The Duke Conspiracy

by Astraea Press

  Alex forced his eyes not to focus on her lips. “We shall have to do some digging to find out. Now that I am more fully informed of what we are looking for I will ask my man of affairs to look into it. Previously, they were merely looking for threats toward me and could find nothing. But as you have pointed out, it is nothing personal between Broderick and me, I am merely expedient.”

  Rose grinned at this. “Please do not take that to heart, Your Grace, I mean Alex,” she stumbled before carrying on, “You would not want Broderick after you personally anyway.”

  Alex returned her grin. “You have a good point there, my dear.”

  Rose's smile turned wistful. “You have no idea how relieved I am to share this burden. When I realized Broderick must be up to something once more, I was so worried about it. I wanted to tell my father but…” at this she trailed off.

  Alex's understanding smile nearly broke Rose's heart. “But you were afraid he would be unable to see beyond my involvement in the matter.”

  Rose nodded. “That was my fear, yes. That is why I thought to help you ensure you were safe from their plots, then when you were out of the situation I could get my father involved.”

  “Do you not think he would want to know how you came by this information? No matter what happens with me, you cannot change the fact that you found out about it because of the conversation you overheard with regards to their plot to entrap me.”

  “I know. I have not yet come up with a solution to that dilemma—thus my great relief in being able to unburden myself to you. Mayhap I shall not have to involve my father at all if we can manage to solve it on our own.”

  “Do you have any ideas as to how we are going to do so? I will admit to you that I am woefully inexperienced in the skills needed to thwart someone scheming against the government.”

  Rose wrinkled her nose at Alex's words and chewed her lip in concentration. “I think at this point we really need more information. It would be most helpful if you could find out more about Broderick's associates; who he is involved with could tell us a lot. I will also speak to Lady Yorkleigh. The night of the musicale she seemed to indicate that she had information about Broderick and was endeavoring to warn me away from him. I do not wish to involve any more people, so I will try to find out what she knows without revealing what I know. I have a plan in mind, but it does involve a bit more subterfuge.” She said this last bit with a tone of apology. Alex was quick to protest.

  “My dear, I have already assured you that this is clearly in the defense of our country. Spy away if you think that will help.”

  “Thank you, Your Grace,” Rose could feel her face stretching into a smile that revealed her dimples. She felt so light and happy after unburdening her soul and finding that Alex did not turn away in disgust from her. The relief she felt was truly profound and she felt as though she could fly home. She remembered her promise to Elizabeth and her face fell.

  “What is the trouble now?” Alex asked, amusement and exasperation both showing in his tone of voice.

  Rose shrugged. “I just remembered that my friend Elizabeth knew I would be meeting you today and wanted me to come to see her afterward. She helped me gain the information from Lady Anne so I feel as though I owe her, but I do not want her involved in the situation with Broderick any more than she already is. I shall have to skirt around some of the facts, which makes me a trifle uncomfortable.”

  Alex grinned at her with far more amusement than sympathy, which caused her to pull a sour face at him in return. He was still chuckling when Rose's maid arrived.

  Eyeing the duke suspiciously Mary asked, “Are you nearly finished, Miss? We should be getting on our way pretty soon.”

  “Thank you, Mary, I just need to gather up my things. Could you please help me finish up?”

  Mary kept a suspicious eye on Alex while she hurried to tidy Rose's drawing supplies. “You didn't get much done today, Miss,” she scolded, much to Alex's amusement and Rose's embarrassment.

  “The muse did not strike me today, Mary. Now we should be on our way. Thank you for your help.” Turning to Alex, Rose dipped into a respectful curtsy, suddenly feeling bashful.

  Alex took her small hand into his much larger one, placing a kiss delicately on the back of it. “Until tomorrow,” he said with a questioning lift to his voice.

  Rose shook her head. “You had best give me an extra day to see what I can gather. Let us say two days hence.”

