Page 32 of The Duke’s Replacement Bride (The Wild Brides #6)

“ W ell, I heard it from Holloway up the road there,” the man said, pointing north. “Can’t say as I ever put much stock in it, Your Grace. People like to talk around here more than is good for them. More than they like to check the truth of what they say.”

“You’re very right about that,” Levi agreed. “Did you tell anyone?”

“Oh, I told Marley who runs the shop, but that doesn’t count.

He tells everyone everything, and everyone tells him everything.

He’d already heard it by the time I came in.

Probably Holloway for him too.” The fellow shook his head.

“You can’t trust anyone around here, Your Grace. Nothing but talk, they are.”

“I see,” Levi said. “Well, thank you for your time. “I suppose I’ll go speak to Mr. Holloway.”

“But I wouldn’t take anything he says at face value,” the man added. “Holloway’s a known liar.”

“And yet you believed what he had to say about me? Put enough stock in it to spread it around, anyway!”

The man flushed. “Begging your pardon, Your Grace.”

Levi scowled, but what could he say? Spreading gossip was no crime. “Don’t let it happen again,” he growled. “If someone says something to you, show a little class and keep it to yourself the way a gentleman would.”

He stalked off, knowing that he had been unfair. That was not what a gentleman would do. Gentlemen were worse gossips than the gentry and the peasant classes. They had nothing to do with their days besides spreading rumors, and many of them did so maliciously and to distraction.

He made his way up the road to the house there. A man was standing outside, wrestling to force a donkey into a corral.

“Are you Holloway?” Levi asked him.

“I am, sir.” The man dusted off his hands on his pants and squinted in Levi’s direction. Then his eyes widened as he placed him. “I mean—Your Grace.”

“Do you know why I am here?”

“My taxes are paid, sir, I would never default.”

“This is not about taxes. This is about talk. I’m told you’re responsible for spreading a rumor that slanders my good name, and I offer you a chance to speak in your own defense.”

The man paled. “Your Grace—I only repeated what was said to me. Forgive me if I did wrong.”

“You knew it was wrong when you did it. You are not a child. You know the harm it does to speak ill of a man. Tell me why you thought it was all right to instigate a rumor?”

“Instigate? No, Your Grace, I didn’t instigate anything.

Didn’t mean for it to be a rumor, either—wasn’t thinking, I suppose.

I do beg your forgiveness. I heard something and repeated it to a friend of mine, that’s all.

You’re right, it was careless of me, but friends do talk to one another, and well…

begging your pardon, but this particular thing is pretty widely known.

I don’t think anyone really knows of it because of me. ”

“You aren’t the person who started the rumor about me being a rake, then?”

“No! I heard it from Juniper Mills. I didn’t know if it was true or not, and I confess I asked someone—well, all right, a couple of people—whether they had heard the same thing. But most people seemed to know already. Forgive me, Your Grace. I suppose I thought it wasn’t much of a secret.”

Levi sighed. This was exhausting. It was leading him around in circles. “Tell me exactly what was said to you. Word for word, if you can.”

Holloway nodded. “Juniper told me that he wondered whether the duke had a girl in the country. I asked what he meant, and then he said, “Everyone knows His Grace is a rake and a rowdy,” which I thought was a funny way to put that. What an odd phrase. Never heard such a statement before.”

Levi nodded—that was an odd detail. “When you repeated the story, did you use the same phrase?”

“Your Grace, I apologize for my indiscretion.”

“Never mind that. You’re forgiven. Just answer the question.”

Holloway shook his head. “Just spoke naturally,” he said. “I said I’d heard you might have a girl out here in the country and wondered whether your new duchess knew about that.”

“You will not malign the duchess by telling such stories again.”

“No, I won’t,” Holloway agreed.

“Good. Because you might find your taxes doubled if you do.”

Levi stormed away. What good had any of that been?

He was no nearer to an answer. The only thing he’d really gained was that bizarre phrase— a rake and a rowdy —but what use was that, really?

An odd way to speak, to be sure, but Levi knew no one who talked that way.

It brought him no closer to discovering who was behind the rumors.

And until he found the person responsible for propagating them, he knew he had no hope of putting a stop to them.

“Mother, stop that. Have you considered that the reason all your things are fraying is that you keep fussing with them?”

Levi’s mother couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting with the napkin in her lap, pulling it into her hands and threading it through her fingers. She scowled at Levi. “You don’t tell me how to behave in my own house,” she said.

“You don’t tell me how to behave, in this house or any other, he countered. “Remember your place, Mother.”

