The climb made conversation difficult and gave Gideon time to come to a decision. The bench stood where he remembered, and they sank onto it gratefully.
“Is the drop safe for Hector?” she asked, leaning forward to peer at it.
“The slope is more gradual than it appears. He’ll manage.” The great beast was happily exploring already.
Gideon put a hand to Mia’s cheek. She blinked up at him expectantly. “I’m going to tell you some things about my birth. About the duke. Things you have a right to know as my future wife. What I tell you must be kept in absolute confidence. You must repeat it to no one. Not one person.”
“I would never betray you,” she murmured, meeting his direct gaze.
“The information might not hurt you and me, but it could do my brother harm.” He had her absolute attention. “Most of my life, I accepted what the world believed. My father impregnated my mother and abandoned her in the way of some soldiers when the troops moved out. Some called me Mary’s bastard boy. I just accepted that reality as long as I had Grandfather and Mam’s love, though neither of them ever used that word. When she died and I discovered the army officer had become a duke, I was shocked. That he found me cause for shame and disgust was my lot here at Woodglen. Then he sent me to his mines in Wales and told everyone I was dead. Phillip inherited, believing it.”
Mia nodded solemnly. “All of Nether Abbas thought you were dead. But you said ‘most.’ You said ‘most of your life.’ What happened?”
“Not quite two years ago, my mother’s brother turned up searching for me. He expected me to be Duke of Glenmoor. He was furious when he was shown in and found Phillip.”
“How could he think that? Didn’t he understand that only a legitimate heir can inherit?”
He gave her a moment to think about it, entranced by the emotions flitting across her face as she sorted it. She glanced up sharply. “He believed they were married!”
“He did. Isaiah Jessop was a vile man hoping to extort money. He stalked Phillip and my stepmother, Madelyn, then still the dowager duchess.”
“Couldn’t the duke have had him jailed or deported?”
“There’s more. Remember, Phillip and Madelyn believed I was dead, but Madelyn, it turned out, had her own secrets. She had discovered the letter that had come with me from South Carolina. She hid it away and used it to blackmail the old duke.”
“For her own safety, from what you’ve told me. What a horrid man your father was. You have much to forgive,” she murmured.
“Forgive? Is that the Methodist forbears talking?” he said, genuinely startled by the word. It had certainly never occurred to him.
She nodded, studying her feet. “What was in the letter?” she asked.
“It said, ‘Your wife is dead. I’m sending you your son.’ The dating was enough to call into question the old duke’s marriage to Phillip’s mother. She left it alone. If I was dead, she thought, it didn’t matter.”
Mia stared out at the magnificent panorama of Dorset countryside for long moments. “But you aren’t,” she murmured. She gazed back at him. “And it means that you are his legitimate oldest son. Is that it? You’re the true duke.”
“Phillip is the duke. His title was confirmed on him by committee of Parliament, and they won’t rescind it, but the ensuing scandal would be horrible. He is determined to make it right in the next generation, with the title falling to my son Daniel rather than any son of his,” he said. “He’s left documents with his solicitor laying it out.” He grimaced.
“But how did you find out?” she asked.
“Madelyn knew my father to be a liar. My uncle’s words reminded her of the letter. She decided she needed to unearth the truth about my fate, and Phillip joined her. Imagine the surprise when they found me alive, well, and prospering. The reunion was welcome. The letter was not.”
Mia nodded, lost in thought. “You love your brother.”
“I do. I always did. None of this is his fault—except for running away to lick his wounds and leaving me to manage.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “The thing is, that letter is not proof. Phillip believes it, and my sire’s determination to get the son he despised out of the way lends credence.”
“Do you care?”
“I didn’t think I did. But the thought of Felton Tavernash inheriting changed my mind. I’ve begun to search the family papers for proof one way or the other. Perhaps if I set Phillip’s mind at ease, he’ll come home and sire his own damned heir. Pardon my language.”
“I can help. I’m good with papers. I helped Uncle Ludlow sort his,” she said.
He raised her hand and kissed her knuckles through her glove. “A partner?”
She beamed at him. “I like that idea.”
The need to kiss her drove out rational thought. He leaned forward until breaths mingled and her herbal scent sent waves of heat to his most precious parts.
Hector bounded up at that and plopped at her feet, gazing up expectantly and breaking the spell. She turned her attention to the beast’s pleasure, leaving Gideon with frustrated longing, one thought in his mind.Soon. We’ll marry soon.
