Page 3 of Code Name Duchess
“He told me he saw you at Almack’s a fortnight ago,” Leo’s voice penetrated her thoughts. Her eyebrows rose as she examined her brother’s visage.
“He did? I didn’t know he frequents Almack’s.”
“He does not. Rose had an unfortunate encounter with a young lord the week prior—the young man would not accept her refusal to dance with him a second time—and he was quite rude to her. Seth went to have a word with the young man, alas, he was not there. Anyhow, he mentioned he saw you and that you looked as though you’d rather be anywhere but there.” He paused and cleared his throat. “Perhaps that is why you have such trouble finding someone to dance with at these affairs. They can tell you’d rather tend to a gaggle of geese.”
The laughter burst out of her before she could control it. “I really would. I am uncomfortable at these events, and I only went because our aunt insisted. She made me feel quite terrible over the cost of the voucher.”
That Season, for reasons Winnie had yet to figure out, her Aunt Anna had purchased vouchers for Almack’s for herself, Victoria, and Winnie. Vouchers to Almack’s Assembly Rooms were hard to come by, but they could secure them as members of the aristocracy. Alas, unlike her sister, Winnie rarely used them, much to the chagrin of her aunt.
Beside her, her brother groaned.
“I hope that is not why Uncle Ezekiel summoned me.” He rubbed his bushy eyebrow as a sweat pearl formed on his temple. It was June, but the heat had arrived early this year. This was in stark contrast to the prior year. 1816 would surely be remembered as the year without summer, as it had been a miserable year.
“You’re to go to Westminster?”
“Yes,” he consulted his golden pocket watch. “I must go now. I have to make a stop at the office. Seth is going out of town, to Devon, for a few days to see if we can expand our business, so I need to keep an eye on the office. Anyhow, I am already late.” He placed another kiss on the side of her head and jumped up. “If I am not coerced into staying for dinner, I’d like to take dinner with you and Victoria. If she will have us, given her present mood. What do you say? Family dinner together?”
Winnie got up and nodded. “I will ask the cook to make pea soup and fresh bread,” she smiled. This simple meal was a Keating family tradition. Pea soup was one of the few meals their mother, the late Baroness Drayton, knew how to make herself. It remained a treasured meal for the Keatings to this day.
“I cannot wait,” he winked at her and dashed up the garden stairs. As he disappeared through the door and into the interior of their manor, Winnie looked after him—entirely unaware that it would be the last time she would see her brother.
Chapter 2
Two weeks later
Winnifred sat in the plush chair in front of the desk occupied by Charles Markham, a renowned private detective, and bit her lips while the man frantically wrote notes on a sheet of paper.
She studied his face. He was an older man. His hair gave his age away, showing more grey than chestnut-brown, combined with deep circles around his eyes.
A former Bow Street Runner, his reputation preceded him wherever he went. All of thetonknew him and admired him for his skill. Markham had brought home several run-away ladies on their way to Gretna Green, brought to justice an assortment of thieves, and didn’t even fear a venture into the rookeries of St. Giles.
He was precisely the kind of man she needed.
“You say it was a fortnight ago that you last saw your brother?”
She nodded quietly. “Yes, it was late afternoon, he was going to my uncle’s.”
The man nodded and confirmed her uncle’s address before carrying on with his notes.
A surge of grief overcame her, and she closed her eyes, her fingers curled around the arms of the chair. She had all of her hopes pinned on this man—he had to be the answer. He had to be the person to find Leo.
Two weeks had passed since Leo walked out of the garden of their home and out of her life—and he’d never returned. All hoping and praying and searching thus far was in vain. It was as if her brother was swallowed up in an invisible hole, never to return.
Winnifred could not let that be. She’d find her brother—somehow. And if she could not, then Charles Markham undoubtedly could. The man looked up, his large sunken brown eyes reminded her of the neighbor’s beagle.
“What is the business your brother is a partner in?”
She blinked, taken aback by the question. “The Sweet & Spice Corporation.”
The investigator pressed his lips together. “The other partner is the Duke of Cambarton, Seth Dunn?”
At the mention of Seth’s name, there was a slight pinch in her stomach, but she forced herself to nod.
“He is out of town, otherwise, I would have spoken to him already. He and my brother are quite close.”
Markham looked at her with his head tilted to one side and licked his lips. “I see.” There was something in the way he spoke, something in the way he carefully enunciated the words that puzzled her. She was about to follow up on the exchange when the man changed the subject.
“Well, Miss Keating, I have another meeting following ours. I, of course, cannot reveal the nature of other clients’ business—privacy, you understand. But I have a feeling I might be in a better position to assist you after. Would you be able to return here tomorrow?”
