A Duchess a Day (Awakened by a Kiss #1) - Charis Michaels Page 0,50
say, “My last client was also a young woman.”
Helena stopped walking. “I beg your pardon?”
He didn’t look at her. The words were out before he’d considered them.
“I was hired by the palace to escort her from England to France,” he said. “I want you to feel fully informed. After what your sister said. You should not fear betrayal from me, Helena.”
“I’ve not felt betrayed,” she said quietly, walking again. “But I have wanted to know more.”
They rounded the corner of the next row. He wondered if he’d said enough.
“By ‘palace,’ do you mean St. James’s Palace?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“The girl wasn’t . . . one of the royal princesses?”
“No. She was the daughter of a viscount from Cornwall. She’d entered into a courtship with one of the king’s sons. William, Duke of Clarence and St. Andrews.”
“William?” marveled Helena. “It’s said that one day he will be king.”
“Yes. That is what is said. And his brothers, the other royal dukes, did not feel this girl was the correct consort for the future king. They’ve someone else in mind. When his brothers could not dissuade him of the courtship to this woman, they hired me to . . . deliver her to a holiday in the South of France. She had an aunt with a villa near Nice. The French seaside was meant to be far enough away to allow the royal duke to consider some other girl.”
“The brothers tore the duke and his lady apart?”
“I cannot say how everyone felt or what hearts were broken or otherwise. The girl—her name was Knightly Snow—”
“Nightly Snow?” laughed Helena.
“With a K, as in Knight. Miss Knightly Snow. She knew full well she was being extracted from the duke so that some other woman could be installed.” Declan thought of Knightly Snow and his stomach curdled.
He sighed, continuing. “She was a . . . provocative, mercurial sort of woman. She loved parties and society and adventure. From what I could gather during our very short time together, she was excited about the prospect of a holiday in France. She had a volatile bent—I saw her behave with outrageous temper to both staff and strangers on more than one occasion. Not to mention, I believe she and the royal duke quarreled quite a bit, before she took her leave. I also believe they paid her.”
“Who paid her?”
“The royal dukes.”
“Paid her for what?”
“To go away.”
“And you were her escort.”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“You did not fancy the job?”
“Worst job I ever had.”
“Worse than me?”
He laughed. “You have no idea.”
“Was she a . . . pretty girl?”
He glanced at her. She stared straight ahead.
“She was,” began Declan, “curved and cinched and powdered and rogued. She craved attention and knew how to get it.” He made a face. “No, I did not find her pretty. She was—” A weary sigh. “The journey to France was an exercise in frustration, mostly due to multiple wagons of luxuries related to her comfort. Her list of essential ‘accommodations’ made travel slow and burdensome. Longest journey of my life.” He rolled his neck, remembering the extreme inconvenience of every mile.
“And now you are my . . . groom,” Helena marveled. “You went from escorting the sweetheart of a royal duke to watching over me. Girdleston hires only the best, I suppose.”
He made a noncommittal sound and steered her around a cage of chickens. Helena didn’t need to know that he’d been unlocked from prison to do this job; she didn’t need to know he would likely return there if they failed. Her pressure to succeed was already significant. He’d said enough.
“There are extenuating . . . circumstances with Girdleston and me,” he finally said. “But you’re clearly valuable to the dukedom, of this I have no doubt. Girdleston is determined to shackle you to Lusk. I am guessing that the river on your family’s land must be very highly valued.”
“Thousands of pounds a year,” she said sadly. “A fortune, or so I’m told. At the moment, the limestone in the duke’s mines must be hauled to Bath by wagon. It is slow and expensive, and they sell it only within the region.
“But if,” she continued, “the limestone can be moved on my river, they can float it as far as Bristol. From there, it can be shipped around the world. It would be a huge windfall for both of our families but it would destroy the forest and my orchard especially. The apples are on terraced land that borders the river, and the line of wagons would