  “I shall make every effort to contain my impatience,” Alex replied with complete honesty, feeling a deep disappointment that they would not be seeing one another for a couple of days. For a moment he wished fervently that their friendship did not need to be kept a secret, but now there were even more reasons why that was necessary.

  He stood watching as the two girls hurried away from him. He was gratified when Rose stopped at the entrance and turned back to look at him. As their eyes met and held for an inexplicably long second, he felt his heart rate pick up as though he had been running. Trying to remain unmoved he lifted his hand in a small wave. She looked slightly flustered as she turned back to hurry after her maid.

  Alex looked around the room at the fragmented statues that Elgin had inexplicably brought back to England. He shook his head over the folly of men and then strode from the room. He had things to learn and places to be.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Miss Rose, are you certain it's fittin' for you to be meeting with His Grace, the duke? You know how your parents would react were they to find out. Not only about who he is, but about you meeting up with him. I know you've been arguing that it's a public place and no harm will come of it, but it don't seem so public when there's not a soul stirring at the odd hours you've been going there.”

  “I pray you, do not scold me, Mary. The situation is troublesome enough without you lecturing me. I do realize my parents would have apoplexy or disown me or some such. That is why we must ensure they never find out. I trust Alex, I mean the duke, and I truly need someone I can trust right now. You know how Broderick is. He needs to be dealt with. And because of how I heard about it, I cannot trust my father to be reasonable. This is the only way for the moment.”

  “If you are certain, Miss,” was all Mary would allow with a slight sniff of disapproval.

  Rose grinned. “Thank you, Mary. I would never be able to do it without you. You are the important factor in all of this. You always are. Now be a dear and hurry along. I promised Elizabeth we would stop in today and I really must return home to break my fast and look in on Mother.”

  “Oh Miss, I plum forgot you hadn't eaten. You must be near to perishing.”

  “My stomach was too nervous this morning to be able to eat anything. But you are quite correct that now I am absolutely ravenous. I certainly hope the kitchen has not completely cleared away the breakfast dishes.”

  “If they have, Miss, I will make sure you get something, have no fear.”

  “Thank you, Mary,” Rose smiled her gratitude at her trusted maid just as they reached their stairs. “Hello, Hartley, how are you on this fine day?” she greeted the butler as he welcomed them home.

  “You seem chipper this morning, Miss Rose. It does not strike me as being that fair today.”

  “No day really is in London, is it, Hartley? That is why one must ignore the day and decide that one's contentment is dependent on their state of mind. I have decided that today is fine and I am happy with or without the sunshine.”

  “Very well, Miss,” Hartley replied with an indulgent smile.

  “Is anyone else about yet today?”

  “Your father has already left to go about his business and your mother has not yet left her rooms. Can I do anything to assist you, Miss?”

  “I would dearly like to have something to eat. Do you know if breakfast has been cleared away as yet?”

  “I do not believe it has, Miss.”

  “Thank you, Hartley, you just made my day.” With a grin Rose handed the rest of her pencils to he
r waiting maid and hurried to the dining room to assuage her hunger.

  A short while later, after eating, changing, and having her hair tidied by Mary, Rose made her way to her mother's room. After scratching on the door she was admitted by Lady Smythe's personal maid.

  “Good morning Priscilla, how are you this morning?” she asked kindly.

  “I am fair to middlin', Miss, thank you for asking.”

  “Is my mama up and about yet?”

  “I was just about to do her hair,” the maid answered as Lady Smythe called out, “Priscilla, who are you dithering with? If that is the maid with my tray, bring it in.”

  “Good morning, Mama, it is me holding Priscilla up, I am sorry to admit. And I do not have your chocolate or toast. Would you like me to run down to the kitchens and get it for you?”

  “Good morning, Rosamund. No, that is quite all right. Priscilla has already rung but it was kind of you to offer.” Lady Smythe went through the motions of living her life, but her heart was clearly not in it as she spoke with a melancholy, put-upon voice.

