The Duke Didn't Want Love — He Wanted a Practical Wife. Then Her Carriage Arrived 40 Minutes Late
Chapter 11
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No such delivery had taken place: Vane had fashioned the paper to appear a continuation of the earlier transaction. He added initials copied from Helena's inventory note among the estate working papers—not as a legal authorization, but to suggest she had witnessed the goods and approved the description.He was ashamed of the crude deception even while he committed it: investments had failed, debts had multiplied, and payments diverted through a trading concern associated with his nephew had seemed the only way to preserve the place he had occupied for 24 years. He told himself the Duke had never cared how the repairs were managed; he told himself that a woman newly arrived would be easier to discredit than the man who had trained Avery in his father's office.Vane laid the papers on his desk and waited for morning. The June receipt was authentic; that fact, he believed, would make the October lie easier to accept.On Thursday morning, the 2nd of October, Lionel Vane requested a private audience with the Duke of Briarcombe. Avery received him in the estate office, where pale light rested on the ledgers and a small fire had been laid, but not yet lit."I would rather not bring you an uncomfortable matter," Vane began."Then do not soften it. What is wrong?"The steward placed two papers before him: the first bore the mark of a long-established supplier and the countersignature of a clerk Avery remembered; attached to it was a note dated the 1st of October, asserting that a further shipment of roofing material had arrived that Wednesday morning and that Miss Morland had witnessed it. Her initials appeared at the foot.Avery stared at them. "She does not have authority to approve estate payments.""No, Your Grace. Nor does the paper claim that she paid anything—only that she confirmed what was before her.""I have never shown her this.""Perhaps she was persuaded that an innocent acknowledgment would assist an inquiry. You know how such things begin." Vane hesitated with practiced reluctance. "There was an unfortunate dispute at her former employment. I had hoped not to mention it."Avery felt the old machinery of fear begin to work. He knew Helena's history; he knew why she had been dismissed. Yet the initials were there, fastened to a paper bearing signs of a transaction long associated with the estate. Vane had served his father and had guided Avery through the difficult first years of his title; the steward's voice was as familiar as an old room."I shall speak with Miss Morland," Avery said."Of course. I ask only that you protect yourself until the matter is understood."The phrase had an ugly familiarity; Avery disliked it, but did not challenge it.Helena arrived that afternoon with Lady Marian for a previously arranged visit. She knew something was wrong before Avery spoke: he did not greet her with his customary awkward warmth.In the morning room, with the door open and Marian close enough to be called, he placed the October note on the table."Can you explain this?"Helena read it once, then again. "I have never seen this paper.""Those are your initials."