The Duke Didn't Want Love — He Wanted a Practical Wife. Then Her Carriage Arrived 40 Minutes Late
Chapter 7
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Mrs. Bell approached from the yard with news that an elderly stable groom had taken ill. Avery left at once. Helena expected a brief command to send for comfort or medical aid, but from the stable doorway, she saw him sit on a stool beside the old man, who lay resting under a blanket. There was nothing graceful about the place: damp straw, leather straps, the tired breathing of horses.Avery bent his head to hear a weak remark and answered quietly. The groom had served his father; Avery asked whether he remembered a chestnut mare which had once frightened every new rider. The old man managed a smile. Their conversation was small and ordinary. Avery stayed well after Mrs. Bell had reported that the illness seemed no worse.When he emerged, Helena asked, "Could you do anything for him?""Very little.""Yet you remained.""He was kind to me when I was a boy. There are debts one cannot settle by giving orders."Her heart gave an unreasonable little ache. There was a gentleness in his voice she had not known he possessed, made more moving by the fact that he had never displayed it for her benefit.They walked back toward the house at a sensible distance, Marian visible beyond the rain-washed path. Helena told him she did not wish to govern Briarcombe in his place: "When I question you, I want us to understand what is right. I do not want to win.""I have been so accustomed to defending my position," Avery said, "that I sometimes forget the other person may not be attacking it.""Then ask me before you decide.""I will."Near the office, Lionel Vane met them, carrying a ledger under one arm. He greeted Helena with polished courtesy and waited until she went on to find Marian."An excellent young woman," he said, though his tone made the compliment uncomfortable. "She takes a remarkable interest in the estate for a prospective bride.""She asks sensible questions.""Certainly. One hopes such interest will not become a claim to decide matters she has only lately begun to understand."Avery faced him. Vane had helped guide the inexperienced young Duke after his father's death, and the familiar expression of caution was hard to resent. "I have invited Miss Morland's opinion.""Of course, Your Grace. I seek only to spare you a difficulty."Avery dismissed the warning, but as Vane walked away, the old fear stirred without permission: that affection might again become a contest over authority. He disliked himself for hearing it, and he did not tell Helena that he had.During the last full week of September, the mornings turned cool enough for fires in the smaller rooms. Helena came to Briarcombe twice with Marian, and on each occasion, Avery set aside an hour to hear what she had discovered in the summaries he had permitted her to compare.There were no locked drawers entrusted to her or secret authority over his staff; instead, there were ordinary household questions, examined in daylight on a table where anyone might enter.A timber charge appeared twice under different supplier names. Helena noted it, though a separate carrier's charge could be innocent. Without delivery notes, neither she nor Avery could yet distinguish error from deceit.