“Then what do you need?” Robert stared him straight in the eye. “Do you even know?”
It took a moment for Caleb to turn the question over in his head and find the right answer. “Yes,” he finally said. “I believe getting away for a while would help.”
Robert studied him with increased interest. “Where would you go?”
Caleb snorted. “I have no idea. If I head to one of my country estates, all the problems I’m trying to escape will surely follow.”
“So you want to go somewhere where you won’t be bothered.”
“Just long enough for me to find my bearings again.” Because he could not believe this was all there would be to his life— now until he drew his last breath. There had to be more to it than sitting in a study, going over numbers. Somehow, he had to rediscover himself, recover from the shock of losing his father and brother, and find the means to stay true to himself while being a duke.
“Is your secretary capable of running things without you during this absence?”
“I believe so,” Caleb said with conviction. The man had worked with his father for the past two decades. He knew everything he needed to know to handle things efficiently, which made Caleb warm to the idea of taking a break. Perhaps it would be more possible than he’d dared to believe.
“In that case, I have a proposal I’d like for you to consider.” A smirk made Robert’s mouth tilt with a hint of mischief. “I have a modest property in Cornwall. Clearview is its name. It’s a decent place, but the money I’ve sent for repairs has, as I understand it, been spent on other things.”
Caleb frowned. “If you think your servants are stealing from you, it might be prudent to go and investigate the matter.”
“And so I would if I had the time, but with Vivien’s pregnancy, I am reluctant to leave her side at the moment, so I thought perhaps…”
Understanding dawned. “You want me to go in your stead?”
Leaning forward, Robert rested his elbows on his knees and pierced Caleb with a direct stare. “I believe a man like you who enjoys working with his hands might take pleasure in seeing to some of the repairs himself.”
“You could be right,” Caleb said. The prospect of mending a leaking roof or a crumbling wall held a lot of appeal. “I can also hire new servants for you, if you think that might be helpful.”
A flicker of amusement brightened Robert’s eyes. “There are no servants there, Caleb. Just my sister, her friends, and the orphaned children they offer sanctuary to.”
Caleb blinked. “Your sister?” Robert had several, some younger, some older.
“Cassandra, to be exact. She’s five years younger than us, so you might not recall her. She debuted after you left England.” His expression cooled a fraction as he added, “She made the scandalous choice of bedding her fiancée before they were married. Poor devil died on his way to the church, struck down by an oncoming carriage.”
“Jesus!”
Robert nodded. “Cassandra sought my help shortly after. Apparently, that one indiscretion had gotten her pregnant. When she refused to pass her child off as another’s, which was what our parents advised, they threatened to turn her out of the house. So I secretly bought a place for her to live. When two other girls encountered similar hardships, Cassandra invited them to come with her. During the last five years, they have taken in several children, who cost more to keep than they can afford with the measly donations they receive from friends and family.”
“In other words,” Caleb said slowly, “these three spinsters are mismanaging funds in an effort to run a make-shift orphanage?”
“More or less,” Robert said with a shrug.
“And you have allowed this to continue for five years?” Caleb could scarcely believe it. It wasn’t that he didn’t approve of the kindness these women were showing toward the less fortunate, but if they let the house fall into complete disrepair, the day would come when they wouldn’t even have that. And then what?
“She’s my sister,” Robert said. “I have tried to help her as much as I can while keeping her scandalous circumstances at bay. She and her friends have been hidden away and mostly forgotten, but they are constantly in need of assistance, and I simply don’t have the time or the resources to keep ensuring they’re well looked after. I have my own family to consider, estates to tend to as well as investments and parliamentary responsibilities. You know how it is.”
Wasn’t that the truth of it? Caleb flattened his mouth and considered his choices: stay in London, tied to a desk and with endless demands placed before him, or ride off to Cornwall for a breath of fresh air and the physical activity awaiting him there.
He knew which he preferred, but there was still one problem. “It would be unseemly for me to live in a house with three unmarried women.”
“Spinsters, Caleb, not debutantes. Makes all the difference, you know. But I actually agree, which is why I suggest you stay in the caretaker’s cottage.”
“There’s a caretaker’s cottage?” How big was this place?
“It’s nothing to get excited over since it’s only one room, but if you want to stop being a duke for a while and pretend you’re a…” he waved his hand between them before settling on, “laborer instead, then you’re welcome to it.”
Uncertainty settled between Caleb’s shoulder blades. “How come no one’s living in this cottage right now?”
“Because the caretaker I hired to keep things in order had a massive row with my sister’s friend, Mary Clemens.”
