Eugenia sat down on the couch beside her. “What did Lord Wilmot have to say?”
“Not much, but more than His Grace. He complimented me, told me how nice it was to have visitors, as there had not been many since his father died.”
Lady Helena suddenly smiled. “While he is not as good looking as His Grace, Lord Wilmot is so painfully shy; he is actually quite adorable.”
“Really? I would not have thought of him that way.”
Lady Helena eyed her. “How do you mean?”
“He is a lord, My Lady,” Eugenia replied. “How can a lord be shy?”
“I suppose anyone can be born fearful of others,” Lady Helena said. “Fortunately, neither you nor I suffer from that affliction.”
“I suppose so.”
“Are you well, Eugenia? You do not seem yourself this evening.”
Eugenia thought about the note threatening her life if she continued to see Maximilian but knew this was something she could not tell her friend. “I am fine, My Lady,” she said, trying to appear more cheerful. “Just a bit tired.”
“As it happens, so am I.”
Lady Helena rose and held out her hand to Eugenia. “But I brought wine back with me. The two of us are going to share it and laugh ourselves silly before we go to bed.”
* * *
The wine helped Eugenia to sleep, but by the way her bed covers were twisted and the grogginess she could not shake, she knew her sleep was not sound. Lady Helena yawned as Eugenia brushed and coiled her hair and helped her into her clothes, and she suspected her mistress did not sleep well, either. As Lady Helena walked into the dining hall, Eugenia hoped Maximilian would be awaiting her near the kitchen. She was not disappointed. Under his smile, she curtseyed and handed him the note without speaking.
Maximilian took one swift look at it and his smile faded. Even as she watched, his already dark blue eyes darkened further as his mouth tightened in anger. “Where did you get this?”
Eugenia shivered under the ice in his voice. “It was in our quarters when I went inside last night.”
“Did Lady Helena see it?”
“No. She had not come back yet.”
Crumbling the note in his fist, he glanced around, glaring. “Do not speak of this to anyone.”
“Perhaps,” she hesitated. “Perhaps we should stop –”
“No,” he snapped. “No. I will make certain you are protected, Eugenia. No one will harm you. I swear it.”
Glancing around as he had done, but finding no one near them, Eugenia lowered her voice. “But who would know? We only just started – to know – that we liked one another. Has someone been watching us?”
“Maybe not us,” he said. “Conceivably someone is watchingme.”
“The attempts on your life…I suspect that whoever that is must not want you to continue to visit me.”
“The would-be murderer did not put this in your room,” he said. “Someone else did.”
“You better go,” Eugenia glanced toward the dining hall doors. “I would not want the Duchess angry with you.”
“She can go jump –” Maximilian grumbled under his breath. He lifted his hand and gently touched her cheek. “Try not to worry.”
Eugenia nodded and stepped aside so he could walk past her and into the hall. After he vanished inside, she made her way to the kitchen and the breakfast already prepared for her. She gave her friend Deryn a quick hug, then sat at the table. Breathing in the odors of frying peppers and bacon, Maximilian’s steward, Nigel Curry, emerged from one of the massive storerooms. Eugenia instantly rose to curtsey and found him crossing the kitchen to her.
“Miss Betham.” he smiled down at her from his tall height. “I have wanted to meet you. It is a real pleasure.”
“A pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Curry,” she said. “But may I ask why you would so choose to want to meet me?”
