Turning, she pierced the nurse with a stern look. The woman paused in her own search—really, what were the odds Callan was hiding inside his own boots?—and eyed her worriedly. Athena hugged the pillow, then exhaled and straightened her shoulders.
“I have been meaning to talk to ye, Annie.”
“About Callan?” the nurse prompted hesitantly.
Athena nodded firmly. “I have been told Callan has been getting into mischief in the last few weeks,thievingthings.”
“No’ Callan?—”
“Aye, my son is the culprit.” Athena knew as well as any that her lad could get into mischief. “I trust my father’s judgement, and he claims he saw the lad swipe books from the library, blankets, that sort of thing. He stole a pair of spectacles from my brother’s new wife before they were married, and now he has acquired an entiretrifle?”
“Milady,” began Annie hesitantly, “I’ve no’ seen those items.” She looked around the room, her arms held out from her side. “Surely if he was thieving them, he’d bring them back here?” She went as far as to spin in a circle, looking around the room. “But I havenae seen anything new arrive in the nursery, no’ like that.”
Hmm.
Frowning, Athena looked around, admitting that, at first glance, she didn’t see any of the pilfered items either. A stack of books might be hidden among the children’s reading material, perhaps, but a pair of women’s eyeglasses would stand out, as would the number of pillows which her son had filched.
And a pilfered trifle woulddefinitelystand out!
With a groan, Athena sunk down onto one of the chairs, suddenly exhausted. A headache was building behind her eyes, and sheknewit was because of the tears she hadn’t fully shed that morning.
“Callan is fine,” she muttered to herself. She’d taught him how to be self-reliant, and knew he was just poking aboutthe manor, likely trying to find someplace to hide the trifle he’d pinched.
Honestly, how in the world did a lad his age manage to steal an entire dessert? Was he just wandering around the manor at that moment, struggling to balance a giant crystal bowl of cream?
This will be messy.
Annie fell to her knees beside Athena. “Oh, milady! Please forgive me! All these times he was allegedly stealing these things?—”
“No’ allegedly,” Athena corrected wearily. “I believe my father. Callan is the culprit.”
“Butwhenwould he do such a thing, milady? He’s either with ye or with me at all times.”
With a weary sigh, Athena dropped the pillow and began to massage her temples. “Apparently no’.Apparently, the wee rabble-rouser has figured out how to slip away with each of us assuming he is with the other. Like now, for instance.”
The nurse was becoming flustered. “I swear, milady. I thought he was with ye. I thought ye’d taken him to the river to swim again?—”
Athena lifted one hand to wave off her objections. “I should have had this talk with ye immediately after I learned of his shenanigans, but I was…distracted.”
Distracted by a dance with a duke, and what she’d learned after that dance.
I was going to ask you to be my mistress.
I would have agreed.
Damnation!
“I’m sorry, Lady Athena,” the nurse said quietly. “I understand if ye dinnae want me to work with Callan after such a breach of trust?—”
Athena waved away her objections with another sigh. “I am as much to blame as ye are, for making assumptions. Let us find the lad, and together we will explain how this isno’acceptable behavior. He is the one who set out to fool us both, and he deserves a punishment.”
Annie offered a relieved smile. “Aye, milady. We’ll put the fear of God in him!”
Nodding, Athena rose to her feet and offered a hand to her son’s nurse. “Ye look up here, and perhaps in the servants’ quarters, and I will begin the search downstairs.”
She might’ve said more, but a knock interrupted her.
They both turned to the nursery door as it opened and one of the footmen stuck in a head, looking relieved to have found her. “Lady Athena, you have a visitor downstairs.”
