When a Duchess Says I Do - Grace Burrowes Page 0,99
the awning above the front door. With some luck and care, she could have climbed out the window and down a trellis. This room offered a twenty-foot drop to the muddy innyard.
Colonel Lord Atticus Parker, her concerned, trustworthy, war-hero, self-appointed fiancé, was a gentleman, and Matilda was his prisoner, or the next thing to it.
Chapter Seventeen
“Who is Lieutenant Colonel Lord Atticus Parker?” Duncan asked as the coach swayed around yet another turn.
More to the point, what was Atticus Parker? A younger son, war hero, and gentleman, or an ambitious officer who’d exploit any opportunity to better his situation? Both? A suitor moved by genuine concern for his intended?
“Lord Atticus was the Marquess of Creswell’s spare,” Jane said, “until the heir assumed the title. The current marquess has three sons and a daughter, and he and his marchioness were reportedly a love match.”
The baby started to fuss, poor little mite. Jane and Quinn had been at Brightwell for mere hours before Duncan had ordered a fresh team put to. He’d sent a grumbling Quinn ahead to London on horseback, while the nurses were in the next coach back with the older girls. Stephen was serving as an outrider, and Jinks was up on the box, peppering the coachman with questions.
“So like many spares, Lord Atticus is making his career in the military,” Duncan said, “and doing a splendid job of it. What else do we know of him?”
“I’ve danced with him,” Jane said, putting the baby to her shoulder and rubbing her back. “He made waltzing with a duchess not a privilege, but a duty. He cuts a fine figure in regimentals, had an adequate store of small talk, and hasn’t ever married.”
“Why not?”
The baby was in a fractious mood. She escalated from fussing to making I-am-about-to-start-bellowing-my-discontent-for-all-to-hear noises.
“I beg your pardon?” Jane asked, patting the baby’s back more quickly.
“Why hasn’t a colonel in His Majesty’s military married? An officer’s wife can do much to advance his career, and army life without a spouse is lonely.” Countless women had followed the drum with Wellington’s army, countless others had traveled with it as cooks, laundresses, and seamstresses. The general opinion on the matter was that men fought more fiercely when they were reminded about who and what they were fighting for.
“Maybe Lord Atticus hasn’t met the right woman,” Jane said. “Did you know your Matilda is a duchess?”
The unhappy infant was making enough racket that Duncan wasn’t sure he’d heard Jane clearly. He took Artemis upon his knee and gently bounced the child in rhythm with the coach’s movement.
“Did you say that Matilda is a duchess?” She’d failed to note the details of her marriage in her Book of Common Prayer, which volume Duncan had had packed with his own effects for this journey.
Though perhaps to Matilda, a man’s titled status didn’t signify.
“She married a duke,” Jane said, “either Danish or German, I forget which. The poor fellow didn’t last long, but Matilda is the Dowager Duchess of Bosendorf.”
Of course she was a duchess. The castle, the house full of servants she’d managed, the husband with the leisure time to make automatons…
“This fact weighs against the notion that Parker was smitten with her,” Duncan said. “Dowager duchesses tend to be financially secure and very well connected.”
“As is the younger brother of a marquess.”
The baby was cooing now, while Duncan’s knee had begun to ache. Another vague connection teased at his awareness, something about younger sons of the aristocracy.
“Why do the children always behave for you?” Jane asked. “Even Quinn hasn’t your ability to charm that baby.”
“Quinn is a duke. I am a mere teacher. He has authority by virtue of his status, while I must enchant with knowledge and the promise of eventually imparting some skills. I do believe Lady Artemis has your smile, Jane.”
“What will you do about Parker?”
“I’d like to put out his lights, but then, he doubtless believes he’s rescuing Matilda from a dire fate.” And his belief might be accurate.
“You aren’t convinced of that?”
Duncan passed the now-smiling infant to her mama. “I doubt Parker will keep his peace regarding the fact that Thomas Wakefield was in possession of compromising information, though I’m troubled by one aspect of the situation in particular.”
In fact, Duncan was troubled by every aspect of the situation.
“What would that be?”
The coach slowed, suggesting a change of teams was in the offing, or that Stephen was inquiring at another inn regarding a certain colonel.
“Parker had to have read the translated notes Matilda made regarding the intercepted