“I’ll watch him,” Katie said.
“Stay right by her ladyship,” Mrs. Robins said.
“I will!”
Katie took Walter’s hand and led him outside, where Carlisle looked quite handsome and capable on a ladder, and where she and Walter spent the afternoon fetching tools and water and admiring the progress Mr. Robins and Carlisle made.
Finally, the sun was low in the sky and the distant rumble of thunder made Carlisle look concerned. “We’ll return tomorrow and finish,” he told Mr. Robins. “I need to see Lady Katherine home.”
“I’d be grateful for your help, Your Grace.” Mr. Robins sounded as though he meant it.
The duke shook the tenant’s hand, then took Katie’s arm, and they started away. He walked quickly, and she had to hurry to keep up. She knew he was trying to beat the rain, and she appreciated the effort, not only because she didn’t want to get wet but because she was worried she might arrive back at Carlisle Hall after Mrs. Murray and have to answer questions.
“Should I slow down?” he asked.
“No. I can manage. But you must be tired. The lean-to is nearly finished.”
“All the credit to Mr. Robins. As long as I did what he told me, I couldn’t go wrong.” He looked into the distance, his expression thoughtful. “I must admit, I liked the work more than I expected. I forgot how satisfying it can be to build something, to work with one’s hands, to exert oneself in a physical capacity.”
“A duke who likes manual labor? Imagine the scandal if word of this should ever get out.”
“I trust you to keep my secret.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes, negotiating the still-wet patches of the slough. “Did you know the Robins’s little boy had a birthmark?” he asked.
“I didn’t. I’m glad we met, though.”
“Did you see the way he looked at you? His eyes were the most adoring I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m sure that’s because I let him carry the hammer.”
He chuckled. “That’s probably part of it. I imagine he also liked meeting someone like him.”
“He couldn’t stop touching my face when I met him. He was fascinated.”
“And it didn’t bother you to have him touch your birthmark?”
She shook her head. “Of course not. When I was young, I didn’t know anyone like me. For years I thought I was the only one.”
Carlisle took her hand, ostensibly to steady her on the marshy ground. But once there were again onterra firma, he didn’t release her hand and gave it a squeeze. She looked up at him and smiled, but the expression on his face was serious. “You must have felt different and lonely as a child.”
Katie’s chest tightened. This was not something she usually discussed. She lowered her eyes, staring at the ground and her muddy boots. “I felt both of those things, but I don’t think I needed to. My father kept me away. He isolated me. I would have rather faced ridicule and derision than be shut away or covered up.”
“I think, in his way, your father was trying to protect you.”
Now it was Katie’s turn to squeeze Carlisle’s hand. “Don’t start defending the Marquess of Shrewsbury. He doesn’t deserve it. Not after what he did to you.”
“I think I could like him, despite what he did, if he was kind to you.”
They were nearing Carlisle Hall now, and she released the duke’s hand. “As I said before, he didn’t do it for me. It was his own pride that kept me hidden away. His pride is his weakness, Carlisle. That’s why he hates that our family lost that land toyour family. He feels personally cheated. His own pride has been damaged, even though the affair had nothing to do with him.”
“We don’t know that for certain. We have to find the documents about the affair to know everything. After our search last night yielded nothing, I’m beginning to wonder if all this is for naught.”
Katie spotted the chimneys of Carlisle Hall through the trees and knew they must part. “Our search last night was not as thorough as it might have been. Come tonight and we will search diligently. No distractions.”
He gave her a sidelong look. “You’d better wear more than that flimsy temptress gown, then.”
“It was a night rail, and hardly something a temptress would wear. It doesn’t even have any lace.”
