Page 26 of I Never Forget a Duke (The Night Fire Club #1)

B efore Adele had even finished descending the staircase for breakfast the next morning, Wilton was upon her and said, “Come with me at once, my lady. I’m afraid the countess had taken a turn.”

“She what?”

Adele hurried after Wilton toward the countess’s room. When they arrived, Dr. Willis sat beside the bed as the countess lay there with her eyes closed. She seemed unconscious, though her breathing was labored.

“What has happened?” Adele asked.

“The countess started to struggle to breathe last night. We think it’s pneumonia.”

“Pneumonia?” Adele struggled to process this. “Last night? Why did no one alert me when I arrived home?”

“I did not want to bother you, my lady,” said Wilton. “You needed your sleep.”

“But she…” Adele shook her head, knowing from the countess’s pallor and the wheeze in her breaths that the end was likely to arrive soon. “We’d best send for the earl.”

“He sent word that he was already on his way two days ago,” said Wilton. “He should arrive today.”

Dr. Willis reported in a soft voice, “She has a high fever and her lungs crackle. A younger woman might overcome this, but a woman of the countess’s age, who was already in ill health…”

As the day wore on, a steady stream of the countess’s friends and family members arrived to say good-bye.

Adele kept a vigil at the countess’s bedside until John, the Earl of Sweeney, arrived.

He ordered Adele removed from the room, so she stewed in the gold salon waiting for word, furious that the earl was keeping her away, especially since it had been Adele caring for her these last few months. He hadn’t even bothered to visit.

Keeping vigil only of the old clock in the corner gave Adele too much time to think.

If she had been here last night, might the countess’s prognosis be different?

Would she have been available to call Dr. Willis sooner?

Would she have been able to see to a need that would have prevented the countess’s current decline.

Had the countess caught pneumonia because of Adele’s neglect?

Adele had grown somewhat resentful of the countess as Adele’s duties had shifted away from companionship and more toward those of a servant, but she had tried not to let that affect how she treated the countess, and she was fond of the woman, after all.

And for what had she gone to the ball? To wear a pretty dress and drink lemonade?

To indulge in some superficial pleasures?

She had seen Hugh and managed to dance with him twice, but when they were not dancing, he’d barely been able to speak to her.

She would treasure those two waltzes for the rest of her days, but everything else had been superficial and silly.

It hardly seemed worth it if she could have been here to help the countess.

The earl’s wife and children arrived at the house as the sun began to set. She took the children up to see their grandmother after exchanging only a few clipped words with Adele. Adele tried to sit patiently and wait for news, but guilt ate at her.

Wilton appeared at one point with a dinner tray, although Adele could not bring herself to eat.

“I should have been here last night,” said Adele.

“No, my lady. There is nothing you could have done.”

“But if I’d been here attending to the countess instead of dancing and letting… frivolities, and…”

“Hush, my lady. No. You work very hard for the countess and have been a wonderful companion to her. You deserved a night away. It is just her time. It would not have mattered if you’d been here or not.”

“But, Wilton, surely if I’d—”

“No,” Wilton said softly. “You know as well as I do that the countess has been preparing to leave us for some time. Dr. Willis says this is just God calling her home. Nothing you did or did not do affected when this would have happened.”

Adele still had not eaten her dinner an hour later when the earl’s wife solemnly walked into the room and stopped the clock.

*

Hugh was in the morning room indulging in a large breakfast while his mother flipped through a newspaper.

He let his mind wander to the Wakefield ball and how wonderful it had felt to have Adele in his arms. He thought back to Adele’s retelling of Cinderella.

The prince in the story had taken one look at Cinderella and known he’d dance all his dances with her from then on.

Hugh only wished he could have done the same with Adele at the ball.

He would marry her. He just had to figure out how to tell his mother.

“That old crone finally left us?” said the duchess.

“Which old crone, mother?”

“It says in the paper that the Dowager Countess of Sweeney died on Sunday.”

Hugh dropped his fork.

“Hugh, really. Be more careful.”

Hugh swallowed the bit of bacon in his mouth and it felt jagged going down. Adele had lost the countess. What must she have been feeling?

“I met the Countess of Sweeney. It was her home I stayed in while my memory was gone.”

“Right, of course.” Helena turned her attention back to the newspaper.

“Lady Adele is the countess’s companion. I wonder what she will do now.”

Helena lowered her paper and glared at Hugh over the top of it. “Lady Adele is the plain girl you danced with at the Wakefield ball. Canbury’s daughter.” Her tone was not approving.

“Yes.”

Helena lifted the paper back up. “I imagine there is some other wilting socialite in need of companionship. Or a child who needs a governess.”

“You would relegate an earl’s daughter to a governess position?”

“Canbury is clearly not supporting her if she has to take such positions. What an improvident man! You saw him carrying on at the Wakefield ball. I doubt he gave one thought to the poor girl after handing her over to the Sweeney residence. He’s too busy shoving his nose up…

well. I apologize, that was rude of me. He wants to be Prinny’s right hand man and behaves abominably to achieve that end. ”

Hugh sighed. “Yes, I recognize that. Still, the fact remains that Lady Adele is not responsible for her father’s behavior, and I find it insulting that you would have her be a governess rather than rising to the life to which she is deserving.”

The dowager lowered the paper again and stared at her son. “Life she should be deserving? What life does any woman have apart from her father or husband? Since her father is not interested in taking care of her, she needs a husband, but who would marry her?”

Hugh rubbed his head, a headache forming.

Had his mother always been this haughty?

