Dangerous in Diamonds - Madeline Hunter [25]
Mr. Edwards had received these instructions before Castleford even entered that breezy chamber.
“I see that the duke intends your evening to be very full, Mr. Edwards. Unfortunately, His Grace did not take into account our preferences regarding our own plans when he made yours.”
Mr. Edwards’s face flushed. “Did he neglect to explain it all to you? My sincere apologies. That happens sometimes, I am sorry to say. Dukes have much on their minds, however.”
This duke mostly seemed to have a game of seduction on his mind, Daphne suspected. He had taken efforts to make sure she remained conveniently nearby too, until he bothered to amuse himself by making the next move.
Chapter Six
The house on Park Lane was elegant and massive, as befitted the townhome of a lord. Daphne had visited Audrianna on occasion in the past and even knew some of the servants. She could not ask for a better situation if she wanted to spend a week—or ten days—in London in summer. Even with the household moved to the coast, enough retainers remained to ensure her safety and security along with her comfort and peace.
Nonetheless, from her first hour there she felt vulnerable. Perhaps the mere size of the place caused that. There was nothing cozy about the expansive library or towering dining room. Her presence created echoes wherever she went when she left her chamber.
That chamber became her sanctuary. She took her dinner there after Mr. Edwards deposited her in the reception hall. She was sitting at the window, observing how dark transformed the park, when he returned that night with her baggage.
Its arrival in her chamber involved a bit of ceremony, while the maid assigned to her hung out the dresses. Daphne noticed that her two best ones, the ones that would be presentable for dinner parties, had found their way here. She had not instructed Katherine to pack them.
Mr. Edwards had received rather detailed orders from his master, it appeared, and had interfered with Katherine’s choice of wardrobe.
And that, she realized, was why she felt vulnerable. The duke had arranged for her to inhabit a huge town house with acres of chambers that the sparse staff never would enter. He had ensured she did not have any of her friends living with her, or any woman at all as a companion. His plotting indicated he was taking far more interest in her than any decent woman would welcome from such a notorious man.
She debated how to end his game as she fell asleep, and took up the matter again when she woke. Just as she admitted that she was only vulnerable because she did not find him as repulsive as she should, a maid brought her breakfast.
There was no mail, of course, but the day’s Times came up with the tray. She read it while she ate at a table set near the window.
An article that reported the growing unrest among workers in the north captured her attention. She looked for familiar names of towns up there to see if violence threatened people that she knew. She prayed that those she loved would be safe, and also the others she knew in that region.
Toward the end of the article, however, another reference arrested her gaze.
The paper noted that Lord Latham, now the new Duke of Becksbridge, was expected to come up to London soon. It speculated that the prime minister would make it a point to meet with him, and proffered the opinion that Latham’s recently published essay, in which he preached that a return to obedience to civil and natural law was critical to England’s future, had found great favor within the government and army.
The article dimmed her mood. Thinking about Latham usually did. Fortunately, she had not had much cause to for years. Clearly that respite was over.
She would have to obtain this new essay of his. It would be comical to read. A return to civil and natural law, indeed. As she remembered it, this man had little conscience and thought himself above all laws. No doubt he believed that only the lower orders