The Heiress Bride by Madeline Hunter

Author:Madeline Hunter [Hunter, Madeline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zebra Books
Published: 2023-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

Have you been in any way threatened since that night?

The very notion had startled her. The duke thought it had not been an errant pistol shot caused by some young man in his cups and out of a night. He thought it had been deliberate. And aimed at her. She did not agree.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I have come to call on Mr. Benton.”

“Obviously. How did you learn his name? Did you ask Sanders too?”

She strolled around the chamber. Books filled every wall. More were stacked in corners, high towers of erudition. Mr. Benton most certainly was a bookman. “Is that how you learned of him. I surmised his name.”

“Surmised it, did you? How?”

“I was in conversation with someone, his name came up, and I surmised he might be the bookseller who divided your grandfather’s library. Since the inventory showed his name as the source of some of the best books, it just made sense.”

She perched on a small chair. He sat on the sofa. She assumed that would be that.

Only it wasn’t.

“With whom were you conversing?”

She sought a way to dodge the question. None appeared. “Your aunt Agnes.”

He covered his eyes with his hand. She thought she heard a groan. “You didn’t.”

“I simply called on her and we had a chat. I thought that as an elder member of that generation, she might know something.”

“You showed up at her house, presented your card, and she received you? I’m finding that hard to believe.”

“If it had been me alone, she might not have. However, since I had a companion, she couldn’t resist. Minerva came with me.”

“Oh, dear god.” He covered his eyes again.

“You were right. Chase’s anger disappeared very quickly once he had her safe. He did indeed apologize for acting irrational.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but just then the door to the chamber opened and a man walked in. Her heart sank when she saw him. Reed thin and of middling height, with thinning blond hair and thick spectacles, this man was far too young to have divided that library all those years ago.

From the duke’s expression, she could tell he was concluding the same thing.

“Your Grace. Miss Barrington. How can I be of service?”

“Mr. Sanders, my solicitor, examined family records and learned a Mr. Benton was brought in to divide my grandfather’s library,” the duke said. “I have some questions about that.”

“Ah. That was my father. He passed some time ago. The late duke favored him as a book trader.”

The current duke began making movements to leave. Iris stood to go as well.

“I remember some of it,” Mr. Benton said. “I was an apprentice to him at the time. Learning the trade at his knee, so to speak. I was only a lad, but I assisted him.”

Iris sat again. “I have been wondering . . . How did he make sure the division was fair?”

“Cleverly, if I do say so. After much debating, he hit on a solution. He made six lists of equal value.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.