Page 11 of Secrets of a Duke's Daughter (The Duchess's Investigative Society 1)

Cassie shook her head. “You are in no state to do anything. You must let me do this for you.”

Jane nodded slowly and took a tentative sip of tea. “I do not know what else to do.”

“I have this in hand,” Cassie said with more confidence than she felt.

The will would unravel this, she was certain. Jane and her brother always adored going to their house in Scotland and Theodore vowed it would be part of her dowry with enough funds to keep her comfortable whether she married or not. Somehow, that had never transpired, and Mr. Harding refused to discuss such matters with a woman.

Cassie tried to keep Jane distracted with gossip from the ball while they drank their tea but nothing could erase the cloud of mourning hanging over her friend. Theodore was not much older than Anton, and because it was just the two of them, they were especially close. Jane had no one and Cassie could not imagine such a feeling. What would she do without her family?

“I will keep you informed,” she vowed, giving Jane’s hand a squeeze. “That body was not Theodore’s. If you believe that then I do too. Take comfort in that.”

“I shall try.”

As she stepped down the stairs toward the waiting carriage and Luke, who annoyingly had not given up and returned home, she ran into Mr. Harding at the bottom of the steps.

He took a deep bow. “Lady Cassandra, are you providing charity to my poor cousin?”

“Just company, Mr. Harding. Jane has no need of charity.”

“Yes, well, that is not entirely true, but I shall bestow upon her what I can as her only living relative.” Mr. Harding peered down at her over a long nose. Long and skinny with a strange energy to him that made his fingers judder against his thighs, Mr. Harding always paid her the respect due to her rank, but she felt a lingering dislike for her behind it.

There were some people—maybe many—who did not find her determination to discover enjoyment in life appealing or ladylike, but she seldom cared for others’ opinions. If she could take at least one benefit of being a duke’s daughter, it was that she had more freedom than many of her sex to behave how she wished.

Within reason, of course.

However, whilst some muttered things behind her back, Mr. Harding scarcely disguised his annoyance at her, especially now. She always spotted the way he never looked her directly in the eyes or how his chin lifted in dismissal.

“I do hope my cousin was not plaguing you with her concerns, my lady. She is deep in mourning and does not have all her senses.”

“I found Jane to be entirely in control of her senses.”

His upper lip curled. “You would be wise not to believe this nonsense about her dear departed brother, my lady. It does Miss Parsons no good. She must accept that he is gone.”

“I think it hard to accept such things when the matter is not clear at all.”

“What is not clear? His body was found, he is dead.” He inhaled audibly, his square shoulders rising. “I do not mean to be so crass, my lady, but a grieving woman cannot have control of herself. She should not be thinking on such grim matters.”

“I think a grieving woman can have as much control as a grieving man.”

He laughed. “Men do not grieve like women.”

Cassie declined to inform him that she had seen her father grieve her mother and it was most assuredly much like Jane’s grief. She’d found comfort in it at the time, knowing that she was not alone. It hurt all the more to realize Jane truly had no one else but her.

She glanced at the carriage to spy Luke watching the interaction with a tense expression. If she wasn’t careful, he was going to join her on the doorstep and find out precisely what was occurring.

“I shall take my leave, Mr. Harding. I have many other things of which to attend.”

“No doubt.” His thin smile told her he believed her to only have trivial, feminine matters to attend to.

Which was fine with her. Now she just needed to convince Luke of that fact.

***

LUKE WATCHED NOEL stagger up the steps to the house with amusement.

His brother twisted on the middle step and pressed a finger to his lips. “Shhhhhhh, Mother will be sleeping,” he slurred.

“No doubt.” He hastened up the stone steps to aid his brother up the final few with an arm about his waist.

---