“Is it too much? Oh, dear. I should have learned the expected amount, I suppose. What are your fees?”
He didn’t answer. Not twenty pounds, apparently.
“It might be best if we left it at pretending,” she said. “I will inform you of anything I think you need to know.”
That was not what he had demanded. “We will need a name for you. It would be best if you are not known to my cousin as a legatee, just yet.”
“I will be Mrs. Rupert. That will be easy for all of us to remember, since I live on that street. Ah, there is Elise in front of the church, waiting for my return. I will keep her from being with others, lest she give away the ruse.”
* * *
They collected Minerva’s friend, Miss Turner, from the churchyard, and their baggage from the small inn. Chase hired a man to return the gig to its owner, then hired a carriage to take them all to Melton Park.
There he handed the women over to the housekeeper, calling them guests so they would receive good chambers. Once they were gone, he headed for the library. He found Nicholas standing in its doorway, watching the skirts go up the big staircase.
“Who are they?”
“One is Mrs. Rupert and the other is her companion, Miss Turner. Mrs. Rupert does some small inquiries for me on occasion. The sort it is better to have a woman do.”
“I assume she is the gray ensemble with intelligent eyes, and not the pretty one in blue.”
“The pretty one in blue is not for you, if you were thinking that way. Mrs. Rupert would not look kindly on any interference with that girl.”
“She looked to be at least twenty. Hardly a girl, although she has a freshness to her. It was charming how she gawked at the reception hall’s appointments.”
“Whenever I see all those African masks, I’m inclined to gawk too.” He threw himself onto a divan and stretched out his legs. “I visited Edkins today.”
“Uncle’s valet? How is he?”
“Flourishing. He has a fine property on a good bit of land with a lake in back. He spends his afternoons fishing for his dinner. He did well.”
“One more person who benefited handsomely. Between those who came into money and those who didn’t, the list of motives only gets longer.”
“How much easier if he had done it the normal way and left it all to you. No one would have liked that, but it is so commonplace I doubt the family would be arming themselves for battle now.”
“Perhaps he wanted to spare me the effort to figure out all the allowances they would all expect of me. Did Edkins have anything of interest to reveal?”
He saw a female visitor here that day. He did not know why he chose not to share that yet. It felt disloyal. He knew in his blood that whatever had happened, Nicholas had played no role. Yet he had been equally sure of another man once only to learn he was wrong. He hated how being disillusioned once had him guarding information now.
“I will invite Mrs. Rupert and her friend to dine with us,” Nicholas said. “It will be a distraction from all of that.” He gestured to a stack of papers on a desk.
“Tomorrow, perhaps. Tonight she dines below so she can meet the servants.”
“Do you think she will learn something new? The magistrate was most thorough in questioning them.”
“If you were a young footman or chambermaid and you thought you might have heard something in the night but were not sure, would you admit as much to that magistrate? After he questioned them, most of the women left the study in tears.”
“Do you believe they might confide in Mrs. Rupert instead?”
“Possibly, if there is anything to confide to begin with. She has a way about her that seems to encourage it.”
“You speak of her with admiration in your voice.”
“She is very useful.”
“Useful, is she? How practical. She is also very attractive. Captivating eyes. You must have admired them as well as her wits.” His gaze turned inward, as if he conjured up the memory of her. “Yes, most attractive.”
Chase did not care for the tone of that private musing.
“Have you kissed her?” Nicholas asked.
“No.” Yes, but she wasn’t interested in more of that. But then Nicholas was a duke. Presumably any woman would be interested if a duke kissed her. Even Minerva.
“So that means you do not have a tendre for her. If you did you would have at least tried to kiss her.” Nicholas clasped his hands behind his head, splayed his bent arms on the back of the divan, and sent a hooded look to Chase. “We will definitely invite them to dine with us.”
Chase knew that look. “I must leave you. I have matters to address here. By all means invite them to dinner. Tomorrow night.”
Nicholas just smiled. Chase went to the door.
“Just one thing,” Chase said before leaving. “I said her companion was not for you. Neither is Mrs. Rupert.”
Nicholas laughed. “I can’t believe you are warning me off.”
“Believe it.”
Chapter Thirteen
Minerva tried not to gawk the way Elise did, but it proved difficult. Algernon had been well-to-do, even wealthy by most standards, but dukes lived a different existence from what that old life had experienced. Not only was the house impressive in size and appointments, but Chase’s uncle’s own taste had crowded it with strange, exotic items such as she had never seen before.
The masks and spears on the walls of the reception hall were only the beginning. A zoo of stuffed animals filled the first landing. A tiger, a giraffe, an animal she did not know the name of—the finest taxidermy she had ever seen growled and strode.
The housekeeper, Mrs. Young, noticed her attention. “Most of them were once alive here. He had a section of the park for them. The last duke was very fond of such exotic creatures. Not so much the usual kind, except horses. So when one of them died—these sort, not the horses—he had them made up to stay here.”
It sounded almost sentimental, as if the late duke had truly cared for his menagerie and it had not merely been the indulgence of a man who could buy anything. She wondered if he had named each one.
“I trust this will suit you,” Mrs. Young said when she opened the door to Minerva’s chamber on the third level. They had reached the second story and this door was tucked into a nook at the back. “Your companion will have a similar one on the other side. Mr. Radnor told me to put you here, not above.”
“Above would have been fine,” Minerva said. “As an employee I am accustomed to making do and eating with the staff.”
“He said here. Not a servant as such, are you, even if you are in employment.” The housekeeper gestured and a girl slipped in. “This is Sarah. She will serve the two of you. She has a way with hair, even if she is not a lady’s maid.”
Sarah beamed a smile before assuming a demure demeanor.
“I’ll leave her to settle you in.” Mrs. Young turned to Elise. “If you come with me, I will show you your chamber.”
Minerva waited until they left, then gave the high mattress a subtle press. Very nice. She peered out one of the windows. A bit of garden showed below, then a paddock, and beyond that some fields.
Sarah lifted her valise and set it on a stool. Minerva noticed. “I’ll unpack myself. There isn’t much there.” She had only planned to be gone from town three nights, so she had few garments.