Griffin Stone: Duke of Decadence (Dangerous Dukes 5)

‘I believe I asked last night to be given answers this morning?’ Bea reminded tightly.

‘Not now, Bea.’ Griffin glanced pointedly at Pelham as he stood beside the breakfast salvers.

‘Then when?’ she demanded, eyes glittering. ‘Very well,’ she bit out angrily when neither man answered her. ‘As you are obviously no more inclined to answer my questions this morning than you were last night, I believe I will join His Grace for a walk in the grounds.’ Bea also rose to her feet, her napkin falling to the floor in her haste. ‘If I would not be intruding?’ she added to Sutherland before bending to retrieve the napkin.

Griffin and Christian exchanged a glance over the top of Bea’s bent head as Griffin rose politely to his feet. Christian’s look was questioning, while his own was of scowling displeasure at the thought of Bea alone in the garden with the other man.

An emotion Griffin knew he did not have the right to feel. He was not truly Bea’s guardian, so could not object. He would not, could not, claim to be Bea’s lover, so again he had no right to object to her enjoying the company of another man.

‘I will accompany you, Bea, if you wish to go outside,’ he offered instead.

‘No, thank you.’ Bea did not as much as glance at him. ‘Your Grace?’ She looked at Sutherland.

‘I have no objection if Griffin does not?’ Christian still eyed him questioningly.

Bea bristled resentfully at the mere suggestion that it was any of Griffin’s business what she chose to do after the conversation she had overheard between the two men last night. Griffin had dismissed not only her, but also their lovemaking, as a mistake that meant nothing to him.

‘I believe I shall stroll in the garden, in any case,’ she stated determinedly. ‘If we should happen to meet, Your Grace—’ she glanced coolly at Seaton ‘—then perhaps we might stroll along together.’

‘Bea—’

‘If you will excuse me, I believe I will go to my room and collect my bonnet.’ Again Bea ignored Griffin as she turned on her heel and marched determinedly from the room, her head held high.

‘As I remarked last night,’ Sutherland mused softly as he watched her leave, Pelham following, at Griffin’s discreet nod for the butler to do so, ‘Bea is a fascinating young woman.’

‘And as I replied, you are to stay away from her.’ Griffin glared.

‘Can I help it if she prefers my company to yours today?’ the other man drawled dryly.

‘This is not a laughing matter, Christian.’

‘I could not agree more.’ Sutherland sobered grimly. ‘Will you accompany Bea on her walk, or shall I? In any case, she should not be left to stroll outside in the grounds alone and unprotected,’ he added firmly.

Griffin eyed him sharply. ‘The threat is still near, then?’

‘Very near.’

He breathed his frustration with the situation. ‘If you would only confide—’

‘I cannot, Griff!’ The refusal obviously caused Christian some discomfort. ‘There are other lives at risk, and for the moment all I can do is offer to assist you in keeping Bea safe.’

Griffin could see by the strain about Sutherland’s eyes and mouth that his regret was genuine over his enforced silence. ‘Can you at least reassure me that Bea will be safe as long as one of us is with her?’

‘I— Not completely,’ the other man confessed. ‘The stakes are high, Griff, and Bea may have information that is the key.’

‘As I explained to Maystone in my note, she has no memory of who she is, or the events before her abduction.’

‘But those memories could return at any moment,’ Sutherland reasoned. ‘And we believe there are people who would like to ensure they do not.’

Griffin shook his head. ‘I have had the estate workers keep constant watch for strangers since the night I found her wandering in the woods and brought her here. They have assured me they have seen no one who doesn’t belong here in the immediate area.’

The other man raised blond brows. ‘Then perhaps the people in question are not strangers?’

Not strangers? Did that mean that the person, or people, who had abducted and harmed Bea might belong to the village of Stonehurst? That one of his own neighbours, possibly one of the ones whom he had visited just days ago, might be in cahoots with Jacob Harker, whom Griffin was still convinced had been Bea’s jailer?

It did make more sense if that were the case, than that Jacob Harker had randomly chosen one of Griffin’s own woodcutters’ sheds on the estate in which to hide and then mistreat Bea.

But which of his neighbours could have been involved in such infamy? One of those social-climbing couples he had visited, and whose only interest had appeared to be to show off their marriageable daughters to him? Or the jovial Sir Walter? One of Griffin’s own tenants? Someone who actually worked here in the house?