Page 17 of The Duke's Lesson in Love

ChapterSeven

“Why is this person insistent on taking Edwin?”

Sadie knew her tone was that of a commanding officer in an invading army. Even as her fingers combed his thick brown hair, they were numb with fear. She had waited to ask questions until they were well on their way to Berwick, ate, and now Edwin lay asleep in the carriage. The child’s small frame lay on the bench while his head rested in her lap.

The thought of him in danger chilled her spine, and she wanted nothing more than to find the man responsible.

When Lord Gilleasbuig first voiced his concern for Edwin, she thought it absurd—children went missing daily in London, the attempt on Edwin was another misfortune. Now she wasn’t so confident.

“I do not know for certain.”

“Tell me, what do you suspect, Your Grace?”

“Edwin is a means to get to me.”

Her gaze flashed to him. That much she had assumed. Why else would a Duke who left his son at an orphanage suddenly claim him? She shook her head, not wanting to come to the wrong conclusions. So far, he had not treated the child as though he were an inconvenience. He cared about his son. Why else go through the length of hiding him at the orphanage? That or he did not think himself capable of raising another person.

“You have enemies?”

His chuckle was dark and filled with self-loathing that tugged at her heart. “Any enemies I have, squarely belong at the feet of my parents.” He faced the window as if he couldn’t bear to look at her any longer. “I am a simple man, Miss Fields. You will come to know that I do not make promises I cannot keep or idle threats I do not intend to deliver. I do not have many friends, therefore no enemies I cultivated.”

Her hand stilled in Edwin’s hair. Any hope he would return Edwin to the orphanage died. She remembered his other promise if she came between him and his son. Would he send her away? Twice now he had made the suggestion.

In protecting Edwin, she was certain to lose her heart to a man whose kindness was buried beneath the murky waters of his past.

What were her options, take the boy and flee to keep him safe or travel to Berwick?

The choice was easy.

Edwin was her heart, or at least the very best part of it. The other half… she breathed deeply to stop her racing pulse. The other half was of no consequence.

“Will Edwin be safe in your home?”

“I trust my tenants and my servants, Miss Fields.”

He didn’t promise, which she suspected meant he had reservations.

“And your wife?” The last word blistered her tongue as she uttered it, but she would not pretend his kindness thus far was anything more than that. Besides, she was no more than a newly appointed governess. “Is she agreeable to raising another woman’s child?”

He stared at her. “Are you not?” He nodded towards Edwin. “Have you not been doing the very same?”

“This is different.” She swallowed.

“How so? Neither of you is his mother.”

So he did have a wife.

Her chin titled to hide the pang of disappointment for allowing herself fanciful thoughts. Edwin’s mother was not someone she ever spared a thought, but she would have reluctantly accepted another woman raising him had he been adopted. How could she not when they lived in an orphanage where children longed for families? “I chose to love him.”

He peered into her eyes for a long while, yanking apart hidden emotions. “Fear not,” he said finally, resuming his gaze outside the window. “Any wife of mine will have the same choice.”

Sadie clenched her teeth in annoyance. The cad did not even answer her question. Again. “Least tell me you suspect someone and we are not perceiving every stranger as a threat.”

“One of the cottages was set on fire in my tenants’ absence. Before that, pig’s blood was smeared on herbs and trees in the surrounding woods.”

“To look as if your lands are cursed?” she scoffed.

“The town and surrounding lands house Scots and Brits. Superstition is not taken lightly. Whoever did this knows Berwick, the people, and its rich history.”

“Yet, you take us there.”

“Yes.”

“Could you not send us to another of your homes until the threat passes?”

“I have tried that for almost five years.” The muscles in his jaw flexed. “Yet Edwin was discovered. So, no, Miss Fields, I’m taking my son home.”

His voice thinned on the word “home” as if it was a place with secrets. At the beginning of their journey, he spoke of the town and the land, but nothing of his youth. Nothing of his past.

“The question is who knows Edwin is your son and what do they hope to gain by taking your heir?” Sadie smoothed a lock of hair from Edwin’s forehead. “An illegitimate heir at that.”

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