The Master of Grex by Joan Wolf

Author:Joan Wolf [Wolf, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Anne asked Miss Bonteen if she would mind having her dinner in her room. “I hate to do this to you, Bonny, but I need to ask Mr. Dereham some personal questions and I think he might be more forthcoming if it was just me he was speaking to.”

Miss Bonteen understood, as she always did, and Anne went down to dinner in her afternoon dress, still trying to think of tactful ways to get the information she wanted. She and Daniel always dined in the breakfast room as the dining room was closed off until the ceiling could be replaced. Since it was only Daniel and Anne and Miss Bonteen who ate there, all of the leaves had been taken out of the table making it much easier to converse. There was a buffet in the room with some crystal adorning the polished mahogany top (the family silver had been sold long ago), and one of the few decent Persian rugs in the house was on the floor. Anne had found a nice picture of the countryside in the attic, and that hung on the wall.

Anne thought the room was pleasantly simple, but when Mr. Dereham joined her, he looked uncomfortable. He said, “I don’t need to take my supper in such grand surroundings, Lady Anne. A cup of soup and some bread in my room would be grand.”

Anne smiled. “Nonsense. I expect Daniel’s father to eat with the family, and we are family now, aren’t we?”

He gave her a rueful smile. “That’s not the way Daniel sees it, I’m afraid.” He seated himself next to her, where a place had been laid, and took a long drink of water.

“I will be frank with you, Mr. Dereham,” Anne said. “Daniel has been silent about his life before he went to India. I am hoping you might help to explain him to me.”

“A mystery, is he?”

“Yes. And not just to me. He came home from India with this huge fortune, and no one knows how he got it. And no one knows where he came from, or who his people are.”

“And he hasn’t told you, lass?” Mr. Dereham’s sun-creased face looked surprised.

“He hasn’t told me anything. And anytime I’ve tried to ask, he puts a No Trespassing sign up so fast that I can only back away. I didn’t even know he had a mother and father still living.”

Silence fell as Thornton brought the soup in. He placed it in front of them then left the room as was his custom. Daniel didn’t like servants hanging about when he was dining with Anne.

Mr. Dereham took a spoonful of the soup. “This is very good,” he said.

“Thank you. Mrs. Marsh does a nice oxtail soup.”

Anne took a spoonful of soup as well.

Silence fell again and Anne made no attempt to break it. When the soup was finished, she rang the bell and Jeremy came in to remove the soup bowls, and Thornton carried in the roast, potatoes and a large platter of vegetables.

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