“I can’t,” Charity snapped, then regretted it immediately because it sounded childish.
“Why?” his voice sounded a lot less guarded.
“I suppose the conditions are not ideal,” she frowned. A week before, she could never have imagined that she would ever find herself in a situation like this.
“Would it help to talk?” he said, and she could feel him turning towards her.
“You’re not the sort of man who enjoys conversation,” she said, “so I’m surprised at this offer.”
“I enjoy silence,” Duncan replied, “but I don’t wish for you to be groggy tomorrow. So, if it helps…”
She swallowed and took a breath, forcing herself to be practical. If she kept thinking, she would keep spiraling. If she asked questions, perhaps she could anchor herself in reality.
“Fine,” she whispered. “Then answer me. I shall ask you questions.”
Duncan made a low sound that might have been an agreement. Charity stared into the darkness and asked the question that had been circling her mind since she woke in Blackford.
“You’re Scottish,” she said. “So how did you end up being a duke?”
“I was raised in Scotland,” he said. “Most of my life.”
“But you have an English title?” she said. Clearly, both things did not go together.
“Aye.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’re here,” Charity pressed. “Or how you became a duke.”
Now that she thought about him, she had a string of questions. Shewascurious about him.
Duncan was silent long enough that Charity thought he might refuse. Then he said, “My father was English. He inherited the title before I was born, and he didn’t live in Scotland, but he… had reasons to send me north.”
“Reasons?” Charity’s brows drew together. “What sort?”
Again, she was not sure whether he would even answer. But then was surprised when he did.
“He wasn’t a man fit to raise a child.”
He had said the words so casually that it took her a moment to understand what they meant, and the seriousness of them.
“So you were sent away?” she swallowed. She suddenly felt herself drawing comparisons with her own situation, though she did not want to assume much.
“I came back when I was told he was dying,” he admitted. “I was his only son, and therefore had to return.”
Charity’s throat tightened again, thinking of her parents' funeral.We seem to have more in common than I expected,she thought.
“And when he died, you became the duke?” Charity’s fingers curled beneath the covers.
“Aye. It was a shift, though,” he said. “I brought Malcolm with me, as he made the place feel less strange.”
“He’s very comfortable with you.”
“Aye. He’s been comfortable with my temper since we were boys,” Duncan’s voice turned dry. ”
“Since you were boys,” Charity repeated. “So he’s not just an employee.”
“No,” Duncan said. “But I brought other staff from Scotland, people who’d served my family there.”
Charity’s mind flicked to Mrs. Sinclair and Rowan. It was suddenly beginning to make some more sense to her.