He found her company quite repulsive now, although he’d come to realize in the weeks since he’d come home that he loved her as any son loves his mother, but their relationship was complex.

He did things for her out of family obligation more than love at times.

She was stubborn and could be mean. And yet he had no doubt that she cared for him deeply and had doted on him when he’d been a child.

It was hard to separate the woman who had held him to her bosom when he was sick or injured as a boy and the woman who now said disparaging things about other members of the gentry.

“I remain surprised that the Countess of Sweeney was even still alive to be declared dead in the paper today,” said Helena.

“What makes you say that?”

“She hasn’t been seen in years. Had you seen her before ending up at her house?”

“I’m hardly in a position to know.”

The dowager frowned. “You still have holes in your memory.”

Hugh nodded. “I spoke with Doctor Sanderson yesterday. He believes this is… just how it will be. I may continue to recover things, but there are some things that may just be gone.”

“Whoever hit you in the head belongs in a cell. Who would do such a thing?”

“I wish I knew, Mother. I think about it every time I can’t remember something. But no one has acted hostile toward me since I arrived back at home, so perhaps the danger has passed.” There’d been no reports of trouble from Mr. Sedgwick, the guard, either. All had been quiet.

Hugh was not truly convinced he was out of danger, though. Whoever had done this to him was laying low, perhaps, but was still free. Until Hugh could either puzzle out or remember what happened, he’d never feel completely safe. But he didn’t want his mother to know that.

Helena nodded, but Hugh did not believe the danger had passed, nor that the man who had gone to such lengths to injure him would have given up so easily.

Likely he was biding his time, or he’d been spooked by Mr. Sedgwick’s presence.

Hugh had been trying to put it out of his mind, but he never went out alone, and if he came home from the club late at night, he made his driver bring him right to the door and wait until he was inside.

But worrying about what danger might befall him was maddening, so he tried not to dwell on it.

Hugh went back to his breakfast and wondered now what really would become of Adele. Was she still staying in the Sweeney home? Was she at her father’s home? Did she have another position lined up? And how could he find out?

He spent part of the rest of the day focused on that. He did not know the address of the Sweeney residence, just that it was somewhere in Marylebone. But when Hugh got out a map, he saw that Marylebone was actually a fairly large area of London. So he called on Lark instead.

“I’m busy,” Lark said when Hugh walked into his office.

“I won’t take but a moment of your time. I need to know Lady Adele’s address.”

Lark sighed. “I have grown fond of the girl, too, but this is folly.” And yet he reached for a piece of paper.

“Mother remarked that Canbury made quite the fool of himself at the Wakefield ball, but I did not witness that for myself.”

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t have.” Lark wrote something on the paper, but paused to say, “Canbury had too much to drink and was telling bawdy stories in mixed company. Everyone, including the Wakefields, seemed delighted, but the old guard thought his behavior… inappropriate.”

“Inappropriate?”

“We must protect the delicate sensibilities of our debutante class, I suppose. I think his offense is relatively minor in the scheme of things, more a faux pas than a status-ruining event, although your mother already does not like him, and this did not endear him to her, I would imagine.”

“No, she had some unkind words for him.”

Lark finished writing down the address and brandished the paper. “Which is why this is folly. Your mother will never allow you to court Adele.”

Hugh reached for the paper and grabbed it from Lark’s hand. “I am not asking her permission. Last I checked, I am the duke and a grown man at that, capable of making my own decisions.”

“It’s not just your mother. Canbury has a lot of enemies.

You’d be aligning yourself to him, which could have disastrous consequences for your businesses and will undoubtedly affect your reputation.

Not to mention, you still have not fully recovered your memories.

You should not be making these kinds of decisions under the circumstances. ”

“What harm is there in courting the girl?”

Lark sighed. “Well, you clearly aren’t listening. What harm is there? Besides turning the wrath of Canbury’s enemies on you? Besides the fact that some villain likely still has designs to harm you?”

“Yes, besides that.”

“You could fall in love.” Lark laughed. “Look, I am sympathetic to your plight, as I too have found my heart pulled toward exactly the wrong sort of person. And I like Adele, I do. But you must know this cannot happen.”

“Then why did you give me her address?”

Lark sighed. “I am just as foolish as you, I fear.”

Hugh took his own carriage to the Sweeney house. When Wilton answered the door, he said, “Hello, Your Grace. It is agreeable to see you looking so well.”

“Is Adele in to callers?”

“I’m afraid she is not. She left this morning and I do not know her whereabouts nor when she will return.”

That was certainly bad news. “Left? Not for good, I hope.”

“No, not quite, but it is my understanding that Lord Sweeney is determined to remove to the country at his earliest convenience and we will be closing down the house.” Wilton leaned close.

“I will tell you, Your Grace, that I overheard Lord Sweeney discussing a new position with Adele, but I do not know the outcome of that.”

“Is Sweeney in?”

“No, sir. He and his wife had some business to attend to. I am not certain when they will return, either.”

Disappointed, Hugh said, “I thank you for your help, Wilton. Do let Adele know I stopped by and wished to speak with her. And offer my condolences to the Sweeneys.”

“I will, Your Grace.”

It felt like a dead end. Hugh walked back to his carriage, worried now that he would not be able to track down Adele. He did not have the wherewithal to hunt all over London for her today, but perhaps he could set a few surrogates on the task.

As he climbed into the carriage, he was hit with a dizzy spell and thought perhaps it would be better to go home and nap for a while. But then he would devise some sort of plan to find Adele again before she completely slipped through his fingers.