But he knew something was amiss.And until he understood what it was and made certain she did not require his help, he felt compelled to press his assistance a little longer.
God help him.
* * *
As soon as Blackvale’s carriage rumbled away on the street, Valaria turned on her heel and went back into the house, her breath short.She hurried upstairs and flung herself into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.Stepping over trunks and boxes that had yet to be unpacked, she collapsed onto her bed where she stared up at the ceiling as she huffed out angry breath after angry breath.
Who she was angry at, well, that was debatable.She was angry at Callum, first and foremost.He had intruded upon her space, filling it with his presence and his questions.She was angry at Silas for creating a scenario where she couldn’t just thank the man for his offer and never fear what his apparent persistence would reveal.
But mostly she was angry with herself.For not being able to manage Callum better.For being so impacted by his presence and his attention and his…his bigness that filled up her parlor and made it and her feel small in its presence.She was angry at herself for not being able to better put him off.
She pulled her pillow over her face with a cry of frustration.
“I beg your pardon, Your Grace.”
Valaria jolted to a seated position and the pillow fell away, revealing her maid, Fanny, at the door which led to the adjoining dressing room.With any other servant, she would have been humiliated at being seen in such a state, but over the years Fanny had seen her in far worse.The two had formed a true friendship and so she didn’t try to pretend Fanny hadn’t seen exactly what she’d seen.
“Having a good scream out, are we?”Fanny pressed as she entered the room and picked up the pillow that had fallen to the floor.
“A bit of one, yes,” Valaria admitted.
“Your tea with the other duchesses could not have been so very bad, could it?”Fanny asked with a little smile.
Valaria shook her head.“No, not at all.They were very kind and I was able to avoid any questions that might lead to the kind of follow-up you and I wish to avoid.I would have called it an almost complete success of a day until I got home.We had a visitor, Fanny.”
The maid shifted.“From your tone and pale face, not one you wished to see.Tell me it is not the new duke, come to pry into places he’d best leave alone.”
“Franklin gives not a whit about his late cousin,” Valaria said with a wave of her hand, “and is likely too busy making terrible decor choices in my favorite parlor to think one bit about me or Silas.”She pushed from the bed.“No, this visitor is far more dangerous, because, for some reason, hedidcare for the late duke.Did you ever encounter the Duke of Blackvale?”
Fanny hesitated.
“One of Silas’s oldest friends,” Valaria supplied.“The tallest, most frustratingly handsome man in London with a mop of hair that looks like someone’s fingers have combed through it…perhaps not his own.”
There was a light of recognition in Fanny’s gaze.“Yes, I think I did pass through a room with you at some point and encounter the man you’re describing.The late duke called him Cal, I think.”
“And he called my husband Si.”She clenched her hands at her sides.“Thick as thieves, they were.And Blackvale had a weakness to Silas that I could never explain.An inability to see his lesser traits.”She rolled her eyes.“So all Callum recalls is the best of him.And he feels some obligation to look after me, he says.”
Fanny swallowed.“I see.Do you think he is the type to ask…to ask certain kinds of questions?”
“Yes,” Valaria burst out, fluttering her hands around her as she paced across the room.“He will do nothing but ask questions and intrude and see through me if I try to hide things.”
“Can you put him off?”Fanny asked.
“I tried,” Valaria said on a heavy sigh that felt like it came from the depths of her very soul.“But he intends to call again, he says.And I have no idea how to manage him.”
“Then we’ll have to figure that out,” Fanny said, worrying her hands before her.“After all, there are a great many ways to control a man.Coldness, boring him, avoiding him...”
Valaria cleared her throat, and that interrupted Fanny’s continued suggestions on how to bring a man to heel.“I can only hope I’m getting ahead of myself.He wished to check on my welfare.I ensured him I was fine.Now that he is relieved of what he considered a duty, perhaps he’ll simply forget all about me.After all, he must have far more pressing concerns on his mind.”
Fanny seemed to consider it.“Yes, we will hope he’ll move on then.And if he doesn’t, I promise you, Your Grace, together we will find a way to put him off.”She smiled brightly, though Valaria wondered if that was just Fanny’s way of comforting her.“Now, I had some thoughts about how we might best organize your gowns.Would you like to look at what I have in mind?”
Valaria nodded and followed her maid into the dressing room.But all the while they were discussing the ins and outs of how to organize her new life, she couldn’t help but think of Callum.
And how he didn’t seem the kind of man who would forget all about her and whatever promise he’d made in his head to protect her.
