Page 43 of Falling for a Footman

Twenty-four

Bugger, blast, damnation! He had blown it royally. Just as elated as Charlotte had been to discover that he was the investigator, just as disturbed had she looked at discovering who he actually was. He cleared his throat as he looked at the closed door and tried to convince himself that he could not have acted differently.

“Perhaps we do not need to talk about this today, Charles,” the duchess said in her soft voice behind James. He spun around, for a moment astonished to still see Charlotte’s parents sitting opposite him.

“No, it is better to have it all out tonight. I assume the matter you wish to discuss, Your Grace, is how Lady Charlotte knew my true identity...” James began, but her father interrupted him.

“Well, that too, but I would also like to know....” The duke began but was stopped when the duchess placed her a hand on his thigh just above his knee.

James’s stomach clenched at the thought of what exactly the duke would like to know. But the duke did not say anything, but merely nodded curtly, which James took as a sign to start talking.

“After our talk today about your daughter’s suspicions, I encountered Lady Charlotte. I have to admit that I was a bit... agitated about being accused of being the thief. She sensed this and perceptive as she is deducted who I am. Well, minus the part about my parentage obviously,” James explained.

He forced himself to keep his shoulders straight and meet the older man’s eyes as he waited for the duke to reply. He could practically see the duke weigh his words as he thought of what to say.

“Well, she is very intelligent,” the duke began.

“She is,” James blurted, before catching himself.

The duke sent him a look that was almost... amused. He felt the duchess’s eyes heavily on him as well but thought it best to focus on the duke at the moment. It was hard enough focusing on one of Charlotte’s parents as it was.

“I can hardly fault you for my daughter figuring out your identity. I do not however commend that you used her as a decoy to catch the thief. I doubt that William would have harmed her, but I do not in any way like that it could have happened,” the duke stated in his usual low and severe voice.

James nodded as the duke spoke. His skin prickled with unease at the thought of Charlotte being hurt. He could not stand the thought of that.

“Well, I would never have put her in harm’s way. Her only role was to alert Miss Walker to where her sapphire earrings were, in the hope that I could then catch Miss Walker in the act. I had no idea that she would try to stop the culprit herself,” James emphasized the last words and tried at all costs to keep his eyes from straying to the door again.

The duke nodded and seemed at least somewhat appeased by his words.

“Nevertheless, I should have liked that you had confided in me about your scheme,” he insisted.

James nodded. In hindsight it would have been wise. At the time he had been busy returning to his duties since Curtis was always on his back.

“Of course, Your Grace, I should have done that. I beg your pardon,” was all he said.

He was never going undercover as a footman again. He itched to leave and find Charlotte to explain everything to her. Hopefully, she would forgive him, and they could...start over? He honestly did not know. He still felt that she was too good for him. If he was to court her, he should also explain the whole situation with Mrs. Fuller. Chances were she would find out sooner or later.

“It is all done and well now,” the duke allowed.

He was interrupted when there was a knock at the door. The duke called for the person to enter. James was surprised when he saw Curtis enter with Mr. Giles behind him.

“I am sorry, Your Grace, but Mr. Giles insisted that it is most urgent,” Curtis said, before Giles’s rushed into the room with his hat in his hands and a pained expression on his face.

“Yes, well, it’s about the dog, Your Grace,” Mr. Giles began in a distraught voice.

“The dog?” the duke echoed.

“Yes, the dog. His dog,” Mr. Giles pointed at James and his gut clenched.

“Is she alright?” he exclaimed and hurried towards Mr. Giles. “Has she gone into labor?”

Mr. Giles only had time to nod, before James was out the door. Behind him he heard Mr. Giles explain to the duke and duchess:

“I am sorry, Your Graces, but he asked to be alerted the moment something happened and well, it was His Grace that said that he could keep the dog in the dog run...”

James did not hear the duke’s answer, but he was fairly certain that he would not chastise Mr. Giles. Afterall the duke had been most understanding that James had wanted to place Clementia in the dog run. Equal parts worry and excitement cursed through his body as he headed out into the dark and ran towards the dog run.

He knew that dogs usually took care of these matters without help, yet he wanted to be there when Clementia gave birth, to know straight away whether any of her pups would have the characteristics that he had been hoping for, when he had chosen a dog for her to mate with. He turned the corner at the stables and the familiar scent of horse dug and hay hit him. He could see the dog run up head. It was quiet there, which he interpreted as a good sign. Both Ava and Bella had been quiet when they had given birth.

Out of the blue he lost his footing and stumbled to his hands and knees, and he felt a hard form land on top of him and press him to the ground. The person on top of him was not larger or heavier than he but the complete surprise made him unable to move for a moment and it was enough for the person above him to tie his hands behind his back.

“What are you doing?” a male voice – William’s voice – hissed above him.

“If he is not there to testify against us, they can’t charge us,” Miss Walker, who was sitting on top of him, stated calmly.