Page 52 of The Blind Duke's Ward

“As you wish, Your Grace. May I attend to that now or do you wish for anything else?”

Nathan waved a hand to dismiss him, already lost in thought. The door opened and closed. The smell of polish and pomade lingered, stinging Nathan’s nostrils. Another person would probably not have noticed. There came the sound of light footsteps, a knock, and then the door opened and closed once more.

“Thank you for attending me, Charlotte,” Nathan said. “I do not know this house and require the loan of your sight to find my way about.”

“Yes, Your Grace,” came a timid, whispered response.

Nathan frowned. The woman stood on the other side of the room, beside the door. She had whispered her response in a nervous, breathy tone. Another man would have caught the general tone of her words but not distinguished individual words. But then who truly listened to a servant anyway. Nathan was, like all other gentlemen, prone to glossing over their words in his mind, focusing his attention elsewhere.

But his hearing was exceptionally sharp. And the response might have been quiet but it was loud enough that he could hear, quite clearly, that the woman whom Marshall had sent to him was not Charlotte.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO

There is treachery here. Marshall is trying to trick me. After all these years, what has turned him into a traitor?

“I wish to speak to Charlotte. You know the member of staff that I am referring to, of course,” Nathan said calmly.

“Yes, Your Grace. I will fetch her…”

“No!” Nathan said, sharply, then moderated his tone. “No. Take me to her. Do you know where she might be found?”

“I believe I saw Mr. Marshall sending her to clean Miss Carlisle’s rooms, Your Grace.”

Nathan breathed an inward sigh of relief. At least the other staff were still ignorant of the deception that he and Gemma had perpetrated.

“Very well. Take me there. Come here and I will place my hand on your shoulder. Then I may follow where you go, do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Grace. Begging your pardon, Your Grace. But, am I in trouble? Mr. Marshall said I was not to speak in your company.”

“Not at all,” Nathan said, forcing a smile. “I am your employer, not Mr. Marshall. Rest assured that you have done nothing wrong.”

The maid led Nathan slowly through the house. He, unused to the building’s geography, and she, unused to how to lead a blind man. Nathan inwardly gritted his teeth at the slow pace. He felt that he was being pulled in two different directions. Gemma had disappeared and Marshall was lying about it. Emily had disappeared and Dunkeswick was insinuating that he might have had something to do with it. Walter believed Nathan to be a philanderer who had passed a stranger off as Emily, for nefarious reasons of his own.

Nathan knew that Walter believed the subterfuge was to conceal a lurid affair. Which meant he probably believed Nathan to be reverting to the kind of behavior that his father had exhibited throughout his life. It infuriated him to think that anyone would believe him to be like his father. But most of all when the person with that misconception was Walter, who should know him better than anyone.

As they slowly climbed the stairs and Nathan was considering urging the girl to move faster, a voice came from behind and below him.

“Your Grace. Is there something I may help you with?” Marshall inquired.

Nathan’s sharp ear detected the note of concern in his butler’s voice. A note of concern that should not have been there had everything been above board.

“We will deal with the matter of your lying to me later, Marshall. For now, I need nothing from you,” Nathan said harshly.

There was a moment of silence.

“Your Grace. I have always acted in your best interests…”

“By deceiving me?” Nathan refused to turn around, speaking to Marshall with his back to the man.

It was a calculated snub. He didn’t need to look at Marshall to talk to him, of course. To a blind man, it made no difference. But, Marshall knew that Nathan always made a point of orientating himself to look in the direction of those with whom he conversed.

“I deemed it necessary to protect Your Grace from a scandal.”

“Where is Gemma?” Nathan demanded, raising his voice.

“I do not know. She left without…”

“Do not compound your lies by lying again!” Nathan barked.