“I’m sorry, Laura.” Cilla followed her and placed a hand on her arm. She smiled. “Come tomorrow. I’ll finish the portrait.”
“The last sitting?” Laura asked with a rush ofrelief.
“Yes. A short one.”
“Good. Tomorrow then.”
Outside on the step, the faithful dogs bounded to their feet. She bent and patted both of their satiny heads. “Good dogs. Let’s go home.”
Cilla did feel a great deal for Amanda, although she wasn’t blind to her faults. Laura wondered if it had been a romantic love or a close friendship. Laura continued through the park. Cilla might not have entirely approved of Amanda, but she still suffered a terrible loss. The dogs suddenly took off as Nathaniel appeared through thetrees.
“I would have preferred you wait for me,” he said when he reached her. He placed an arm around her shoulders, his expression grave. She hated that he worried abouther.
Laura laid her head against hischest.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. It’s just that I love you so.”
“And I love you. But that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
He grinned and tipped her chin to kiss her. Laura wrapped her arms around his neck. Whatever had happened, she couldn’t tamp down the burst of rapture at his simple declaration so freelygiven.
Nathaniel whistled to Orsino who sniffed the bushes a few yards away. “I’m for a good dinner and a brandy by the library fire.”
“Me too. A good dinner anyway.” Laura smiled up at him. “Do you know I haven’t a clue where Rudge’s accommodation is in the house? Does he reside with the other servants on the floor above ours?”
“Yes, but he’s not in the same wing as the maids.”
“It would be easy for him to slip down the back stairs to Amanda’s room, wouldn’t it?”
Nathaniel frowned. “I have questioned him, Laura. He was staying with a friend in the village. He has provided me with a name.”
“She might lie for him.”
“What makes you think it’s a woman?”
“Isn’t it?”
“No, it’s Fred Peterson and a few others. They meet to play cards.”
“And he spent the night there?”
“No. He crossed not long after you did. Once the tide was out.”
Laura paused and turned to him. “I know you don’t like to talk about when Amanda died…” She paused at his bleak expression. “Do you remember where everyone was that day?”
“Of course I remember!” he snapped. “Do you think I’d forget?”
Would he ever be free of her? “I’m sorry if this upsets you.” To her dismay her voice broke slightly. “But where was Rudge that afternoon?”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” Nathaniel passed a tired hand across his brow. “Amanda disappeared sometime in the afternoon.” He thought for a moment. “I was working in my study; Rudge had been away on an errand in the village.”
“Do you remember what the errand was?”
He sighed. “Something personal, I believe.”
“Rudge often goes to the village, doesn’t he? I remember he was absent the day I arrived here.”
