“Marked?”
“Scarred on their bottom. There could be no switching of their identities.”
“It matters not. You still deserve to be duke,” Caroline insisted.
Richard wanted to reach over and strangle his wife. But he couldn’t. He knew he’d lost because no matter what he said, Caroline would do as she pleased. It had been that way for the past five years.
“Very well, Caroline. Do as you wish.”
Chapter 15
The next morning Elizabeth pulled another book off the shelf in Will’s study. She flipped through the pages, looking for anything that might lead her to a clue about her mother’s diary. Will had yet to join her so she relished the peace. The children were attending to their studies, and it was the first time since Will had arrived that she had been in the study alone. Already, the room was starting to feel like his.
After placing the first book back, she reached for another. This was a volume of poetry by Byron. Remembering her mother’s love of poetry, she turned each page carefully, expecting something to be there. Other than a small violet pressed into the center, the book contained nothing but poetry.
“How is the hunt going?”
Elizabeth turned at the sight of Will and sighed. The morning sun illuminated his brown hair with reddish highlights. The black jacket he wore spread across his broad shoulders. He looked too handsome. Oh, drat. She had to get herself under control.
“No luck so far,” she replied in a voice lighter than she felt.
“Well, let me start over here.” Will started at the other end of the cherry bookshelves. “What exactly are we looking for?”
“A diary. Or a piece of paper that might refer to where something is hidden. Or maybe some reference to a secret drawer or panel.”
Will chuckled. “So we are looking for something but we don’t know exactly what.”
Hearing him say that made her realize just how unlikely it was that she would ever discover the truth of her heritage. She stared down at the book in her hands and wanted to throw the damned thing across the room.
Warm hands closed over her shoulders as Will’s breath caressed her neck. “I am sorry. I know how much this means to you, and my remark was thoughtless.”
“But true,” she murmured. “There is a very good chance that I will never find out who I am.”
“Who you are?”
“Yes.”
“Elizabeth, you already know who you are.”
Elizabeth gave into temptation and let her head rest on his strong shoulder. “I don’t know what you mean.”
He turned her and stared down at her with those dark brown eyes. She sighed. She could get lost in his eyes.
“Are you being coy, Elizabeth?”
“No. I have no idea who I am.”
“You are a beautiful, headstrong woman. You hate your freckles and your hair only because you don’t know where they came from. You love to pick and arrange flowers. You know your mathematics because the estates’ books are in excellent condition.”
“How do you know so much?” she asked. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. How had he come to know her so well so fast?
“Because I’ve been watching you.” He gently caressed her cheek. “You enjoy having the children around. You might possibly be about the best organizer I have ever met. Within a week my brothers were dressed and ready for dinner with better table manners than my stepmother could give them.”
She closed her eyes. Everything he said was true but it didn’t ease the ache in her heart. “Thank you, Will.”
“But it didn’t help, did it?”
“A little,” she whispered with a shrug.