“How can I do anything but? You never let me forget it. I think you are uncommonly fixated on keeping me in my place, truth be told,” she said. “If you didn’t need me to be kept low, I could be living a very different life.”

Levi sighed. “We aren’t going to have this argument all over again.

” He picked up his wine and took a long drink of it.

“I want to have a peaceful lunch and then return to the business of trying to control the rumors slandering my name. If it’s not possible to have a peaceful lunch here then I will do so elsewhere. ”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Levi. I haven’t disturbed your peace.” She took a sip of her own wine. “And as for the rumors that you are a rake and a rowdy, well, I’m sure you’ll put a stop to them soon enough.”

Levi sat frozen for a moment, unable to speak. Finally, he found words. “Mother…what was that you called me?”

“A rake and a rowdy? Is that not what people are saying?”

He couldn’t believe it. She had used that odd phrase—why?

How? Surely she couldn’t be the person responsible for the rumors.

She had harsh beliefs about men, and maybe she thought they were true of him, but she also cared deeply for the family’s good name.

She would never say anything that could reflect poorly on any of them.

She had too much self-consciousness for that.

“Where did you hear that?” he asked. “Who said that to you?”

“Why are you getting so upset? Isn’t that what people are saying?”

Not all people. Only those who heard the rumor before Holloway did.

Which meant that his mother might have heard it directly from the source. “Mother…where did you hear those words? Who said that to you?”

“Oh, who can remember something like that?”

“Please, try.”

“I think it must have been your cousin,” she mused.

“Charles was out here several months ago and we discussed those rumors. You know, it’s very disappointing that he visits me more often than you do.

I’m sure if he had been fortunate enough to inherit your dukedom he would see to it that I have everything I want. ”

Levi shook his head, ignoring that last statement. “Truly, it was Charles who said this to you?”

“That’s right.”

“Months ago?”

“He’s been here since then, Levi. He visits me regularly, unlike my own son.”

So, he had used those words…those odd words. And months ago. Before the marriage. Before the rumors.

Was it possible that Charles had started the whole thing?

He didn’t want to think it of his own cousin.

But this new evidence was both impossible and irresponsible to ignore.

He had to learn more. He had to try to find out what had happened.

“When will Charles be here next? Since he visits you so frequently, I assume you have something planned?”

“I don’t need to have something planned, Levi. He will come when he is ready to do so, and I have faith that he will not make me wait very long.

Levi sighed. That was no answer. “I need to use your writing desk before I leave,” he said.

“For what?”

“I need to write a letter to Caroline.”

“Won’t you see her soon enough? Didn’t you tell me that Lady Modesty has a ball coming up soon? I assumed you would want to be home in time to attend that with your wife. Won’t you?”

“I have no time for balls at the moment,” Levi said. “I have this matter to deal with.”

“Levi, you cannot neglect your social obligations. The rumors about your character will only grow worse if you do. And what of your poor wife? Don’t make her suffer as I suffered.”

“You suffered? Mother, you spent your life married to a man who, by your own admission,, you loved. Don’t look at me now and say that was suffering because he had no title.

Because perhaps you lacked the placement in society you would have liked.

You and I both know it isn’t true. And every time you say it, you malign my childhood.

” He got to his feet. “I must go and write this letter now. And when I’ve done that, I’ll be on my way. ”

“Levi, for goodness’ sake—you cannot allow yourself to lose sight of what’s most important!”

There was something in those words that tugged at him. It was as if his heart recognized merit in what she was saying. But he could not allow himself to listen. He had to figure out what was going on—who was spreading rumors about him, and why.

And if Charles has anything to do with it, he may rest assured that he shall pay for his interference in my affairs.

He didn’t want to believe it. He wanted there to be some other explanation for Charles’ having used those words. And he wouldn’t make any assumptions, not now. He would give his cousin the chance to defend himself.

But this was all much more important than any ball could possibly be. This had to be resolved now. There would be other balls.

Caroline would just have to try to understand.

He wrote her a quick letter and affixed his seal. He would post it tonight, and hopefully it would arrive rapidly, and she would have time to make the necessary arrangements.

Would she still attend the ball without him? Would she show herself in society without her husband by her side at a time when there were so many rumors going around?

He couldn’t worry about that. Not right now. He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by thoughts of Caroline’s well-being—or her warm smile, her kind eyes, the way her body felt when she relaxed against him, the press of her soft, yielding lips…

No. All of that would have to be put from his mind. The only thing he could afford to focus on was the task at hand.