The Charmed Heir (The Secrets of Nedworth Hall Book 4) by Merry Farmer

Author:Merry Farmer [Farmer, Merry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

He loved her. Dante had felt the sentiment growing in him almost from the start, but it was his conversation with Damien that forced him to drop whatever pretense of impartiality in the pursuit of an heiress he had and to simply accept the fact that he had fallen hopelessly in love with Charlotte Benning.

Love was a wonderful thing, and as breakfast ended and he saw Charlotte off with an ardent smile as she went on some painting expedition with her friends, Dante determined that he had a solemn duty to discover who had been sending his beloved notes and to demand they cease threatening Charlotte…or bring the reunion between her and her mother into the open. He honestly wasn’t certain whether the letter writer had good or evil intentions.

He considered involving Damien in the hunt, but even though his brother joined the party for breakfast, where he drew a great deal of attention and inspired generous amounts of laughter when he spilled coffee on himself, then intimated to one of the footmen that he needed help changing clothes, Dante thought better of it.

If he was going to discover who knew the truth about Charlotte’s parentage, he would be able to do it most efficiently if he searched on his own. That search began with finding and questioning the round-faced young lady’s maid Charlotte had brought with her to the party.

“I don’t know anything, my lord,” the girl, Vicky, said, looking half terrified of Dante. “There was nothing in the room when I’d been there earlier to fetch a shawl for Miss Benning, and then there was a letter and a baby gown there that she’d already discovered when I came back from mending her evening gown.”

Dante sighed and rubbed a hand over the bottom half of his face. His consternation clearly had the maid frightened of him, so he softened his demeanor when he asked, “Could I see the baby gown?”

“Yes, my lord,” Vicky said, then dashed off to get it, as if she didn’t dare naysay a viscount.

Inspecting the baby gown revealed nothing, though. It was an old dress, that was it. Its simplicity suggested it did not belong to a member of the upper classes, but Dante and Charlotte had already figured out Charlotte’s mother was likely of low birth.

With that in mind, Dante set out to interrogate as many of the Nedworth servants as he could find. The trouble was, Nedworth Hall was run efficiently and effectively, and by design, the servants were not loitering about, waiting for one of the guests to pester them. The ones he did see were hard at work, and Dante felt guilty interrupting them.

It was after a quick few questions put to one of the upstairs maids that Dante was directed to a family parlor in one of the quieter wings of the house, where Lord and Lady Cambourne were enjoying a peaceful afternoon tea. Confronting the hosts of the party with the issue of Charlotte’s parentage wasn’t exactly what Dante wanted to do.

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