Page 12 of Brave New Earl (The Way to a Lord's Heart 1)

“I heard nothing. Are you worried the house is haunted?”

Miss Saunders looked surprised. “I thought it might be an owl outside my window. Or Geoffrey playing a prank, since they said he gets up at night.”

She was an eminently sensible young lady, Arthur noted. Pleasant and intelligent, if a bit more forceful than he’d realized when he met her at the Phillipsons’. She’d impressed him before he’d learned of her connection to Alice and her strong views on children. She was pretty, too, which Benjamin was bound to appreciate. And the way her hair tended to spring from its pins, as if making a bid for freedom, added a piquancy to her character.

“It’s so odd that you’re here,” she went on, helping herself to a scone. “I came because of a rather unusual conversation we had at the Phillipsons’.”

This called for a diversion. Arthur was aware that his actions skirted very close to interference. Or to be honest—which he always tried to be, at least in his mind—they fell right into that category, a place he’d never thought to find himself. But he couldn’t sit by and watch Benjamin grieve his life away. “Didn’t we discuss how our families are related?” he said.

“Well, yes, but—”

“My sister was married to Benjamin’s father, you know.” He’d noticed her interest in his deceased brother-in-law yesterday.

“So you were friends with the previous Lord Furness.”

“I’m not sure I could call him a friend. My visits were too few, and he never came to London. Ralph and I were acquainted certainly.”

“What sort of man was he?”

Arthur was mildly puzzled by the question. But he was happy to talk of this rather than explain the hints he’d let drop at the Phillipsons’ about neglected children. “He was scholarly. That’s the best way to describe him. He was happiest delving into a new book or scientific paper, adding to his extensive stock of knowledge. He might have been better suited to a university post than the position he was born into. He did his duty by the estate, but he much preferred his studies. His chief area of interest was the native peoples of North America.”

“Red Indians,” said Miss Saunders.

“I wonder where Geoffrey picked up that name? Ralph thought it stupidly inaccurate. He was fond of telling people—on the rare occasions when the matter came up in conversation—that they are neither red nor Indian.”

She looked puzzled.

“It’s a pity he’s not here,” Arthur went on. “Ralph would be only too glad to explain that the explorers who first encountered the native tribes were looking for a sea route to India. They called them Indians because they thought they’d succeeded. At first.”

Miss Saunders appeared to consider this and file it away. “So he was more interested in his studies than his family?”

Arthur nodded. “He cared for my sister. I have no doubt about that. But otherwise…that seems a fair statement.”

“It’s a legacy that just goes on, isn’t it?” She sounded bitter. “Some people should not be allowed to be parents!”

Here was the fire that had caught Arthur’s attention in the beginning. “Such a ban would be difficult to enforce.”

Rather than reply, Miss Saunders bit into her scone and chewed in an oddly vengeful way.

“I thought we might speak with Geoffrey this morning,” Arthur said.

She cocked her head.

“If there is to be a change in his living arrangements—”

“As there must be!”

“We should find out what he would like,” he concluded.

Miss Saunders looked startled, then thoughtful. “You’d ask him?”

Arthur nodded. “He’s allowed an opinion. Or an inclination, shall we say, at his age. He won’t have everything his own way, of course. He is a small child.”

She had put down her scone and was examining him closely. “You are an unusual man,” she said.

This was not a line of thought he wished to encourage. It might lead to questions about how the current situation at Furness Hall had come to be. The earl rose. “I’ll fetch Benjamin.”

Miss Saunders didn’t object. She simply watched him go. Intelligent indeed, Arthur thought. It would be best to keep her mind busy with topics other than himself. He’d line up a list of subjects. An idea occurred to him. This young lady might offer a canny female perspective on his other projects.

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