Something Scandalous. Christie Kelley
screamed as the strange man and several others walked in the house. “Kenneth, we have intruders!”
“Intruders?” the stranger said, shaking his head. “Lucy and Ellie, take the children upstairs and find rooms for everyone.”
“Of course,” said one of the women.
Elizabeth shouted, “Kenneth, where are you?”
“Right here, my lady,” he said from behind her. “I’m going to need some help with all of them.”
“Go wake the others,” Elizabeth said quickly. What was wrong with everyone? She walked closer to the huge man with dark brown hair and a scraggly beard wet from the rain. She stepped back quickly when she smelled him. “Get out of this house!”
Instead, the children followed the two women up the stairs.
A few of them glanced down at her and giggled. One dark-haired boy of about ten looked down at her and whispered, “Will’s gonna have to let her go. She’s just mean.”
Elizabeth glared at them all and then turned her stare to the man leaning against the banister. “You had better get those children and leave the premises before I call the night watch.”
“Call whoever you damned well want.” He took a step toward her. “Is this not the Duke of Kendal’s London residence?”
“Yes, but certainly you’re not…” her voice trailed off. No, it was inconceivable. This ruffian was far too young to be Edward.
Finally, she heard the loud stomping of footmen coming upstairs like a herd of cattle. She leveled the thug a smug look. He raised an eyebrow at her and smiled. His smile took her completely by surprise. With even white teeth and small crinkles by his eyes, the man’s smile made her heart pound.
“Get this man and his children out of my house,” she ordered the footmen.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Two of the burliest footmen in service came forward and walked toward the man.
“Your house?” he said with a stifled chuckle.
“Yes.”
“I thought this home belonged to the Duke of Kendal,” he said as the two footmen pulled his arms behind his back. “Not so rough, boys. At least not if you wish to continue to serve in this household.”
“What are you blathering about?” Elizabeth asked.
“This is the home of the Duke of Kendal. Allow me to introduce myself. William Atherton, at your service.”
Elizabeth grabbed for a baluster of the handrail. Hearing the giggles of children, she glared up at them. At her hard stare, they ran toward their rooms. All but the two eldest women, who held her glare.
William Atherton was indeed Edward’s son. His only natural born son. Edward’s heir.
While hard to determine his features with his hair to his shoulders, a beard that desperately needed a shave, and a stench that would make a seaman proud, she didn’t doubt his claim. His dark brown eyes were almost black, the exact shade of the former duke.
“Where is your father?” she asked softly.
“The good Lord took him nine months ago.”
She breathed in deeply in an attempt to gain some measure of control. Finally, she stepped away from the stairs and curtsied to him.
“Welcome home, Your Grace.”
Chapter 2
Will finally broke away from the footmen’s tight hold. “Thank you…”
The woman’s face flushed pink. “Elizabeth, Your Grace. I am the former duke’s daughter,” she replied in a halting voice.
“I see. A cousin of mine, then.”
“Very distant, but yes.”
“Wonderful.” The last thing he needed was one more mouth to feed. The past two years had been a struggle as he attempted to keep his family from falling apart during his father’s long illness.
“Those children,” she started, glanced up the stairs, and then paused.
Watching her freckled face cringe, he almost laughed. “Yes? The children?”
“They can’t all be…”
“Mine?”
“Well, yes. I had heard you were eight when you left for America, and that was only twenty years ago…”
He walked toward a large room as she attempted to determine the source of all the children. Glancing around the room, his gaze focused on the gilt furnishings. He remembered very little of his life in England, and this was one part he must have forgotten. The opulence of the room astounded him. Red silk wallpaper lined the walls of the room, vast gilt frames with oil paintings and portraits hung from the walls. He had only heard of such wealth. Not even Abigail’s family had this much.
God, he missed her already. He had to get this nasty business completed as quickly as possible.
“Your Grace?”
“Oh, yes, the children. Perhaps I had an early start,” he said with a smile. His innocent cousin’s eyes widened.
Slowly, her lips tilted upward. “That must have been an extremely early start.”
“Considering Ellie’s nearly twenty, I do believe eight is just a bit young.”
“Your siblings, then?”
“All seven of them, plus Alicia, who stayed behind with her new husband.” Will walked farther into the room and ran his hand over the soft velvet of a wingback chair.
“Nine children? And they all survived infancy.”
He only nodded at the sound of amazement in her voice. He chuckled softly. “They include four stepbrothers from my father’s second wife.”
“Would you like something to eat, Your Grace?”
He turned back toward her and frowned. “Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Your Grace?”
“Yes.”
“Because you are the duke. If you were an earl, I would have addressed you as ‘my lord’.”
He shook his head. “Well, stop. I will never understand this country and its odd penchant for titles.”
She stood upright and quickly brushed a red lock back from her forehead. “It is not an odd system of titles. How long did you live in Virginia before moving to Canada?”
“Ten years. Then my father was reassigned to another diplomatic position in York near Lake Ontario, just before the war broke out.”
“I think you must have forgotten how English Society works. After all, you lived in that heathen country where no man needs a title.”
“Perhaps. But at least there, every man has the chance to better himself without needing a title to get ahead,” he said before sitting in the wingback chair.
“Your Gr—” She halted abruptly when he glared at her. Throwing up her hands in the air, she said, “Then what do I call you?”
“William, or better yet, Will.”
“Very well, William. Would you like me to awaken the cook for a quick meal?”
“I wouldn’t wish to disturb the servants.”
“The servants are here for your every convenience. Besides, I must wake the maids to make up the bedrooms. Mine is the only one ready.”
“Then yes, I would love a little something to eat. The food on the ship was not the best.”