Kevin fixed his cuffs and settled his coat on his shoulders. “I was serious when I said that was where they can be found.”
“The one I located was not in a brothel. Ever. Uncle Frederick paid well for those services. He would not feel the need to leave fat legacies for any of those women.”
“Then I am wasting my time. It is mine to squander, and I’ve quite a bit of it at my disposal right now.”
“Have you had any success?” If Kevin wanted to search in brothels, Chase wasn’t going to stop him. For one thing, his cousin knew those establishments and their owners far better than Chase did.
“I have discovered the annoying truth that some of them exercise extreme discretion where he is concerned.”
Chase led the way out. They walked around the edge of the main hall, past other fencing matches taking place. “Well, he was a duke. I expect he demanded discretion.”
“I can’t imagine why. Anyway, last night I tried a different path. I presented myself to the madam and informed her I was his nephew. I then said I would like to be introduced to his most recent favorite, so I might enjoy her favors as he did.”
Chase laughed. “A memorial fuck? It sounds almost sentimental.”
“I thought so. My thinking was that this favorite might know about prior favorites, and even their real names. They rarely use real names in those houses.”
“I am not green, Kevin. I do not visit brothels with your or Uncle’s regularity, but I know the basics.”
“Of course. So that was my thinking—to get into a room with his latest favorite, and get her talking.”
“Clever.”
“Are you being sarcastic?”
“No, no. How did your plan fare?”
Kevin led the way out to the street. “The madam informed me that it would be most inappropriate if one of Uncle’s male relatives partook of the same wine he had recently drunk. Have you ever heard of such a thing? She was most severe too. I felt like I was being scolded by a vicar. She all but accused me of incest.”
They stopped at their horses, and Kevin’s frown suddenly cleared. “Damnation. I’ll wager he told them to say that, to refuse any of us his women. Don’t laugh. You know he could be selfish about some things. He didn’t always share nicely.”
“I am not laughing at you, or your idea. I think maybe you are right.”
Kevin untied his horse. “He probably did not want to be compared with anyone so close to home, as it were.”
Chase laughed again.
Kevin swung up. “I am going to Whiteford House to look around. Do you want to join me? We can drink some of the excellent wine Nicholas inherited.”
“I have another engagement, I’m sorry to say. Are you going to look for the mechanical butler?”
“That and other things. Our conversation about it conjured up many other memories.” He turned his horse west.
Chase mounted his own horse, but headed east instead.
* * *
Mr. Oliver was not a happy man. Round of face and body, sparse of hair, he kept looking at his wife with an expression of strained forbearance. Minerva sat with her across from him at the dining room table at their house, untying the thin package she had brought.
“Miss Hepplestone, my wife should have never wasted your time.”
“Hepplewhite. I think that in a few minutes you will be most grateful she did.”
“Unlikely. Women have no head for business nor any ability to conduct it. That is why I do not tolerate their interference.”
“It was not interference as such,” Mrs. Oliver said.
“What do you call it then?” he snapped.
