Page 16 of The Duke’s Indecent Scandal (Indecent Dukes #1)

Chapter Fifteen

T iffany

When the at-home concluded, Tiffany’s mother announced that she had a headache and would be retiring. They would have to miss the Colfax ball this evening. Tiffany was beginning to worry about her mother’s health. This many headaches so close together? And bad enough, her mother sequestered herself away?

At the same time, she was relieved to be alone.

Not that her mother would have brooked any argument from her, anyway. Tiffany was almost sorry to miss the Colfax ball, though. The at-home had been rather enjoyable, and she’d hoped to see Lady Astrid again this evening. Maybe even to see Louisa, to try to talk to her about… well, about their mothers.

Sitting in the window seat, she watched and waited for her brother’s return. If he returned. She did not know what his plans were for this evening. He could very well stay out to all hours of the night with the other dukes. Men sometimes did that. Though her stomach clenched at the idea of Gregory gallivanting with other women…

She pushed her thoughts away from the idea. There was no point in torturing herself when she had no idea what they were doing. The dukes might all be gathered to ponder the mystery of their fathers’ deaths. Their fathers and hers. She huffed at knowing she had been left out.

A carriage stopped in front of the house, and Tiffany sat up straight as her brother exited the conveyance. Hurrying out of the drawing room, she rushed to the front door to greet him, much to the displeasure of their butler. Riggs huffed as she darted in front of him, drawing back so he did not run into her.

“My apologies, Riggs,” she said, looking over her shoulder. “I need to speak with my brother. Immediately. Can you have Mrs. Mays send a tray to the library for us?”

She was already opening the door as she made her request, which meant Sebastian overheard it as he stopped just in the doorway, frowning.

“A tray?” he asked. “Why are you not dressed? Where is Mother? We are going to be late to the Colfaxes.”

“We are not going to the Colfaxes,” she informed him, reaching out to catch his coat sleeve and tug him inside, shutting the door behind him. Riggs had already disappeared to go find Mrs. Mays, though he’d left a lingering aura of disapproval behind. She was going to have to find him and apologize to him later. “Mother has a megrim, and I have already sent our apologies. I need to talk to you.”

“So I heard,” he replied with some bemusement, allowing her to pull him along through the house. “Badly enough to risk upsetting Riggs. You know how stuffy he gets about the proprieties.”

“I will apologize to him later,” Tiffany said with a sigh, Sebastian’s thoughts reflecting her own.

“What is so important?” he asked.

“I will tell you after we are in the library,” she replied in a hushed voice. As much as she trusted their staff, she did not want to hinder whatever her brother was doing, and if he did believe their father had been murdered, he was keeping it a secret for a reason. She cleared her throat. “Was there any lady that caught your attention today?”

“You are lucky that is not the matter of importance,” he muttered before answering her. “None that caught my eye.”

Tiffany blinked, surprised. Not because she had noticed Sebastian looking at any of the ladies with particular attention but because she assumed that someone must have at some point. There had been so many of them, and he’d been surrounded.

“ None ?”

“I do have rather exacting standards,” he said with a chuckle. “And I can afford to take some time to find the right duchess. Do you have any suggestions as to who I should be paying attention to?”

“Anyone but Lady Louisa.” The words popped out of her mouth before she could stop them, and Sebastian laughed uproariously as they entered the library. Tiffany hunched her shoulders.

“I mean… if you fell in love with her…”

“Love is the last thing I am looking for,” he managed to say as he laughed even harder.

Tiffany sighed inwardly. She should have known. In her family, she was the only romantic. Yet, the love in her engagement was pure pretense. She could hardly blame Sebastian for his reaction.

“What are you looking for in a wife?” she asked as they moved to the armchairs. One of the maids had already been in to light the candles; she could only assume Riggs had sent one running so the room would be prepared for them. He was very efficient, even when annoyed with her. “Perhaps I can help you narrow the list.”

“That you and she get along is high on the list, which automatically removes Lady Louisa from it.” He winked, sitting down across from her.

“That is appreciated.” The fact that he put her comfort so high on his list made her beam at him, her chest filling with warmth that he cared. She had not realized. “What else?”

“That she be of our set, of course, so that she understands her duties and Society. Daughter of an earl or higher. I want her to be able to run the household like Mother does. Attractive. Intelligent. Even-tempered. Accomplished but not boastful. A generous hostess. Able to run the staff. I would like her to be interested in our children, though, of course, she will have plenty of assistance in raising them.” He waved his hand as Tiffany did her best to keep a straight face.

Part of her knew these were all logical, considered points that many of their set would agree with, yet it sounded so cold when he spoke it out loud. Gregory likely had a similar mental list, and she knew she would fulfill most of it. She’d been trained to check the boxes of such a list.

“A pleasant voice to listen to and not given to screeching.”

Tiffany pressed her lips together to keep from making an unkind comment about their mother.

“I see,” she murmured.

Sebastian looked at her, tilting his head, his expression changing like he was seeing her anew. He kept looking at her in such a manner lately, and she found it unnerving to have his focus so attuned to her.

“What did you have on your list at the beginning of this Season?”

She hesitated for a moment. She knew he would scoff at her list, but he had spoken honestly, and she should do no less. She began with the attributes he would understand the best.

“One of our set. With a country house and who would not mind me spending most of my time there. Intelligence and attractiveness, yes. Someone who is… generous and kind. Someone who appreciates me. Who does not mind that I am quiet. Who allows me to choose my own fashion. Who listens to me.” Someone who cared for her, even if it was not love.

“It is a good thing I was in charge of finding you a husband,” Sebastian said, shaking his head. He held up his hand to stop her protest. “It is not that those things are not important, but they should not be at the top of the list. A husband who can provide for you and your children?—”

“I did say he should be of our set.”