  “I wanted to check with you if you needed me today. I was going to go visit briefly with Lady Elizabeth, but I could not remember if we had any plans.”

  “No, no, Rosamund, you go right ahead. It is nice that you have found a friend to help keep you occupied. You have so much more energy than I can muster, so it is good for you to have others your age about.”

  Lady Smythe's tone made Rose feel as though this was an accusation rather than a compliment and she struggled for a reply. “Well, if you are certain you shan't miss me, then I will scamper over to Elizabeth's for a wee spell.” Rose's flippant chatter made her mother sigh, which Rose chose to ignore as she continued. “I will take Mary along with me as I might make some other calls before I come home. I have some correspondence to take care of this afternoon, and then it will be time to get ready for the evening.” Rose could see that her mother's attention was not fully engaged, but she persisted nonetheless. “Do you not find it droll how we seem even busier than we are at home and yet we get so little done with our days here in the City?”

  “What is that, my dear?” Lady Smythe asked distractedly.

  “Naught of import, Mama. I shall wish you a good day and I will see you this evening.” With that Rose gave up trying to engage her mother in a conversation and made good her escape with a faint sigh of her own. It was a tragedy that she had, in essence, lost her mother at the same time as losing her brother.

  Returning to her room, she collected her own maid. “Come along, Mary, I am fairly certain I shall have need of you.”

  “Very well, Miss,” the maid answered with a grin. “Are we going spying again?” she asked, with a skip in her step and her voice hushed.

  Rose had to giggle over the other woman's enthusiasm and attitude, which was so different from her own. “Most likely,” she answered, annoyingly vague.

  “Will you at least promise to tell me if you find out anything that could be of use to us?” Mary asked not bothering to keep the plaintive tone from her voice.

  “That is a promise I can keep,” Rose answered with conviction. “I always find it useful to discuss everything with you. You have a good head on your shoulders, and I know you will not run and tattle.”

  “Of course not, Miss.”

  The two hurried along and once more found themselves in front of Elizabeth's parents' lovely townhouse. Just before they climbed the stairs, Rose thought to tell Mary, “I have no certain idea how long we shall be here. I am hoping to not have to tell Elizabeth everything about my meeting with the duke. I think it is in her best interests to remain ignorant of the details. I hope my playacting skills are up to snuff, as I would hate to harm the friendship over this nonsense.”

  Mary gave her mistress's arm a squeeze of reassurance. “I know you have your reservations about your involvement with these shenanigans, but your skills are still sharp, Miss, and you are actually good at this kind of thing, which is not what one would expect of a well-born chit like yourself.”

  The two conspirators shared a grin as they climbed the stairs. Mary went off to join the servants below stairs as the butler went to announce Rose.

  “The Honorable Rosamund Smythe to see you, my lady,” he intoned properly.

  “Thank you, Francis, please show her in,” Elizabeth replied, keeping her excitement in check.

  Once the door was closed behind her guest, Elizabeth bounded up from her place on the settee. “I have been pacing a trail in the rug all morning, as I have been running to check the window every few moments. Did you see him? Was your meeting a success? Do we have a plan to proceed with?”

  Rose grinned over her friend's words. “I am so sorry for keeping you on tenterhooks. I was so nervous this morning that I could not eat before my arranged meeting, so I had to go straight home afterward in order to not faint on your front stairs upon my arrival.”

  “You would not have been the first to do so,” Elizabeth dismissed with a wave of her hand.

  Rose laughed, “I would not think Francis would be so accepting of that idea.”

  “Well now that you are finally here, please hurry and sit down and tell me all about it! Was the duke able to shed any light on the matter? Did you tell him what we found out? Did you make a further plan?”

