Page 22 of Fit for a Duke
The duke chuckled. ‘There is nothing feeble about you.’
They fell into momentary silence, the dog’s panting and the bits jangling in the horses’ mouths the only disturbance. In the distance a crow cawed and then took flight with a loud clatter of wings. The distant village clock struck the quarter and one of the horses snorted.
‘A former monastery, one assumes,’ the duke said, glancing around at the crumbling cloisters. ‘Is it part of Lady Fletcher’s estate?’
‘No, I believe it was at one time but parts of the land have been sold off over the centuries. Death duties and what have you, so I have been told.’
‘Very likely. It is a common problem.’ He smiled at her. ‘There’s something you want to ask me.’
It wasn’t a question, and Clio was irrationally annoyed because he appeared capable of reading her mind. Surely she wasn’t that transparent? ‘What are you now?’ she snapped. ‘Clairvoyant?’
He chuckled. ‘You are very bad at disguising your emotions.’
‘I have never had reason to do so before now, not really. Besides, I believe in plain speaking. There is less chance of being misunderstood if one speaks one’s mind.’
‘I almost feel sorry for poor Captain Salford.’ The duke’s smile broadened and Clio felt at ease with him, convinced that he was at least trustworthy. She found him compelling – along with just about every female under the age of ninety who crossed his path, she surmised with a wry smile. The fact that he had deliberately followed her to this deserted spot implied that he genuinely desired her company. It was an honour that the majority of young women who were still asleep in the house would have given ten years of their lives to secure. Did he feel it unnecessary to worry about the proprieties insofar as she was concerned, or did he harbour more sinister motives?
Clio upbraided herself for being so foolish. The Duke of Wickham did not, she was absolutely sure, need to resort to seducing innocent young women if it was the pleasures of the flesh that he desired. There were several older and not unattractive chaperones in attendance who would doubtless be pleased to oblige him in that respect. She had noticed one in particular making her availability plainly apparent the previous evening with small gestures, a touch of his forearm, a flirtatious smile.
He still appeared to be waiting for her to ask her question. But would he give her an honest answer, or fob her off with half-truths? Clio abandoned her annoying habit of analysing everything to death and decided to ask him anyway.
‘Tell me to mind my own business, if you like,’ she said, fixing him with a direct look for the first time since he had joined her, ‘but I would dearly love to know why you and Mr Godfrey found it necessary to discuss murder in my aunt Fletcher’s tack room.’
The sight of Clio, with her flowing tangle of hair, sitting in a distracted state among the ruins of a centuries-old monastery had taken Ezra’s breath away. From a distance she had looked ethereal, unapproachable, and Ezra knew he was intruding on a personal moment. She had a right to privacy and he might have found the strength to turn away—anything was possible—but for the fact that Merlin felt no such qualms about respecting her solitude and went bounding up to her, his tail spiralling. Besides, she had already seen him, so her peace would have been disturbed anyway. She might think he was cutting her deliberately if he turned away again, and nothing could be further from the truth.
Her remote greeting made it apparent that the intrusion was not especially welcome, a situation so unprecedented for a man in his position that it was refreshing. She didn’t go so far as to ask him to leave and so Ezra sat beside her, content to bide his time.
‘It’s peaceful here,’ he remarked.
‘It’s a favourite haunt of mine.’
‘I can quite understand why.’ Ezra smiled at her but she was staring straight ahead and the gesture was wasted. ‘Is it actually haunted?’
She laughed and this time she did spare him a fleeting glance. ‘What a strange question.’
‘Not so very strange if you believe that there is a life after this one and that wronged souls occupy the site of the wrongdoing in question. This is obviously an ancient monastery, so it’s easy to imagine all manner of evil deeds taking place here. As to who committed them…well, that’s another matter entirely.’
‘You do not have a high opinion of religion?’
‘I think it has a lot to answer for, certainly. As to a life hereafter, personally I think it arrogant to assume that anyone can know for a certainty what comes next unless they have experienced it first hand—which given their safe and comfortable lives tends to exclude the clergy.’
‘And yet one hears stories of people recognising places they have never set foot in before, or finding themselves able to speak fluently in a foreign tongue they have never been taught.’ She sent him a curious look. ‘How do you explain such things?’
Ezra shook his head. ‘I cannot.’
‘You do not believe that we are born again in different guises?’
‘I would like to think so, obviously, but I have an enquiring mind that raises objections on the grounds of hearsay and so I cannot take anyone’s word as gospel without corroborating proof.’
‘Not even that of the clergy?’
He smiled. ‘Especially not theirs.’
‘If we live by God’s tenets then we are assured eternal life in heaven. Surely that is why we attend church so regularly.’ Clio smiled. ‘Are you sure you want to risk eternal damnation?’
‘It must be getting a mite crowded up there, don’t you think?’
She laughed. ‘Perhaps.’
