Katie glanced about. “I think there may be brandy in this decanter. Would that help?”
“No,” he said hastily with a glance at the hearth and its banked fire. “No brandy.”
“Do sit.” She sat as well, facing him across the desk. “I’ll tell you what I have pieced together because, you must understand, my father has never said any of this to me directly. It’s only what I have overheard and surmised.”
He rubbed his temple. “Go on.”
“My grandfather owned land in France. I don’t know if it was his land or if it came to him through marriage. I don’t know the nature of the land or its value or where in France itmight have been located, but as I understand, it was valuable. At least, he believes it was. When the French upheaval began, my grandfather was not in good health. He was not well enough to go to France and deal with his affairs. I don’t know why he didn’t send my father. Perhaps he worried for his son’s safety, as he was the heir and the old marquess’s only son. Instead, he asked your grandfather to settle his affairs.”
“I knew my grandfather played into it somehow, but why ask him?”
Katie shrugged. “Perhaps they were friends? Perhaps your grandfather had a stake in the land, or owned land adjacent. I simply do not know.”
“Go on.”
Katie smoothed her hands over the ledger she’d been perusing earlier. She was steadier now, her hands not trembling as much, but Carlisle still made her nervous. Suddenly, he reached across the desk and grasped one of her hands in his. Katie gasped at his touch and the sudden warmth of his hand engulfing her cold one. She raised her gaze to stare at him.
“I’m told your friends call you Katie. May I call you Katie?”
“You are not my friend.”
“But I am. Katie, you needn’t shake with fear of me. I’ve never hurt a woman, and I won’t start now. I promise you—I am harmless.”
Oh, no, he was not. His effect on her was anything but harmless. “I’m not afraid of you,” she said, thinking she should draw her hand away and yet not doing so. “It’s only… I have never been alone with a man not in my immediate family.” She peered up at him, met his lovely blue eyes, then looked quickly back down.
“Think of me like a brother, then.”
She nodded, but thinking of Carlisle like a brother was more easily said than done. She’d never trembled when one of herbrothers came near. She’d never admired any of their broad shoulders or sneaked looks at their tight breeches. Since Carlisle had climbed through the library window, she had kept her eyes above his waist, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t tempted. She was relieved he was sitting down.
“I’ll try,” she said, pulling her hand out of his. He let it go, then slid the ledger under their hands across the desk. She suspected he was giving her a moment to compose herself, but when he opened the ledger, he looked up at her with surprise.
“This is my father’s ledger. I recognize his hand.”
“I found it in the desk,” she said. “The library and the desk are full of ledgers and old papers. That ledger is from 1802.” She was rambling. Was she rambling? Why did she not finish telling him what he wanted to know and be done with him?
“Fascinating,” he said, turning the pages. She tried not to admire the way the lamplight played off the lighter strands in his chestnut waves. “It’s like traveling back in time when I see the names of servants and horses and tenants.”
“So you did know your tenants at one time.”
He looked up sharply, probably because her voice had held an edge she hadn’t intended. But her hands weren’t shaking any longer. That was the effect her anger had on her.
Katie cleared her throat. “It’s late, and I’m tired. I’m sure you would like to go to bed as well, so let me finish the tale. As I said, my grandfather sent your grandfather to France with instructions as to his land. I don’t know what happened exactly, but the land was lost. I’ve heard my father levy all sorts of accusations at your grandfather.”
“Such as?”
“He sold the land and kept the profits. He had the land transferred into his name. He had the land transferred to a French peasant to hold until the turmoil was over.”
“And that was why he challenged my grandfather to a duel?”
“You know about that?”
“I thought it was an old family legend, the sort of story one tells a little boy to make him quiet down and go to sleep. But I’m beginning to think it was more fact than fiction.”
“I heard something about a duel as well, but the two men never met at dawn,” she said. “My grandfather was killed on the way to the duel. The carriage was stopped by highwaymen, and something went amiss during the robbery. My grandfather ended up dead. At least, that’s what I’ve heard my father say.” He hadn’t said it like that, of course. He’d ranted that the Carlisles had killed his father, because if it hadn’t been for the duke, his father wouldn’t have been on that road. He would have been safe at home.
“And all these years your father has been plotting to take his revenge on me?”
“Not you specifically, but your family.”
