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S hay wasn’t certain about seeing any adventure through. What he was, was growing unsettled by all the mystery. Could the little man leading them deeper into the house not just get on with it and tell them why he’d sent for them.

No. He’d sent for Thea. But there was no way he would leave Thea alone for a moment in this dungeon of a house. Everything was dark and either black or a sickly green, it seemed. Only every other sconce was lit which didn’t help with the feeling of gloom. Not to mention the stale odor of disuse, or coffins. He couldn’t be sure.

They passed another closed door before the man opened the next door and went inside holding it for them to enter. This room was better lit and dare he say, not so depressing. The walls were painted a warm blue and they seemed full of paintings surrounded by rows of books. The library.

Shay looked about for a shelf dedicated to the works of Theodore Stonecliff, or perhaps a pile of them on a desk somewhere, but saw nothing.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so rude. It’s just that the duke is quite ill and well, I’ve been with him for many years and didn’t wish for him to be toyed with or lose hope once again. I am Forney, and, well, I do believe you are not really the Marquess of Flemming.”

Shay felt his stomach plummet to his feet. He’d been found out. He knew there had always been a risk and he wouldn’t have argued. But now he had a wife and a child on the way.

That familiar desperation from years on the street seared through his blood once again. Whatever proof they had, he would fight it in the House of Lords. He would not allow his family to become destitute because of his mistake.

But as he was working up a powerful defense, his wife tugged on his arm.

He turned to Thea to assure her he would see her provided for but she seemed to be in a trance, staring up at the wall.

Shay turned to see what had captivated her attention so thoroughly and found himself captured by the painting hanging there.

A painting of him.

But of course it wasn’t a painting of him. It couldn’t be. But the likeness was uncanny. Beside the man was a woman who looked so familiar and in her arms was a bundle of linens. A baby.

He stared at the woman again, trying to figure out where he’d seen her before. At a ball or a musicale possibly. Perhaps she was older now and that was why he couldn’t puzzle it out.

But then his gaze caught on the ring on her hand. A pearl locked inside a knot. The very ring Thea wore on her finger now.

“I believe I need to sit down,” Shay said as the room began spinning around him. He’d never swooned in his life, even while faint with hunger, but he worried he might lose his feet now.

A chair was brought over and Thea helped him sit, rubbing small circles on his back. “I do believe this mystery has taken an abrupt turn,” she whispered.

He might have laughed if he wasn’t so far beyond the ability to do so.

“That is my mother, Thea. The ring.” He pointed to her finger as he continued to whisper.

“The man in that painting is undoubtedly your father. For he looks exactly like you.” Turning to Forney she took charge. “Who is this? When was it painted?”

Forney nodded once.

“This is the Duke of Glenlivet. It was commissioned some thirty years ago, after the birth of his son and heir, Ellis Ballantyne Hayes, Earl of Ainsley.”

“Dear God,” Thea whispered.

“You may take the chair, for I plan to just fall out onto the floor,” Shay said. But Thea was better suited for this than he.

“Is the duke still…”

“Yes. He lives, though he is in grave health. One of the things he enjoys is my reading to him each night. He particularly likes the writing of Stonecliff, and when I purchased the newest book and read the first page we both just sat there. The coincidence was too great. He has been looking for you for twenty-eight years, my lord. And then to just see your name there on the page, it was a shock.”

“Yes. It surely is.” Shay rubbed his forehead, feeling only slightly improved.

His father was a duke and was still alive. In this house.

“How did it come to be that my husband ended up alone and starving on the streets of Inverness if he is the heir of a dukedom?” Thea asked smartly.

“Please accompany me to the duke’s chamber so we might sort this all out together.”

Forney looked at Shay as if to ask him if he was able to stand up and walk, and for the life of him Shay didn’t know the answer. At least not until Thea slipped her hand into his and gave an encouraging squeeze.

“Come, my love. Let us go solve this mystery.”

“The Case of the Lost Earl?”

“I do say, that has a ring to it, does it not?”

Shay chuckled and stood. Tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow he leaned down to press a kiss at her temple.

“It doesn’t matter who I am or what name or title I shall claim. I love you, Thea.”

She smiled and pressed her hand along his cheek.

“A name doesn’t make a man. It is his heart that does that.”

“My heart only has your name on it.”

She pressed a hand to her stomach reminding him of the change coming. “For now.”

“Aye, lass. There will be room,” he promised.

Forney cleared his throat and Shay kissed his wife’s knuckles taking an extra second to not only enjoy her, but to make sure the man knew Shay wasn’t to be pushed about.

“Come. Let’s go meet your father,” she encouraged.

The duke’s bedchamber was as dark as the rest of the house. It made the man look all the more pale against the burgundy counterpane on the bed. When his gaze came to Shay he looked as if he’d seen a ghost.

Shay could relate after having seen the painting downstairs. Now, seeing him in person, was even more disconcerting. Despite his poor health they looked so much alike as to be… well, what they obviously were. Father and son.

Shay had a father.

“It’s him,” the man said.

“It is, Your Grace. If he didn’t look the spitting image of you, his wife wears the Glenlivet ring on her finger as further proof.”

“It belonged to my mother,” Shay explained.

“As it belonged to my mother before her,” the duke said. He turned his attention to Forney. “Might be best to gather a few chairs as we have much to discuss and I don’t want them hovering over me.”

“Right away, Your Grace.”

