Guarding the Spoils (The Wild Randalls 3)

her.

Leopold stepped up to his side. “I’d like a word with you in private.”

“It can wait.” He stepped away but Leopold’s hand clamped onto his arm and held him back.

“I don’t believe it can. Now. In the study.”

Tobias drew closer and frowned at their elder brother. “It really is none of our business, Leopold.”

“You stay out of it.” Leopold gestured for Oliver to precede him and, sensing the inevitability of the discussion, Oliver walked toward the duke’s study, disappointment clouding his mind. He’d deal with whatever was on Leopold’s agenda and then find Elizabeth and George and make plans for them all.

He moved into the quiet room and stood waiting.

Leopold wasted no time. “You seduced her and left her. How dare you, sir! I brought her here—my friend’s widow—to make her life better, not to become your plaything. Have you no conscience, no sense of duty to her or your family? Imagine my surprise to learn that you’ve been sniffing round her skirts while my back was turned.”

“It would have been far more disrespectful to Elizabeth to have made love to her where you could see,” he pointed out.

“So you do not deny that you seduced her.”

A smile tugged at Oliver’s lips. “You make it sound as if I imposed on her.”

Leopold deflated quickly. “Well, didn’t you?”

“Of course not. We discussed the matter in detail beforehand and she was well aware of my plans to leave. I was careful not to get her with child. Not that this is any of your concern. If I remember correctly, you bedded a married woman and got a child on her and didn’t even know her name. Elizabeth is a widow. Our affair hurt no one.”

“It hurt her.”

Oliver frowned. “In light of my reception today, I think you may be exaggerating. It is clear that she’s not happy to see me again. Perhaps I should resume my journey without delay after all.”

“No, you won’t,” Tobias’s voice cut in from the doorway. “You didn’t see her face yesterday after you left. A sorrier sight I’ve never seen. She missed you terribly and you’ve only been gone a day.”

Hope filled him slowly and he met his younger brother’s stare directly. “Then I’ll stay and try to convince her.”

“To do what?” Leopold cut in. “To lose what little is left of her pride after you abandoned her? There is not one servant in this house that doesn’t know by now that she was your lover.”

“The gossip will die down in time without additional reason to flourish.” Oliver nodded as he rearranged his plans for the future to accommodate Elizabeth’s understandably troubled emotional state. “Eamon reminded me that she might need time after the scare of George’s abduction and I’ll give her that.”

Leopold’s fists clenched at his sides. “So you are not going to be a gentleman and march upstairs and propose a marriage between you to restore her reputation?”

Oliver imagined such a request voiced at this point and saw the likely conclusion wasn’t in his favor. “No,” he said firmly. When Leopold’s face grew red he added, “Not yet.”

Leopold shook his head. “I will never understand you. Don’t you care about her even a little?”

“I care about her enough to put her first. She will want to spend time with George and until she is calm again and secure in the knowledge that Henry will not return to steal him away, she will never leave George’s side long enough for me to voice a proper proposal.”

Leopold snorted, a grudging agreement that his assessment wasn’t wrong.

Oliver rubbed his eyes as weariness tugged at his senses. “I will behave as I have always done and attend to George’s lessons. He has much to learn of languages before we travel to the continent.”

“You’re still going?”

Oliver nodded. “The boy has already expressed a wish to go and I am not against the idea. Elizabeth will warm to my ideas eventually.”

“It could take a while,” Tobias cautioned with a laugh.

Oliver shrugged. “The coliseum isn’t going anywhere. And while I wait for Elizabeth to be at ease, I can begin to write a history of Romsey. The boy is pestering me to write one and I’ve decided it’s a good idea.”

Leopold’s eyes narrowed. “Will you include the location of the sanctuary and the true entrance to it?”