Page 47 of The Blind Duke's Ward

“You can hardly blame me for that. As soon as I realized that she was overdue, I took steps to locate her. I sent a man to the house and to scour the road between Hutton and Falsgrave House. I have now notified the Justices of the county and requested the aid of the militia in finding her.”

“And if the only issue was her absence, I would consider it a job well done and have no reason to reconsider our friendship. But the news I have heard is troubling indeed,” Walter spat.

From the sound of his voice, he was pacing the room, forcing Nathan to turn this way and that if he wished to address the man directly. Scowling, he refused to do so. Instead, he sat facing forward and addressed his comments to the air.

“Will you tell me the news that has seemingly poisoned a friendship that has stood for a number of years?” he said quietly.

“That you, Nathan, have been entertaining a trollop pretending to be my daughter!” Walter said.

The voice was suddenly directly in front of Nathan and, from the sound, Walter was leaning forward to deliver his accusation with additional venom directly into Nathan’s face. Having pinpointed the man’s location, Nathan shot to his feet and reached out with one hand. Walter must have begun to move, for instead of grabbing the man by a lapel as intended, Nathan caught at the front of his waistcoat.

He pulled the man closer to him and then seized his lapels with both hands.

“You will take that word back. You do not know of whom you speak and I will not hear her name sullied.”

“Her name? You did not know her name when you met her,” Walter mocked. “She lied and then you continued that lie. Aye, I know that you discovered she was not who she claimed to be. But, did you send the impostor on her way? Or demand to know what she had done with my daughter? No! You allowed her to remain in your house, pretending to be Emily! And I can guess why!”

Nathan fought to control the uproaring of anger within him at the insinuation. He knew what Walter was saying. That he had allowed the deception to continue so that he could continue an affair with a woman, pretending that she was his ward and therefore innocent. The urge to strike Walter was almost overwhelming and Nathan found his grip tightening on the man’s lapels, just to keep from releasing his hands to deliver a blow of retribution.

“Because of your kindness to me and the debt I owe you, I will overlook that. You are ignorant of the truth and from what you have told me, I think I can guess your source of information. Which one of them was it?”

Walter tried to pull free of Nathan’s grip but could not. Nathan smiled grimly. People assumed that a blind man would be weak in all respects. As though the lack of sight meant a general weakness throughout the body. Walter was significantly older than him and quite unequal to the task of freeing himself without Nathan’s consent.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Walter said, though he sounded uncertain.

“I think, perhaps, I should speak up. I should hate to be the cause of an old friendship being destroyed,” Eugene Stamford began, his voice coming from a far corner of the room.

CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE

Nathan released his grip on Walter Carlisle and sensed him stepping back, straightening his rumpled clothing. Turning to the source of the voice, Nathan gripped the head of his cane with white knuckles.

“That would be the Baronet Dunkeswick, I presume,” Nathan said with ice in his tone.

“It is.”

“Is your brother also present?” Nathan inquired.

“My brother remains in the country. He has a passion for…hunting,” Dunkeswick replied, his voice coming closer.

He seeks to anger me. He, too, sees the heart of my relationship with Gemma. He, too, seeks to dirty it with his filthy innuendos.

But, he knew that caution was needed. In this house he was surrounded by enemies, assuming that Walter had been turned against him by Dunkeswick’s persuasion.

“He will not have good fortune in his hunt,” Nathan replied.

“Oh? And why would that be?” Walter put in acerbically. “He hunts for my missing daughter.”

Nathan bowed his head briefly, conceding a point scored by his enemy. Dunkeswick really had wormed his way into Walter’s loyalties by exploiting the absence of his precious daughter. Not to mention the telling of the circumstances in Hutton Castle for the last two days. He could have made it sound very bad for Nathan.

“Because the last time I came across Dunkeswick and his brother, they were hunting a young woman as though she were a fox. At night and across country. She sought refuge at Hutton.”

“Yes, that is true. We did hunt our dear, addled cousin, Gemma. She is not in her right mind. Has not been since the death of her father. My brother and I swore to care for her. She ran away from us and pretended to be Emily Carlisle, knowing that the Duke was blind.”

“For that, I cannot blame you, Your Grace. You could not have known any difference without knowing Emily well, which you never did. But to continue with…the liaison after Dunkeswick here had pointed out the error…” Walter trailed off, sounding as though he were pacing away.

“My relationships are my business, Walter. I do not have to justify myself to you or any man,” Nathan replied coldly.

“No, you do not. But you do have to justify to a father where my daughter is! And why you allowed this…addled cousin to pretend to be her!” Walter roared.