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There was a pause, and Richard could sense Edward setting down the cravat and glass on the wash basin behind him. The Duke didn’t move, still staring at the fireplace, which now held renewed flames that flickered sporadically. Edward returned, unfastening the stock beneath the fine lawn of Richard’s shirt.

He draped the stiff neckband over his arm as he went for the buttons of his shirt sleeves. Richard held out his arms, moving by rote alone until his wrists and neck were free of the tension around them. Edward assisted him with one side of his breeches, allowing Richard to let them fall to the floor.

“You have made the staff aware, Your Grace. I will, of course, be ever at your side should you continue to call for me.”

Standing in only his shirt, Richard nodded, though he was not certain why.

“Might I, however, offer a word regarding your return.” This time, Richard turned to face Edward. “You have no call to heed my words, of course. It is merely a gesture of appreciation as I have been devoted to helping you for so great a time.”

“Go ahead, Edward. I will not fault you for expressing your thoughts or opinions.”

The Duke knew it was a dangerous thing for many a servant to speak candidly to their employer, but not only was Richard of a mind to hear Edward’s thoughts, but he also would be hard-pressed to find a reason to dismiss the man. They had become something akin to friends over the years, and Richard did not wish to see his life without his faithful valet.

“You do not seem pleased to be making your departure. Am I wrong in thinking you wish to remain at Heartwick?”

Richard sighed. As much as he was typically a fantastic whist player with the stoic countenance to prove it, today appeared to be an entirely different matter altogether.

“I am afraid my emotions have been far too obvious.”

Edward offered a slight smile, walking up to pat Richard on the shoulder.

“I have years of experience reading your expressions, Your Grace. Do not take it too harshly.”

When Richard was draped in his robe, Edward guided him to sit down in the small chair that sat by the window. It would be his usual place for taking an evening repast or tea in his room would Heartwick have been the place where he resided, not Blackford.

“I…I must return to the country. There is nothing more to be done here, and I am sure that Amelia can maintain the household without issues. It was clearly the work of jaded gossips to place her name in the scandal sheets, and I shall think of them no longer. Amelia is free to do as she wishes. With…whomever she wishes to do them.”

The words sounded as pretty as ever. Were they inked into a letter, it would be impossible to disprove their veracity. But Richard could hear the slight affectation of his speech, the way that he hesitated just a hair too long. He had yet to say, even in his mind, the reality of his feelings, and he could not let himself slip now.

“Your Grace, do you think?—”

“Edward, we are in my bedroom, myself undressed, and you have stood as my attendant for nearly twelve years, the fact coming from your own mouth, please, call me Richard.”

His valet chuckled slightly. “Apologies…Richard.”

As the two of them grinned at the oddness of circumstance, Edward took up a seat across from him at the minute table in his room.

“Would you care to express why it is that you do not wish to return to Blackford but feel you must?”

Sighing, Richard shook his head. “I cannot. It would do no good to speak of things that do not matter in the grand scheme.”

Edward regarded him, the structure of his brow rising up one side as if it were a wave frozen in place. He was quiet, but Richard could feel the scrutiny of his appraising stare sinking into the marrow of his bones.

“Would you kindly desist from pinning your gaze to Amelia as such? You must be aware of responsibilities and withholdings that affect a man of my station.”

“Is it the nature of your station or the confines you have created for yourself within it that holds you back?” Edward cocked his head, narrowing his eyes as he refused to let Richard brush this matter aside. “And please forgive me for saying, but is not the woman your very wife? Certainly, that is of benefit to you the now?”

Richard attempted to hide the way his entire body went rigid at the mention of Amelia. He was fairly sure that Edward saw past the stony mask that he placed over his features, and it took everything he had not to swallow and fidget underneath his valet’s criticizing stare.

“This does not have anything to do with the Duchess. Aside, of course, from the matter that she is to remain unhindered in her duties within Heartwick.”

“You are in love with her,” Edward spoke so plainly that it nearly knocked Richard out of his seat.

“I beg your pardon. Not that it is any of your business, but I do not have time for such frivolous matters. We have an arrangement that it all.”

“You forget, Your Grace,” Edward lowered his chin to look at Richard from beneath his brows, “Richard, I have been around you for so very long. I have seen you when you are ill. I have seen you when you are enraged by the work to be done and the lack of time to do it. I haveneverseen you so affected by anything as you are by the Duchess.”

He froze. Richard was incapable of movement to the tiniest degree. He wanted to deny it. He wanted to refute this ridiculous claim to all that might dare to think him so fallen under the whims of the woman who he happened to call his wife. There was not a soul whom Richard trusted enough with his heart to say that he was in love with them. It was preposterous.