“Do not tempt me.”
Happy that he had lightened her sour mood, he watched her eat with a healthy appetite, and though she had complained that her arm bothered her, she did not drop any laudanum into her wine. “So I suppose we will have to find another way to catch our pest,” he said, still cheerful.
“I do not think he will return, Freddie,” Thea replied, eating her roast.
“Charles and I both believe he will.”
Covertly, Freddie eyed Mr. Carter sidelong, observing his blank gaze over their table, not seeing anything until either of them needed more food or drink. As one of the other footmen brought her the salt shaker, he noticed Thea smiled, thanked him, andlooked him in the eye.Mr. Carter, seeing her wine glass was low, poured more from the decanter into her glass. She paid him no more heed than if he were one of the chickens in the stable yard.
Mr. Carter never looked at her once, his entire focus on pouring her wine. Even leaving her side, he never glanced toward her to search for either her approval or condemnation, as most servants did to make sure they were doing a good job or not.
Freddie sipped his own glass of wine.Interesting.
Mr. Carter cleared away her plate to bring her dessert, a sweet cake, still warm from the oven. Thea ignored him. Mr. Carter ignored her. Mr. O’Bannon brought her fresh silverware. Thea grinned up at him and asked him to inform his wife of the lovely dinner she had created. Mr. O’Bannon, who had smiled perhaps twice in Freddie’s lifetime, bowed to her with the slightest uplift of his stern lips.
What is going on here?
Though he could not put his finger on exactly what was going on between the two of them, he knewsomethingwas. He sipped from his glass of wine, watching Thea, trying to ascertain what might be going on behind her beautiful eyes. Raising her fork to her mouth, Thea caught him gazing at her, and lowered it.
“What?”
Not quite ready to divulge that he suspected something untoward was going on between his sister and the footman, he merely replied, “Nothing. I was just admiring you.”
“Well you can just stop,” she said, trying not to smile, her face flushing a faint pink.
“You remind me so much of Mother.”
“I do? Well, I suppose that is right, as you and I both have her coloring.”
“It is not just that,” he said, swirling his wine around in his glass. “It is your spirit, your fire. Your tenacious courage.”
Thea chuckled. “Well, I say you inherited Father’s stubborn nature.”
“I did at that.”
“Do you still miss them.”
“Of course.”
At that moment, a knock at the dining room door resounded, followed instantly by Charles Noonan striding in. He offered only the most cursory bow as both Thea and Freddie gaped at him. Charles never intruded on their meals like that. “My Lord, Miss Miller, we have a problem.”
“What is it, Charles?”
“Several of the staff have fallen violently ill. Including the head housekeeper, Mrs. Carter.”
Chapter 26
Liam gazed at Mr. Noonan, not quite believing his ears.My mother seriously ill? What could have happened? She was fine just a few hours ago.He caught Thea’s stricken expression and Lord Willowdale’s rise from his chair. For the life of him, Liam could not move, not speak, could barely draw breath into his lungs. A band like iron encased his chest and squeezed the blood from his heart, preventing him from moving a muscle.
He dared not ask the steward questions, could not rush from the room to aid his mother. Once more, rage and helplessness swamped him as he knew he could not help someone he loved. Behind his back, he clenched his fists. Sweat dripped down his cheeks and trickled down his ribs.
“Do you know what is wrong with them?” Lord Willowdale asked, standing by his chair.
“No, My Lord.”
In all of Liam’s service in the Willowdale household, he had never seen the steward appearing as helpless as he himself felt. The man’s plain face was now wracked with worry, with consternation, with fear. “I have never seen it’s like before. Fever, vomiting, chills, weakness of the limbs. I cannot explain it.”
“Are they all in their rooms?”
