The butler materialized from the corridor. "Your Grace?"
"Take it down," Richard said, gesturing to the massive canvas. "Have it moved to the ancestral portrait gallery."
The butler blinked, a rare crack in his professional facade. "The gallery, Your Grace? Not... not back in its place?"
"The gallery is entirely appropriate for it. It is not to be hidden or destroyed, merely relocated."
As the butler hurried off to assemble a team, the Dowager Duchess stepped closer to her son. She looked from the empty wall to Richard's impassive face. "Is there something wrong with the painting, Richard?"
"Nothing at all," Richard said quietly, slipping the paper back into his pocket. "Only that I am tired of meeting him every time I enter my own house."
That evening, the dining room was bright with candlelight and the low hum of polite conversation. Marian sat halfway down the long table. As the first course was cleared, she glanced toward the open doors that led to the great hall. She stopped, her breath catching in her throat.
Through the doorway, she could clearly see the wall above the staircase: the enormous, imposing portrait was gone. In its place was nothing but empty, echoing space.
Slowly, Marian turned her head back to the table. She looked toward the head of the long dining arrangement. Richard was already looking at her.
He did not smile. He did not raise his glass. He simply held her gaze across the crystal and the silver and the chatter of twenty guests, acknowledging the space on the wall and the piece of paper in his pocket. Neither of them said a word, but as Marian looked away, her hands trembling slightly in her lap, she knew with absolute certainty that something profound had just shifted.
A door had opened, and they were the only two people in the room who knew it was unlocked.
The conservatory at Rentham Hall was a sanctuary of ferns and climbing roses. It was large enough to hold the guests comfortably and loud enough with polite chatter to afford a sliver of privacy. Marian stood examining an intricate orchid, though her attention was not truly on the petals.