“—at least a Marquess, Tiffany. An honorable man who will protect you. One with standing in Society and deep pockets to ensure your future. One who will not just let you disappear into the country.” He sent her an admonishing look, and Tiffany stuck her tongue out at him, as though she was a child, startling a laugh from him. “And one who will tolerate occasional disrespect.”

Now it was her turn to giggle, and he grinned at her.

“Strangely, though I disapprove of the manner in which you and Gregory became affianced, I do think he will fulfill both our lists,” Sebastian admitted. “I will do everything in my power to ensure he does.”

“Thank you, Sebastian.” She smiled at him, though she hid a pang in her heart because there was one thing she’d left off the list. The most important thing.

Love.

She wanted her husband to love her. The way Gregory was pretending to.

But if she could not have love from her husband, perhaps she would from their children together. She would be a good mother. She… she did not want to criticize her own mother, but there were many, many things she wanted to do differently from her mother.

The door to the library opened, and one of the maids came in with a cart containing tea and a supper tray.

“Thank you, Ivy. Please leave the tray here,” Tiffany said, gesturing beside her and Sebastian. “We will be dining very informally.”

“Yes, miss,” Ivy said, putting the tray in place and bobbing a curtsy before swiftly departing.

Leaning forward to inspect the offerings, Tiffany looked up to find her brother looking at her oddly again.

“How did you know her name?” he asked, the edges of his lips turned down into a frown, not as if he disapproved, but as if he was puzzled.

“I know all of our staff’s names.” She was not surprised he did not. Neither did their mother. They mostly interacted with Riggs and Mrs. Mays and relied upon them to handle everything.

“You do?”

“I do.” She hid her smile as she picked up a scone to nibble on. “So often they were the only ones I could speak with at the manor, without mother hovering over my every word.”

Their names, their families, their woes, their happiness… she knew it all, but she doubted Sebastian would understand. He had never had their mother critiquing every sentence out of his mouth. Their mother had left him to their father to train, and he had done so well, he never said a word out of turn or disappointed her, unlike Tiffany.

Sebastian was still frowning, but she did not want to speak of her friendships with the staff. In part because she was unsure he would approve, and she had no intention of changing her ways. She knew their mother would not approve, so she had always assumed he would not, either. Now, she wondered if perhaps she was incorrect, but she was not sure enough to elaborate further.

“Now that we are alone, I must ask you… do you think father was murdered?” She asked it baldly, outright, rather than hedging around the subject because she wanted to see his sincere, unadulterated reaction.

He did not protest.

He did not shake his head.

He did not immediately denounce such a ridiculous notion.

Instead, he froze.

Tiffany’s mouth went dry, and she gasped.

“You do! You think Father was murdered, and you kept it from me!”

“Hush!” Sebastian gestured for her to lower her voice, looking around as if someone might have overheard her.

“No one can hear me,” she said furiously. “How could you keep this from me?”

“What could you do?” he asked in return, fresh grief blooming on his face. “What could you have done if you had known, other than suffer more? What good would it have done?”

It felt like a blow, not just his words, but seeing his emotions bubbling up, his anger, his sorrow. Sebastian had been stalwart after their father’s death. He’d held both her and their mother as they’d cried. Coaxed her mother off their father’s coffin when she’d become hysterical and thrown herself upon it in a fit of passion. He’d arranged the entire funeral with Riggs and Mrs. Mays’ assistance because Tiffany had had to attend to their mother.

If he’d cried, he’d done it alone.

Seeing the tears spark in his eyes now, the way his mouth firmed as he clenched his jaw against the tumult of emotions, she felt a surge of guilt for ambushing him in such a manner. It did not entirely wash out her anger, but it did blunt it.

“I am sorry, Sebastian.” She reached out her hand to put it atop his. He turned his own hand over so that he could hold hers. “You are correct. I could not have done anything.” And she might not have been able to hide the truth from her mother in her own distress, which would have only made things worse.

“What… how did you know?” he asked.

She hesitated. The desire to tell him the full truth was strong, but she had already decided upon a small deflection for Lady Astrid’s sake. After all, he had not been completely honest with her, so she need not feel any guilt about protecting her new friend.

“Someone at the at-home today, after you left, said there was some gossip that the fire was no accident. I did not want to believe it, but it made me think… if it was not an accident, and someone intentionally killed our father and the other dukes, could we be in danger? You and I? Or Gregory? Could marrying Gregory put me in more danger?” The words came out in a rush because she did not want him to question who had been spreading the gossip but focused on the ramifications of the truth.

Sebastian stilled.

“No matter what happens, I will protect you,” he said sternly.

“I know you will. But I also want to know the truth. You knew… do the other dukes? Does Gregory? If the reason they were killed was for inheritance reasons… do you suspect the current Northumberland of doing the same with the previous? Is that why you do not like him? Because you think he killed your friend’s father and then your friend, all of our fathers being unlucky bystanders, all to inherit?” All the questions tumbled out, one after another.

Her brother looked aghast.

“No! Zounds, Tiffany, that had not actually occurred to me. I do not like… Northumberland because he is a toady.” Sebastian stumbled over the man’s title. No wonder when the previous duke had been his friend. “He could never have expected to actually inherit.”

“Then what reason could anyone have to kill eight dukes?” Because if they knew the who, they would know the why.

Sighing, Sebastian released her hand.

“We should eat to garner our strength, and while we do, I will tell you everything.”

Taking a plate, Tiffany did as he said and listened wide-eyed as he told her all about the threatening letters Gregory’s father had received, the revelation that Nathan’s father had received some as well, and everything that Sebastian had managed to put together so far.

It was not enough to identify a culprit, of course, but it was enough to satisfy her for now.