The chairs in the room were moved so they could converse with the duke easier and then Forney left the room.

“You must have as many questions as I do,” he said with a chuckle that turned into a dry cough.

“At least,” Shay admitted as he got up and poured the man a glass of water.

“Thank you, Ellis,” he said and Shay jolted at hearing another person use that name.

“Perhaps it would be more logical to go in order of events. The duke can fill in the earlier years and then Shay—that is, Ellis—can fill in what happened after that,” Thea suggested the plan after Shay and his father had been sitting staring at one another for a full minute.

God love his wife for her moving them along.

“Very well. But if I grow too weary, we may have to pause. My strength leaves me suddenly at times.”

Shay nodded and waited for the man to collect his thoughts before he began to explain.

“Your mother and I were married off by our families. Though she loved another, I was going to be a duke and therefore a better match. I did try to make the best of the arrangement. It is not so easy to share one’s life with a complete stranger, but I tried. For a while at least.”

He coughed a bit and Shay worried that would be the end of the story for now, but the duke prevailed and continued.

“She, however, wanted nothing to do with me. We were at least fortunate that she got with child in short order. When you were born, she seemed more than relieved to have fulfilled her duty. She began seeing her lover in private, though not so discreet as she should have been for I heard about it from one of the villagers.

“Your mother was a faithless wretch, but in those days I was a drunken brute who was used to having anything I wanted. The two of together were much like tinder and a spark. But I never expected she would take you and run. She’d taken money and jewels, but it couldn’t have been enough to keep her in the life she was accustomed to for all those years. I expected her to return at some point, but never heard a word. I found out the man she’d fancied had married another and then died. I knew she hadn’t gone to him. It was as if she’d simply vanished.”

“I’m not sure where we were in the early days, but we ended up in Inverness, living with her sister Deborah.”

The duke interrupted. “I don’t know who that was but your mother had no sisters.”

Shay thought that made some bit of sense.

“When my mother died, Auntie Deborah left me alone. I was six when I was put on the street. I found some other boys and we found ways to survive. Picking pockets and tending to horses when I was a bit bigger. There was never enough food, and winters were the hardest.”

He went on to explain about Sheamus and his death. Explaining how he’d lied when Harrington came looking for the other boy. How all this time he’d been an imposter.

“It pains me to think that while I was warm in my home, my son went hungry and cold. I’ve had so many years to get over my anger with your mother. I’m sure she did what she thought was right. I can only think she worried I would hurt you. And I can’t say whether that risk was real or not. I’m a different man than I’d been back then.”

Shay took a good look at the man. Despite his ill pallor, he was not so very old. His hair had only begun to gray at the temples.

“I never knew anything of this life,” Shay said. “When my mother was ill she gave me the ring and told me to keep it hidden and never sell it or lose it. She said it was very important. That I would need it one day. I thought she meant for when I would take a wife.” He spared a glance to Thea. He’d never considered having anyone so lovely as her when he’d been living in a tiny cottage with his mother.

“I assume she thought it would prove who you were, not that I need to do more than look at you to know you are my son.” He let out a sigh. “There is no reason for us to dwell on the past, for it is beyond our reach. If you gave peace to an old, dying man while assuring your survival than who can judge? But unfortunately there is the matter of your future and another old, dying man who needs some peace in knowing the dukedom will pass to his son.”

Shay let out a breath and looked at Thea.

“I do believe Robert will have his task cut out for him in having to unravel all of this.”

The duke chuckled. “I imagine you are not the first heir to come forward at the last moment to claim a title.”

No. In fact, this wasn’t the first time Shay had done just that.

“I do hope it is not the last moment. I’d like to have time to become acquainted,” Shay said, not realizing how very important it was to him to know his father.

“We rarely have any say over such things. But I feel better than I have in months, having you here. I wish to know everything.”

Shay cast a questioning look at Thea and as if she had read his mind she nodded.

“Maybe the first thing you will want to know is that you are to be a grandfather.”

The man’s blue eyes—the same color as Shay’s—seemed to flare with excitement. He squinted in Thea’s direction.

“That is a joy, but appears to be some time from now.”

“Aye. We only just found out.”

The duke gave a determined nod. “Then I’ll have something else to hold on for. I won’t want to miss meeting my grandchild.”

“You will not,” Thea said.

“Once the legalities are seen to, we can have you moved into Glenlivet House. There is a suite of rooms in the east wing that will afford a young married couple their privacy.”

He must have noticed Thea’s worried look. For the duke laughed.

“My dear, I would be grateful to you if you would see the house to rights. There has not been a woman’s touch since my mother and I’ll say while I never cared much about what color something was, now that I lie here all day looking at these bleak walls I find myself wishing for something with a bit more cheer.”

Thea nodded.

“I will see to it straight away, Your Grace. Starting with a room for you with more windows I think.”

Shay didn’t know what to say as they returned to Buchanan House, and Thea was just as quiet in the carriage. When they were in their bedchamber they looked at each other and then she rushed into his arms as he held them out.

As they stood there in a steady embrace, he felt centered again, when the last few hours had tossed him out to rough sea. But Thea was the person who gave him strength to move on, whatever was to come.

“I feel I should apologize for ye were a marchioness this morning and now it seems you’ll only be a countess.”

She raised her head and smiled at him.

“I don’t care about the title or even the name—for I already have two myself—so long as you are my husband I know I will be happy.”

“No matter my name or title, I will make it so. Always.”