He glared at the paper. The best time to return the agreement to Fanny’s chambers was probably now. He could slip into her chambers, open the safe, and lock the agreement away with none the wiser.
Chapter 11
Fanny hugged her brother Samuel’s arm tightly as they strolled through the woods between the tall trees after c
alling upon Mrs. Hawthorne. The duke had impressed upon every single family member his desire to make a large show of respect for his departed friend who would be buried that very day. Everyone had ditched breakfast forks to accommodate his request for their participation in the visit. Everyone with sense and a desire for another invitation to spend time at Stapleton had kept their complaints about the early hour strictly to themselves, too.
The family was now officially in mourning for their friend and neighbor, and a great many of the guests would be leaving today.
Especially Lord Wilks and his father, Lord Thwaite. Wilks was a pest, and Thwaite kept trying to get her agreement to talk to her alone. Thanks to her brother’s continued presence around her last night, Thwaite had never had a chance.
But earlier in the evening, Thwaite had made it plain that he had the agreement she’d signed with Dawes in his possession. He’d found it lying around, he’d claimed. He was prepared to have it returned to her today before he and his son departed.
Fanny expected to be blackmailed during the meeting.
But it would be Wilks who would meet with her to do the deed. She was suspicious of that, and was preparing herself for a demand of money to buy his silence as well.
She looked up at Samuel when he sighed heavily. His brow was drawn in lines of concentration. “What’s the matter with you today?”
“Nothing really.”
She hugged his arm again. “Is everyone pestering you to remarry as much as they are me?”
“It is as relentless as ever,” he noted. “Do they have nothing better to think about?”
“I fear not. I thought I had become adroit at changing the subject until yesterday,” Fanny murmured. “Yesterday’s entreaties to wed sorely tested my patience with everyone. Some bordered on desperate. I had no idea so many of our acquaintances had younger sons in need of a wife’s fortune to prop up their family’s situations. I mean, of course I’d gladly sacrifice my own happiness to dig them out of troubles of their own making.”
Samuel chuckled softly. “So, no chance of a wedding for you then?”
“No one who claims to love me, loves my fortune less.”
Samuel threw his arm around her shoulders. “Fools, all of them. Your greatest assets have always been your heart, and your intellect.”
Fanny hugged her brother back. “It is the way the world works, I’m sorry to say. There isn’t a man alive who doesn’t believe my fortune would be more capably managed in his hands than mine.”
“I don’t think that,” Samuel protested.
“You have to say that because you’re my brother. I’d never speak to you again if you thought me inferior to any man.”
“Never would I want that,” he grinned. “I’m sure there are many men who would give you your head in marriage. Not Wilks, of course, but your Mr. Dawes doesn’t seem to object to being ordered about.”
She tensed. “That is different.”
“It must be quite the novelty that he’s not exactly fawning all over you. I like him all the more for it.”
“Yes, he does seem unimpressed by wealth,” she said, feeling a renewed sense of disappointment that she’d ended up sleeping alone last night. The additional lock she’d not asked for had ensured no one could have entered her chamber. But Jeremy had left the party well before the festivities had truly reached their height. She had hoped he might come back down after his hand had been looked at, but he’d retired. She had wanted to ask about his fight with Wilks. “I have high hopes for him, as I’ve had for every other soul I’ve sought to help on their way to a better future.”
“Your charity work is admirable but one day it’s going to get you into trouble,” Samuel warned.
“That is what he said, too.”
“So, this connection you’ve begun with Dawes. Was it his idea or yours?”
She shrugged. “Mine, of course.”
“Why not someone of our class? Surely there’s someone you know who would share your bed without getting paid for it.”
Fanny froze. “He has not shared my bed.”