Page 2 of The Dark Duke's Virgin

“The Dowager has asked after you,” she cut Caroline off. “She is in the cellars at the moment, and she sent me to find you, requesting urgent assistance.”

“Assistance?” Caroline frowned while feeling relieved at the same time. “Whatever for?”

Miss. Spencer’s expression was flat. “Nothing good is my reckoning, but you know how she gets.”

Caroline grinned. “Oh, do I ever.”

Relieved to hear that Esther was on her own two feet and indoors where she was relatively safe, Caroline thanked MissSpencer and hurried through the house and in the direction of the cellars. As she went, she felt herself sweat more than was normal and considered finding another member of the staff to double check those hearths, but she reasoned that could wait as now, her curiosity had peaked regarding what Esther was doing.

She could not help but smile as she tried to picture it: the eccentric elderly woman squirreled away in the dusty cellars, likely making a mess and fussing over she could only imagine what! But that was just Esther’s way.

When Caroline had arrived on the doorstep of Linfield Estate two years previously, she had only intended on staying the night. But with nowhere to go and no plans to speak of, Esther had insisted that Caroline stay on as her companion—a role designated exclusively to women of the peerage with no family or prospects or much of anything to support themselves with.

She might have said no if she’d had any other option. And she might have still said no if she hadn’t sensed immediately that Esther was special and unique in ways that suited Caroline’s own esoteric sensibilities. And in the two years since she had started living here, Caroline would go so far as to say that she was more than the elderly Dowager’s companion but her dear friend—a thought that brought a warm smile to her face.

It was two minutes later when Caroline walked into the dingy cellars located beneath the estate. Torches buckled into the walls lit the dank interior so that she immediately spotted Esther in the corner, pulling the lids off a series of barrels lining the walls.

“Esther!” Caroline called her. “What on earth are you doing?"

“Oh!” Esther spun around, eyes widening with glee at the sight of Caroline coming for her. “There you are, dear! I was wondering where you had gotten off to.”

“Me?” Caroline shook her head as she came in beside Esther. “I will remind you that we had plans this morning.”

Esther frowned. “We did?”

“The pianoforte? You wished to pick up where we left of last night.”

“Oh, yes, that.” She waved Caroline down. “We can do that later. This is of far greater importance.”

“And what is this, exactly…” Caroline peered over Esther’s shoulder, able to see now that the barrels Esther was searching through were packed to the brim with salt.

“Well, I woke this morning in a bit of a state,” Esther sighed as she turned back around, her hand now pawing through the nearest barrel. “Readying myself for the day, I caught sight of my reflection, and do you know what I realized?”

“Pray do tell.”

“That I am old, dear. Frightfully old.” Half her arm was buried now. “And while I might not feel it, I look it! Why, I thought it was my own mother staring back at me!”

“Esther…” Caroline sighed and rubbed her eyes. “I do hope that this is going somewhere. And that it explains what you plan on doing with these barrels filled with salt.”

“Oh, not salt, dear.” She grinned manically at Caroline and then pulled her arm free, revealing a shank of raw meat clutched in her hand. “Meat! I was speaking with Mr. Clancy, and he swore black and blue that raw meat is a most miraculous healing agent for the skin. Said to tighten it up and reduce the effects of ageing.” She waved the shank of meat in Caroline’s face. “Thirty minutes with this on my cheeks, and I will look ten years younger, I kid you not.”

What was there to even say?

Caroline eyed the shank of raw meat in Esther’s hand. Then she fixed her with a look that told the elderly woman what she thought of this little venture: that it was as ridiculous as it was insane sounding.

“Oh, do not give me that look!” Esther cried as she put the shank of meat down and then dove back into the barrel. “And make yourself useful, will you? Have a rummage in these barrels and see what you can find?”

Now, just to clarify, Esther was of sound mind and in no way losing her wits because of aging. If that was the case, Carolinemight have felt bad for lying to her. She was just eccentric, a little odd, and it was Caroline’s suspicion that she often did the ridiculous simply to see what she could get away with.

“I think I will pass,” Caroline said.

“What? Some companion you make!”

“But I will happily help you apply said meat to your face, if that is what is needed?”

“I suppose that will do—ha!” She pulled another shank of meat free, looking delighted. “Admit it, when you came to me two years ago, you did not think you would be having as much fun as this now, did you? Imagine it; if that scoundrel betrothed of yours hadn’t left you at the altar, who knows what dull, monotonous activity you would be doing today. Something boring, no doubt.”

“Aren’t I the lucky one,” Caroline said with just a hint of sarcasm.

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