Needing a moment to get her annoyance in check, she presented Rhenick with her back and watched the small waves cresting on the lake, drawing in a few deep breaths when the sight and sound of the water did nothing to disperse her annoyance.
When she finally felt as if she’d be capable of speaking somewhat rationally to the man, she turned back to Rhenick. “Perhaps you could expand on how exactly you’d go about assisting me with the dangerous situation I’m evidently facing.”
He immediately took to smiling, something that drew attention to what she hadn’t neglected to notice was a far-too-attractive face, which was, given her past experience with a far-too-attractive ex-fiancé, not a mark in his favor.
“I can assist you because I’m acquainted with numerous developers in the area and can help you broker a lucrative deal with any of them.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Which sounds lovely, to be sure, but what would you expect in return? A percentage of the sale, perhaps?”
His smile slipped just a touch. “I wouldn’t expect anything.”
It was difficult to resist a snort, and to avoid the temptation to do exactly that, which might be detrimental to her academy idea if Rhenick spread the word around that the headmistress of said academy made it a point to emit unladylike snorts at will, she spun around and faced the lake. After drawing in more than a few deeps breaths, she forced a smile and turned around. “Allow me to thank you, Mr. Whittenbecker, for your kind, and need I add unexpected, offer of support. However, know that I don’t have any intention of selling.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t believe that’s any of your concern.”
“Given that I’m good friends with your aunt, and Ottilie would certainly want me to look after your safety, I disagree—unless you’re about to tell me that your father, brother, or perhaps even your intended are traveling to join you soon.”
She lifted her chin. “My father has been dead for over two years, I’ve never had a brother, and my intended tossed me over about five months ago. But know that I don’t need any man to come racing to my rescue, as I’m perfectly capable of seeing after myself.”
A trace of something that looked almost like disbelief flickered through Rhenick’s eyes before he took a step closer to her. “I fear I must have misheard you, Miss Merriweather, because surely you didn’t just say that your intended tossed you over, did you?”
She refused a sigh. “I’m afraid I did, although clearly the unusual events of this day are catching up with me as I had no intention of mentioning Elbert to anyone in Chicago, nor wasI intending on allowing anyone to know I’d once been engaged. However...” She caught his eye. “Since Ihavebrought Elbert into our conversation, not that I’m going to speak further on the matter of my broken engagement, he made a point of telling me that the most prominent families in Chicago prefer living on Prairie Avenue. That suggests you may very well be mistaken about the desirability of this property.”
“Your ex-fiancé isn’t wrong in that Prairie Avenue is thought to be the most prestigious residence in Chicago,” Rhenick said. “With that said, though, ever since Potter Palmer built a million-dollar mansion only a half mile from here, the wealthy are clamoring to emulate his lead.” He frowned. “I’m curious, though, why this Elbert, who’s clearly not an intelligent man, was discussing Prairie Avenue with you.”
Drusilla returned the frown. “He was hoping I’d be coming into a windfall, but why would you assume Elbert lacks intelligence?”
“He tossed you over, didn’t he?”
An unexpected ribbon of warmth began winding its way up Drusilla’s neck to settle on her cheeks as the thought struck that no one, apart from her immediate family and Seraphina, had said anything negative about Elbert to her until now. And even though it hardly spoke well of her character to hear Rhenick question Elbert’s intelligence, it...
“If you ask me, you’re well shot of the man,” Rhenick said, pulling Drusilla abruptly from her thoughts. “He hardly sounds like a charming sort, especially not if he was reconsidering tossing you over if you could hand him an unexpected windfall.”
Before Drusilla had an opportunity to respond, Norbert came striding through the door that led to the courtyard and set his sights on her. “Thought you might have come outside to get some fresh air,” he said once he stopped a few feet away from her. “My apologies for the way the castle smells right now. I wasn’t expecting any of Miss Ottilie’s relatives to come by,else I would’ve made a point to clean up the mess all the goats and Mother Goose made.”
“Why were they left to make a mess in the first place?” Drusilla asked.
Norbert took a second to reattach his suspender before he lifted his head. “I’ve been using the goats as an alarm system ever since the staff left over a year ago.”
“Because ...?” Drusilla pressed.
“There wasn’t anyone left in the castle to alert me about peculiar happenstances.”
“Peculiar happenstances that involve the ghost of my aunt Ottilie?”
Norbert’s eyes widened. “Do not say you’ve already caught sight of her, because I’ve yet to get a true glimpse of her. Frankly, I’ve been feeling rather slighted because Miss Ottilie showed herself to numerous members of her staff before they bolted to take up positions elsewhere, but hasn’t shown herself to me.”
“No need to worry that Aunt Ottilie’s slighted you again by already making an appearance for me because I haven’t caught so much as a glimpse of her floating around,” Drusilla returned. “In all honesty, I’ve never been a believer in ghosts. I also can’t help but wonder why everyone assumed it was my aunt causing mischief in the castle since I never received a single telegram from my aunt’s solicitor telling me there was even a chance my aunt might be dead, let alone an official notice of her death.”
“I don’t know why Mr. Baumgartner wouldn’t have sent you word about all the trouble going on here, especially since he must have known Miss Ottilie transferred the castle over to you. Seems sketchy on his part, but you won’t be able to ask him anything about that since he disappeared not long after the suit of armor incident.”
“There was a suit of armor incident?” Drusilla forced herself to ask.
“Too right there was. A suit of armor was spotted strollingaround the great hall in the middle of the night, swinging a mace as it strolled and moaning up a storm.” Norbert shook his head. “That was the final straw for the staff who lived here. They packed up their belongings and skedaddled off to new positions with a swell who lives in Hyde Park the very next morning.”
“You weren’t interested in skedaddling?” Rhenick asked.
