Page 3 of Moonstone Angel
“Stop spouting that nonsense your sisters and that woman you think is a diamond have told you. She needs your support and understanding more than ever now.” Miss Angel clasped her hands together and began to wring them. “Yours especially. You see, I truly believe you are the only one in your family who loves her and the only one she trusts. The others…they’re just waiting for her to die.”
“You do not think my sisters care for her?”
She sighed. “You will be angry with me again, but I must speak plainly. No, they care for no one but themselves. Duchess Anne could not bear the way they came around and hovered over her like vultures. They thought she could not hear them as they dug through her belongings and chose what they wanted to take. If that diamond necklace is truly missing, then I suggest you question them about it. They’re probably fighting over it between themselves as we speak.”
His heart tugged, knowing she spoke the truth. Joan and Ellen were his older half-sisters, sharing the same father but different mothers. His was the second wife who had given their father an heir, namely himself. Both sisters had married well, yet despite having comfortable lives, there remained a mean-spirited pettiness to them he never understood.
Was the beautiful Lady Yvonne cast from the same mold?
He did not like to think he had been so easily fooled. Then again, after all those years on the battlefield, he may have been too quick to make up for lost time. As duke, it was his duty to marry and sire the next generation of heirs. Why not choose the loveliest debutante London society had to offer and be done with it?
It had seemed logical, at first.
Perhaps not so much now.
“Ah, here is your housekeeper,” he said, easing away from the mantel as the sturdy, middle-aged woman wheeled in a laden tea cart.
“Mildred, will you please let Duchess Anne know her grandson is here, and we are to have our afternoon tea.” When the woman bustled off, Miss Angel turned to him with a wry smile. “I would have gone to wake her myself but was afraid you’d think we would run out the back way to escape you. Have a seat, Your Grace. She’ll be out shortly. Would you care for some lemon cake?”
“Just tea for me.” He took the chair facing hers and glanced beyond to peer at the narrow staircase.
“Oh, she’s not up there. I’ve set up her bedchamber on this main floor in what used to be my father’s study. She gets around well enough in this part of the house. I have a pushchair for her when we go on our outings.”
“She goes out?”
Miss Angel cast him another of her wry smiles. “She is not my prisoner. We go out whenever weather permits.”
“Where do you take her?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes down to the harbor to watch the boats sail in and out. Sometimes to Mrs. Halsey’s tearoom for her favorite apricot pie. Yesterday, we took a stroll along the beach promenade. She cannot go down to the beach, of course. Her chair would get stuck in the sand. But she enjoys being near it, watching the tide roll in and out. Sometimes we spot dolphins and, on rare occasions, a whale. Your Grace, what do you intend to do? Can we not resolve this before she comes out of her bedchamber?”
“No, Miss Angel. I need to see her for myself.”
To his surprise, she gave no protest. “Very well—but look at her with an open mind. You’ll see she needs to be here a little while longer. All I ask is that you think of her and not of your own convenience.”
He took a sip of his tea and then set down his cup. “And if I allow her to stay, then what of me?”
She had just cut herself a slice of the lemon cake and was about to take a bite but put her fork down. “What do you mean?”
“Where shall you put me?”
She laughed. “I could dig a hole and plant you in my garden. What are you talking about? You cannot seriously mean to stay here. First of all, I haven’t invited you. Nor will I. It isn’t proper.”
“Then where do you propose I stay?”
“I don’t see any reason for you to remain, but if you must…there’s a lovely place called the Kestrel Inn on the High Street opposite the schoolhouse.”
“I’ve seen it. They have repairs going on at the moment. I will not be awakened every morning to someone hammering at my head.”
“Oh, yes. They are expanding the inn in expectation of an influx of visitors to the area. We are becoming quite popular with your society set. Well, the Three Lions Tavern also has rooms available.”
“I am not taking up residence in a tavern.”
“Too low for Your Loftiness? The Duke of Malvern has a beautiful home atop the cliffs overlooking the village. I’m sure he will let you in…assuming you don’t pound on his door and growl at him.”
“Malvern has a residence here?” He had not realized his friend Cain St. Austell had settled here.
She nodded. “You are not the only lofty personage in town, you know. However, I am not certain he is in residence at the moment. I don’t suppose it matters. You are a duke and will be welcomed into anyone’s home, especially that of a fellow duke, whether he is there or not. Isn’t there some unwritten rule that dukes look out for each other?”