  Rose could not help laughing again. “Slow down, my lady, I pray you. Unfortunately, I do not have much solid information to give you. As far as Wrentham could find out from his solicitors and his man of affairs, there is nothing that either Austen or Broderick have against him. So, on the surface it seems as though it is as Lady Anne said—he is just a prime catch for various reasons and they set their sights on him.”

  Rose could see the disappointment clearly etched on her friend's face. “So there is nothing further for us to do?” she asked, her tone plaintive.

  “I did not say that. I passed along all that we found out from Lady Anne, and Wrentham is determined to be vigilant. It saddens me a trifle because Lady Anne really does seem to be a charming young woman who is merely misguided. I cannot agree with her father's idea. It seems to me that it is a recipe for a disaster of a marriage. You would not think any father would wish that for his daughter.”

  Now Elizabeth looked pensive about the matter. “So, what can we do?”

  “We can be vigilant over the next weeks while out and about. I still cannot feel easy in my heart that Broderick is not up to something. It strikes a strange chord that he would be scheming with someone to entrap a husband for that someone's daughter. Wrentham pointed out that if it is not a love match on her side, they might just set their sights elsewhere. I cannot think this will lead to a happy life for Lady Anne. I propose that we should make an effort to dissuade her from her plans. She should set about getting to know some nice gentlemen and hope one of them makes her an offer that she can be happy with.”

  Elizabeth nodded her agreement. “It may not be as exciting as sneaking around to find out some information but it is a sound course of action. And do you think we should keep an eye out for the duke in case we need to defend his honor?”

  Now Rose could feel her face shifting into a skeptical expression. “Do you think that would be possible?”

  Elizabeth laughed. “I was jesting you, ninny. Although, now that I think on it, I do believe the idea has merit. It would keep him from the parson's mousetrap. Eventually he has to marry someone but I can tell that your old friendship is still important to you, so I would think you would at least wish it to be a happy union.”

  “You are absolutely correct on that score; I was just wondering how we could defend him.”

  “By keeping an eye out for scheming hussies who are trying to entrap him,” Elizabeth stated, as though Rose had lost her mind. This led to great hilarity between the two girls, and the subject was slowly changed to other matters.

  After a short time Rose stood to take her leave. “Thank you for being such a great sport on this matter, my dear lady. Your help was
invaluable. I certainly could not have done it without you.”

  Elizabeth shrugged, dismissing Rose's compliment. “I barely did anything. I am absolutely certain you could have done it on your own—I merely sped up the process. I shall be sure to keep my eyes and ears open for anything pertinent tonight. We are going to the theatre so there might not be too much to find out there, but there is always lots of gossip floating around at the intermission.” Her eyes glinted with excitement. “I have always enjoyed the gossiping because I love to be up to date on the very latest on-dit, but now it takes on an entirely new meaning when there could be actual useful information in it.”

  Rose laughed once more. “You are a dear. I shall see you soon. We are going to a ball this evening that is being held by one of my father's ambassador friends. It shall be anything but dull, although I cannot quite say that I am looking forward to it.”

  The two girls parted from one another on the best of terms and Rose left, collecting Mary on her way out the door.

  “Did you manage to extricate yourself, Miss?” Mary asked, as soon as they were out of earshot of the house.

  Rose giggled at the maid's terminology. “I did at that, Mary. Elizabeth is a dear and not at all a suspicious sort. She has no reason to think there would be anything more sinister than a young lady determined to make a good match. No doubt their scheme is not even all that original. We agreed that we should still keep our eyes and ears open for any mention of Broderick and his activities, as well as trying to steer Lady Anne into a more honorable method of making her match.”

  “That was well done of you, Miss,” Mary congratulated. “Where are we off to now? This is not the way home.”

  “We are going to stop in and see if Lady Yorkleigh is at home to visitors. If she does not have anyone else there I am going to try to find out if she knows anything of use about Broderick. The fateful night of the musicale she seemed to indicate to me that she had her own reasons for distrusting the man, and it felt as though she were warning me away from him.”