Page 61 of The Icy Duke Claims a Bride

“Did you recognize any of the other voices the parrot mimicked?” she asked. “You both recognized Mr. Fitzroy’s voice, but what about anyone else?”

“I’m not sure.” Hugh sighed. “Some were familiar. I’m fairly confident that it was old Mr. Haworth saying ‘Trust is the bedrock of our firm,’ for example, but it was so long ago. I should go through a list of Uncle Edwin’s former associates and see if anything comes back to me.”

“Or read the list out to Jasper?” Catherine suggested. “It sounds as though Mr. Bennett might be lonely and would welcome another visit.”

Hugh nodded. “I will. I already asked Jasper about William Fitzroy, of course.”

“What did he say?”

“Only what I already told you. ‘It’s your signature, Mr. Fitzroy. I won’t have things ruined by sloppiness.’ ‘Your name is on every document, Mr. Fitzroy.’ Both in the same voice. It doesn’t point us in any direction.”

“Not yet,” Catherine said. “But maybe when we have a few more clues…”

“Ah, Elsie,” Mrs. Kaye sighed apologetically as Catherine mentioned the interruption in the library and insisted that the maids and footmen should knock and wait for an answer before entering rooms. “I did not ask her to consult you about luncheon, but she’s too independent-minded, that girl. Sheprobably thought she was being helpful. I shall remind her that it isn’t her place to disturb you or His Grace.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Kaye. I do not wish to get Elsie in trouble, but I do prefer that the household is run according to the judgment of more senior staff.”

“Of course, Your Grace. I shall only remind her of that preference. If she wants to be useful—and that’s a good quality in a maid—there’s a thousand other small errands she might run for me. She already helps take out the mail sometimes and assists Mrs. Evans with the kitchen inventories now that her eyes aren’t what they were once.”

“That sounds perfect, Mrs. Kaye. I shall leave matters in your hands.”

Having solved the immediate problem of the interfering Elsie, Catherine went out for a stroll in the gardens before luncheon. Hugh was in his study, writing more letters for imminent despatch to Mr. Bennett and the present Messrs. Haworth.

She thought back to the inconsistency in the varying dates, times, and locations of Edwin’s movements.

Catherine had no doubt by now that Hugh’s uncle was someone very capable of lying to further his own agenda. She also supposed it was possible that Jonathan might have been an absent-minded man given to confusing dates and events in his correspondence. But Mr. Bennett appeared both honest and competent and had made contemporaneous records.

If Mr. Bennett’s diaries said that Edwin Vaughan had leased, paid for, and used an office one week in September 1805 and that William Fitzroy had called there twice that very week, this was likely to be true. Even if there was also a letter from Jonathan talking about his brother’s two-week stay at Redbridge Hall over that period and how much they’d enjoyed hunting together…

The distance to London from Redbridge Hall was not so very great, Catherine supposed, and Edwin might feasibly have ridden to town every day if he’d wished. But then, how had he also fitted in all the hunting trips, family picnics, and boating trips mentioned in Jonathan’s letter?

And wouldn’t Lady Georgina have minded being abandoned by her husband every day? Jonathan’s letter made no mention of any annoyance or loneliness on her part. In fact, he did not mention her at all.

Tossed one way and then another, Catherine was glad when the gong rang for luncheon and disrupted her contradictory chains of thought.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Soon enough, it was Wednesday, and Hugh and Catherine traveled to London for luncheon with Lord Sedgehall and Jemima, along with Captain Wadsworth and his mother.

Hugh was relieved to see that Catherine and her father kept the peace throughout the meal. He and Jemima watched their interaction with equal interest and restrained concern.

While Albion Wright and his eldest daughter mainly stuck to the subject of Jemima’s wedding—which was of equal interest to Mrs. Wadsworth—their conversation was entirely civil and free from their previous conflict and resentment. Hugh was glad, for Jemima’s sake, that Mrs. Wadsworth saw their family like this.

“Now, what about His Grace’s family? We have invited the Dowager Duchess of Redbridge already, but is there no one else who should be included? For the wedding itself, if not for the engagement party next week.”

Mrs. Wadsworth spoke seriously to Catherine and Lord Sedgehall, the three of them gathered at one end of the dining table with a quill and paper. She wanted everything to be just right for the party to celebrate her eldest son’s engagement to Jemima.

Since the engagement party was scheduled to be held at Sedgehall Manor the following week, the final invitations for the party must be issued today, and decisions must be made now.

“My husband has only a small family,” Catherine answered gracefully. “Let me tell you about them…”

While Hugh felt his heart skip a beat and experienced a familiar wave of grief at any reference to his lost relatives, he found that he trusted Catherine to tell the story for him. He did not attempt to contribute from the other end of the long table, for he would have had to talk across Rupert Wadsworth’s younger brothers, who were ribbing one another in the middle seats.

He was relieved to be distracted by Jemima smiling joyfully at him from her seat beside Captain Wadsworth. Hugh was perfectly aware that the young couple were holding hands beneath the table, and he smiled politely, pretending not to notice.

“I don’t know what you said to Catherine last week, Hugh, but thank you for this truce,” Jemima said in a low voice. “She and Father have been at one another’s throats for my entire life. Now, they are planning my engagement party together, she saysshe will attend his wedding next week, and she even wishes him well!”

“Perhaps they have finally had an honest discussioncleared the air,” Hugh suggested equally quietly. “It seems there were a lot of misunderstandings in the past.”

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