Well, he certainly brought a measure of thrill to an otherwise dreary Ashford. Bothersome man.
But returning to her brother, if he were to follow her patterns, could it be possible that he had chosen her usual hiding spot? The weeping willow tree?
Could it be as simple as that?
“Thank you,” Louisa said to Cook, nodding at the housemaids before striding from the kitchen and making her way to the gardens. Halfway there, she broke into a run until she burst outside and her slippers touched the soft grass. She slowed, padding over the lawn until she came to a stop a few feet away from the tree. She couldn’t see anything through the leaves at this time, but she could hear the soft murmur of voices.
Her brother.
And . . . the duke?
“How did you find me here?” Leo was asking.
“My observational skills are top notch.”
“Is thatall?”
“Of course, there is nothing else required.”
Louisa almost snorted. Nothing else required? She could just imagine the duke catching sight of her brother traipsing down the gardens and slipping through these hanging branches, and now he claims masterful observational skills?
But then again, he did possess a keen mind, and those eyes missed nothing.
At least they had found her brother. That was all that mattered. Now they would find the book. She stepped forward to part the branches and make her presence known, but her brother’s next question stopped her in her tracks.
“Will you tell my sister?”
Louisa furrowed her brows. What was she to do with that wretched question? She already knew! Should she retreat and pretend she’d heard nothing? Also, was this truly her brother’s hiding spot as well? Was it even a hiding spot at all when it seemed the servants also knew about it? That Leo had known? Had it ever been a secret?
She shook the thoughts off. It didn’t matter anymore. If her brother didn’t want her to know, then let Mortimer retrieve the information from him. She retreated slowly, but the duke’s answer brought her to a halt again.
“She already knows.”
“How?” Leo asked with a note of bewilderment and a smidgeon of consternation. “Did she send you here?”
“No,” the duke answered. “I told you, I possess exceptional observation abilities. They alerted me to the fact that she is standing beyond the curtain of branches, eavesdropping.”
Eavesdropping! Eavesdropping her arse!
Louisa swiftly parted the drooping branches of the tree and stepped into the shelter of the inner sanctum, her vision filling with a scene of a small boy and a large man kneeling before him. She came up short at the subdued sight.
“Sister!” Leo exclaimed, jolting.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll have you know, I was not eavesdropping.”
“Then what would you call it?” that sly duke asked.
“Hesitation.”
Leo furrowed his brows. “Hesitation? You? About what?”
Why did she have to explain herself to them? Still, she said, “Whether to reveal that I know my brother’s hiding spot, of course!”
“Howdidyou know?” her brother asked.
Her chin lifted a notch. “I realized something about my brother.” Man and boy stared at her, and she narrowed her eyes even further on the smallest one. “You are always following me about.”
“I am not!” her brother instantly denied.
