Page 116 of The Scottish Duke
“Most people don’t in your situation. They’re concerned with the annoyances of life, not the blessings. Take my advice, Alex, don’t ignore your wife. Or your son. A great many men would envy you.”
“You included?”
His uncle inclined his head, the smile slipping from his face. “Maybe once,” he said. “Not at the moment. Maybe you’ve spurred me to pursue my own Lorna.”
“Are you contemplating matrimony, Uncle?”
“Why not? I can’t be a greater fool than you’ve been. You’ve shown me what not to do.”
Alex studied his uncle for a moment. “Do you resent Robbie?”
“Why on earth should I?” Thomas smiled again. “Ah, I understand. Am I supposed to be jealous that the infant has usurped me? I never wanted to be your heir, Alex. I’m too bloody indolent to be duke, while you’re a better one than I could ever be. Take a bit of advice from a bachelor, however. Devote a little of that energy toward your wife. Lorna deserves at least that.”
In lieu of a response, Alex turned and left the room.
The scene with his valet was as fraught with drama as Alex had dreaded. Matthews admitted, finally, to his vandalism. However, he staunchly refused to take any responsibility for Nan’s poisoning.
“I would never do such a thing, Your Grace. I understand if you’d like me to apologize to your wife. The duchess.”
“I don’t give a flying farthing for your apology, Matthews. I just want you gone from Blackhall.”
Matthews’s face drained of color. His hands shook as he held the pair of Alex’s silver brushes.
“Sir? I’m dismissed? Haven’t I given you years of service, Your Grace? Should I be dismissed for a solitary error of judgment?”
“That error of judgment was perpetrated against my wife, Matthews.”
“I didn’t harm Her Grace, sir. I would never have done that.”
“No, you only destroyed what she considered valuable. That’s enough of a crime to warrant your leaving my employ. Make sure you’re gone by sunset.”
He turned and left the dressing room, entering the sitting room to find it empty. Nor was Lorna in the bedroom. Robbie was gone as well. They weren’t in Nan’s room, but he was gratified to see that Nan and Hortense were talking about something. Their conversation evidently involved clothing because a selection of garments were draped over the end of the bed.
He left as soon as he could, the only clue to Lorna’s whereabouts a comment from Nan.
“She said she needed a little fresh air, Your Grace.”
His mother often said the same thing, so he did what he considered logical, followed the path around the conservatory, past the formal garden, the west wing, the French garden, and then back to the main building. Lorna wasn’t outside.
Nor was she in the east wing, the conservatory, any of the parlors on the first floor, the library, the kitchen, or the dining room. Out of an abundance of caution he checked the dungeon, but she wasn’t there, either.
By this time he’d asked for the assistance of two footmen and the majordomo. His efforts ended at the stables, but she wasn’t there, either. Recruiting two stable boys, he entered the woods and began to follow a path he hadn’t been on since he was a boy.
He pushed down his fear with some effort. Panic never helped any situation, especially this one. But the thoughts kept assaulting him: what if she’d been harmed? What if someone had taken them from Blackhall? What if they were in danger?
A half hour later he found her, sitting on a log in Devil’s Marsh, contentedly nursing Robbie. She couldn’t have found a more dangerous place.
The name for a marsh wasfideachin Gaelic.But the locals had labeled this particular bit of land the Devil’s Marsh for all the deaths that had occurred here in the last hundred years.
Grasses covered most of the area, with little lakes in between. Some areas appeared solid enough to take a man’s weight, but others were deceptive. One wrong move and a body could disappear from sight, never to surface again.
Pockets of mist rose in the air, nearly obscuring the remains of tree trunks and branches sticking out of the water. One false step and she would have been sucked to the bottom.
Yet there Lorna was, calmly nursing their son in the one place he’d never thought to find her.
“It’s a damn treacherous place to be,” he said, his voice echoing oddly.
He picked his way to her, wanting to shake her for the fear she caused him. That, too, was the price of love.
