It did not fill her with sadness, though; Cedric was a man of structure, of routines. He was probably in his study, having downed three cups of coffee, and was surrounded by a mountain of files.
I need to tell him about his steward.
Rising from the bed, she paused to run a hand over the pillow he’d slept on before slipping away and into her rooms. Half an hour later, she stepped into his study in an unadorned day dress, finding him as she had expected to find him, elbow deep in work.
“Cedric,” she stepped closer. “I hate to pull you away from your work but there is something I need to tell you. Well, two things, actually.”
He looked up, a frown creasing his brow. “Are you in pain? Was I too rough last night? I can?—”
“No, it’s not that,” she held back a blush. “It’s about the orphanage. I—” she steeled herself. “—I believe your steward is stealing from them and by extension, you.”
Instantly, he shook his head. “I don’t believe that. Draven is an honorable man.”
“Give me a moment,” she said, leaving the room for her drawing room. Scooping up the folios Hunt had given her and the one she had checked herself, she carried them back to him and rested them on his desk. “I went over the numbers myself.”
He still looked doubtful but started his review. While he did so, she called for a light breakfast and tea. The crumpets had barely hit the table when Cedric growled. “I am going to kill him.”
She dismissed her maid quickly, then turned to him, “I don’t think this is the first time he has done this either.”
A curse left his mouth as he pushed from his table and strode to his bookshelf and hefted a whole row into his arms. “These are the last five years,” he carried them to another table. “I willhave my man-of-business go through them and look for anyminusculeinconsistency.”
She took a bracing sip of tea and then said, “Yesterday, my sister Isolde came to visit. She told me some disturbing news. She thinks my uncle is going to sell the house that my father left us out from under my mother.
“I know my uncle is a spendthrift and a gambler.” She grimaced. “I think my uncle made a reckless bet and has given the house to settle his debt, or he is out of money to sustain his lifestyle and needs some quick funds. Only God knows what he had done with the rest of father’s assets.”
His jaw tightened, “That is an easier situation to figure out. If the courts have warrants for payment from creditors, I can find out how much debt he is in.”
“What if he does manage to sell our house?” Ariadne asked worriedly.
He rounded the desk and took the other seat across the small table, his head angled to the left. “Let’s cross that bridge when we get there.”
A knock on the door had both turning just as Cedric called out. “Enter.”
Mrs. Grimes, the governess, stepped in with a curtsey. “Good morning, Your Grace. I hate to bother you, but I cannot findLady Emily for her lessons. The maids assured me she had her breakfast, but now she is nowhere to be found.”
Cedric stood, “Did any of the footmen say she left the house?”
“No reports about that were given to me,” Mrs. Grimes said.
“She should be around here somewhere, lollygagging.” He said, “Or with a book in hand. Don’t worry, Mrs. Grimes, I will find her.”
Pushing away from the table, Ariadne asked, “Where would she go?”
“I’d normally say the garden, but since the footmen did not see her leave, I assume she is either in the library, the attic, or a nook in her rooms,” he said.
They searched her room first and then headed to the library; Cedric flung the drapes to the window seats away, and Ariadne counted five before he tugged the last one away.
Emily was curled up on the cramped space with the kitten Ariadne had plucked out of the pond a day ago in the crook of her arms.
Worriedly, Ariadne’s eyes flickered to Cedric, apprehensive of what he was going to do, but when his shoulders sagged, and a wry smile crossed his face, she relaxed.
Coming to her side, she rested a hand on his arm. “Will you let her have it?”
“Wasn’t the ball of lint yours first?” he asked dryly.
“She can have it,” Ariadne replied. “But she cannot sleep here, though. She might be young, but necks are not to bend that way.”
Prying the kitten from Emily and handing it to Ariadne, he gently lifted his daughter, and with one arm under her and the other holding her head, he carried her from the library and down to her bedroom.
