by wind and rain day in, day out.
Letitia reached for his arm, her gnarled hand clutching his sleeve.
“Nobody knows that the Duke of Redcliffe has returned,” she whispered. “Nobody but me, the lawyers, and a couple of your friends. Don’t you long for justice, Stephen? Don’t you long to show yourself? Your father died telling the world that you would return. Don’t let me die without seeing my son vindicated and his heir returned to his rightful place.”
“One month,” Stephen whispered, his voice catching. “I came home too late to say goodbye to Father.”
The silence stung. Letitia said nothing because, of course, there was nothing to say.
When Stephen returned, the scramble had already begun to find the next Duke of Redcliffe. There had been some talk about who would inherit the estate, but time passed by, and new scandals occupied the papers, and people forgot.
It was always surprising what people were willing to forget.
“If you aren’t happy hiding here with me,” Stephen choked out. “You can always return to Society.”
“Without you? I think not,” Letitia snorted. “No, we shall stick together, Stephen. Don’t ask me to leave you, because I will not. I am not pressuring you into making any serious decisions now. Not yet. I understand that these things… these things take time. Think about it, that’s all I ask.”
“I’ll think about it,” Stephen answered.
He was not sure whether he meant it or not. Did it matter? No, probably not.
Letitia sighed, patting his arm, and then hobbled back toward the desk. She half-stumbled over a ridge in the carpet, and Stephen moved before he knew what he was doing, gently gripping her elbow and escorting her back to her seat.
“I wish you would be more careful,” he mumbled, helping her sit back down.
Letitia chuckled, reaching up to pat his cheek. “I have a companion now, remember? She’ll take good care of me, no doubt. Which brings me to the next, most obvious question. What on earth do you have in mind for those poor girls? I am assuming that you mean them no harm.”
“Of course, I mean them no harm,” Stephen responded, perching on the edge of the desk. “The man responsible for my abduction, the Viscount St. Louis, is related to them. They are his half-sisters.”
Letitia blinked, processing his revelation. “Then the old Viscount…”
“He had a secret family, yes. It’s not unusual for a man of his station to keep a mistress and a couple of other children.”
“Then they are illegitimate.”
Stephen nodded. “As far as I can tell, they were left penniless when the old Viscount died.”
