Page 35 of The Duke's Lesson in Love

“Why do you call her Mamon and not Miss Fields as the others?”

“There was a French boy at the orphanage who used to cry for his Mamon. He told me what it meant and because I loved Mamon Sadie, I started calling her Mamon.” Edwin stared at the reins. “Is it wrong because I already had a mother?”

Gill would not call the woman who birthed Edwin a mother any more than he thought his own mother fit for the role. While he could not claim to have good parents, he knew what the term emulated. He remembered the years Mrs. Mary and her husband, Hodgskin stood by his side. Thought of the times his valet and the stable master remained loyal despite the cruelty they endured at the hands of his parents. He envisioned the Porters.

“You’re not wrong. But the woman who birthed you is not here, Miss Fields is. What if we made sure your Mamon stayed forever?”

Sadie reflected all the qualities of a gracious, caring, and supportive duchess.

Edwin loved her as well as the staff. Gill could not deny the race of his pulse each time she was near. Since leaving London, she showed him parts of himself long forgotten. She was intelligent, witty, and selfless to leave all she knew behind.

The child’s eyes widened. “Will we be like the Porters? I will have my very own papa and mama?”

“You will have very own parents,” he vowed. The promise lifted a burden from his shoulders, the weight of duty to both his son and his title. Edwin’s joy was his priority, and had to come first. Gill was fortunate there might be a sliver of happiness for himself which filled his heart with gladness.

Gill lifted Edwin from the saddle to walk beside him. A spark of sunlight caught his eyes and he looked over his shoulders towards the tree line. A shot rent the air and he was propelled against the horse.

“Duck!” He pushed Edwin to the ground and covered the boy with his bulk. His horse made a heart wrenching noise. Gill didn’t open his eyes, nor did he loosen his grip. He braced himself, pulse drumming in his ear, for a second shot to pierce the air.

Edwin sobbed in his hold and Gill’s arms tightened. His only thought was to protect the boy.

Regret charged his heart like a riled bull. He had given so much time to tearing down any shred of his parents’ legacy that he had inadvertently lost time with his son.

Time he might never get back.

“Your Grace!” Mr. Porter ran towards them wielding a pitchfork.

Gill glanced towards the woods where he’d seen the flash of sunlight against metal and winced. He barely had time to register the pain slicing through his shoulder before he doubled over, falling onto his knees.

“Your Grace, you’ve been shot!” Porter dropped his pitchfork onto the grass.

Shot.

Every pass of the tenant's hands over his injured arm sent waves of pain radiating through the right side of his body. Pain that could have easily been his son’s to bear. Anger and guilt momentarily clouded his agony. He needed to protect Edwin. If the bullet did not kill him, Gill would make sure Edwin’s future was secured. Geffrey, his solicitor had asked him to name a trustee, but he had a better idea. A solution that would not be contested. He would make Sadie his wife.

“Check the woods,” Gill said when the man continued to assess his shoulder. “Be careful about it. The culprit might still be there.”

Gill gritted his teeth. This might be their only chance to catch the person responsible before he slipped away. He closed his eyes as a wave of dizziness blurred his vision and took a steadying breath that filled his nostrils with the metallic scent of his own blood.

“You are safe now,” he said to Edwin, realizing the child still wept quietly. “No one is going to hurt you.”

“He’s not moving,” Edwin cried, his small frame slumped over the horse’s torso.

He hadn’t realized until now, that the bullet meant to end his life had ended the animal’s. Again, he was reminded of the danger and the reason he brought his son home.

“Come here, son.” Edwin launched himself at Gill and he grunted from the impact. His teeth clenched to ward off another wave of dizziness as he comforted the child. “It is going to be alright,” he said, desperately wishing it were so.

Few people knew his weekend riding habits: the tenants, who had nothing to gain with his death, and his aunt and cousin, from their visits to the estate.

The tenants remembered too well the lack of interest in their wellbeing to court the likes of Caleb as their new lord. Although the residents had paid their condolences after his parents’ deaths, he knew there was no love lost among them.

Caleb on the other hand was promised wealth and prestige after Gill’s parents discovered his relationship with the maid. The former Duke and Duchess had been so angry at his perceived social and personal embarrassment that they’d threatened to cut him off, but only after making sure he never forgot the punishment for staining the family name.

His cousin had the same cruelty in his eyes.

He would make sure Caleb never got his clutches on Edwin.

Mr. Porter reached his side. “I checked up and down da tree line. Whoever was there is long gone.” Mr. Porter hooked Gill’s good arm around his shoulders, helping Gill to his feet.

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