Mmm.
He mentally calculated where he could enter and how many men would have to be bypassed. He admitted that he had no idea how these thugs would operate, noting that he should ask Adrian for more particulars. His brother-in-law had given him some necessary details, but one could never be too prepared for something like this.
While he was pondering ways in which he, a duke, could enter such a dangerous territory without his throat getting slit at the first turn, a soft knock sounded at the door.
He was about to growl, since the sound had broken his concentration, when the butler announced,
“Her Grace, the Duchess of Oakmere.”
“Marianne,” Daniel muttered, suddenly feeling like a little boy at the mention of his older sister’s name.
“Enter,” he mumbled.
Marianne entered with the grace and self-possession she always had as the firstborn child of the deceased Lord Grisham. She had always been the protector of all the siblings, and Daniel appreciated it. It also reminded him, as he grew older and more mature, that he could have done better. Being a son, even though their father had considered him the cause of his mother’s death, had saved him from most of the punishments his sisters had to endure.
Guilt still wracked him these days. The deaths of Uncle Algernon and his cousin Kenneth reminded him of how fragile life could be. He could not just be complacent, even though his sisters were all happily married now.
Marianne went straight to him and wrapped him in a warm embrace. His chest tightened with emotion.
“I heard that you’ve been in this room for hours, Daniel,” she murmured. Her voice was like a melancholy reproof. She alone was capable of doing that. “The sun will be setting soon?—”
“It is not,” he interrupted, anxiously watching the sky through his window.
“Well, it does feel like it. You have been here for hours, and that is accurate. Are you trying to turn into a statue?”
“I am fine, dear sister,” Daniel insisted, sighing.
He placed a hand on the nape of his neck and massaged it a little. There was no sense hiding it. She knew him well.
“There are matters I must attend to urgently. It is, after all, my duty to manage the duchy. It was enough of a shock that I had to do it for a marquisate, but at least there had always been a possibility it would happen. I did not expect to become a duke, but I don’t want to be the one to drive the estates into ruin.”
Marianne’s eyes swept over his desk, squinting at the marks and scribbled notes. Her fingers hovered close to the name Moses Gordon.
Daniel held his breath. What if she found out what he was planning to do? Would she stop him or help him? While the Duchess of Oakmere hated hunting because of her love for animals, she had no qualms about hunting terrible humans.
“Daniel, I don’t know what you are planning to do. Some of these don’t look related to your duchy, but even if they are, think about it. Your duchy is thriving. I’ve heard many good things about Stonewynn and how you have continued on our uncle’s and cousin’s good practices while continuing to improve the processes and results. However, you are withering. You’re the one who is not thriving. Everyone deserves a break, including you. You need a moment to breathe without having to carry the weight of the world on your weary shoulders.”
Daniel didn’t reply. His head dipped as he focused on his ledgers and maps once more. He clenched his jaw. There were things he wanted to tell his sister, but they were better kept secret. She didn’t deserve to be ignored or kept secrets from.
“I guess you are right, Marianne,” he murmured.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, with a sigh. That drew his attention back to her. “Elizabeth, Wilhelmina, and the twins feel the same way. Just because we have married dukes and have children, does not mean we have forgotten our brother. We would like tosee you from time to time, and we don’t want an appointment with the Duke. We want to see you as our brother. Simply you.”
Daniel finally met her probing, worried eyes. He didn’t know what she could see in his own, but he felt bone-tired at only thirty-one years old.
As much as she loved his sister, looking at her reminded him of his failures. She was the eldest, and she had taken the brunt of their father’s violent rage. He was a male heir, so he had often escaped from the constant fear. Not only that, he had traveled to the Continent as a much younger man and had a life away from their father’s glares and the tip of his cane. He owed his sister so much, and that debt would never be truly paid, no matter what he did.
“I—I had been preoccupied, but you are right. I will make a better effort to visit everyone more often. I promise,” he rasped.
Marianne smiled, which made her whole face light up.
If there was one thing he could be thankful for about being with family, it was how genuine they were and how truly united they were. He knew it was never a given with families. Some might be related by blood, but they still competed or fought over money or property. It had never been like that with them.
“Good. Now that you’ve said that, I am holding you to your word. I am planning to host a ball in a fortnight. You know what I feel about such things. People find me too different, not quite to their liking. The only thing they like about me is my title. But I willhost a ball at the townhouse for you. It will be a grand thing, and I’d very much like to see you there, enjoying yourself.”
Daniel groaned, not even hiding his dislike for such affairs. “A ball, Marianne? Of all things? I loathe them. Our dear sister just hosted one, and I was not there. It always suffocates me. The heat of several bodies in one place. The small talk we all had to live through. Mothers pushing their daughters at me, like prizes. Some of those daughters would come to me only because of my title or only because their mothers had forced them to. It’s tedious.”
“Mhm. It is only tedious if you refuse to dance,” Marianne retorted with a shrug.
