Page 17 of A Baby to Seal the Duke’s Fate

“The stitching is old. The style too. Thirty years at least.” Barnaby set the folder on the desk. “It was not chosen by chance.”

Leopold’s hand stilled on the newspaper.

Barnaby went on, quieter now. “Someone with access to this house wrapped that child in something old, specific, and unmistakably Belgrave. Then sent her here.”

Leopold’s glance was sharp enough to say he had reached that conclusion, too.

“I will keep looking,” Barnaby finished.

Before Leopold could answer, Mrs. Pritchard appeared at the door.

“A young woman has arrived, Your Grace,” she said. “For the nursemaid position. Miss Phoebe Redmond.”

Leopold rose. “I will receive her myself.”

Barnaby’s brow lifted.

“Your mother will surely wish to speak with her as well.”

Leopold sniffed, thinking briefly about his mother’s odd behavior since the baby’s arrival.

“Every decision about this child is mine,” Leopold said as he went to the door. “If it were up to her, she would surely send the child to an orphanage. In Scotland.”

Barnaby chuckled, despite Leopold’s static, unamused face.

“You sound as though that would be terrible,” he said.

Leopold did not answer. He would not examine his choices too closely. He understood the scandal that was spreading through England. But he also understood that his mother had been behaving strangely since the baby turned up on the front steps.

If it were up to her, the child would likely turn up at someone else’s front door before an orphanage, he thought. That is a situation I cannot abide. Part of him believed that explanation, but not the part of him that could not forget about the blanket.

The hall was quieter than the study, light falling through the high windows in pale strips across the floor. Leopold rounded the corridor toward the entrance hall and stopped before he was seen.

A young woman stood in the entrance hall with her back half turned, her plain gray traveling gown wrinkled and worn, and her auburn hair pinned in a practical knot. Her hands were too still, and her expression was too calm. Whatever composure she possessed clearly cost her something. Yet she was evidently determined to maintain it.

Then, she noticed him.

Something crossed her face before she gathered it back. Leopold noticed the gathering.

“Miss Redmond,” he said.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

He gestured toward the study. “This way, please.”

Leopold did not glance back as he headed for the study, but the woman’s footsteps seemed as uptight as her posture had been. Perhaps she was tired from the journey and nervous about her interview.

Barnaby was still there, standing by the fire when Leopold and Miss Redmond entered the room. His gaze flicked from Leopold to the woman and back again with obvious interest.

Leopold shut the door, glaring silently at his friend. He knew Barnaby had only stayed to satisfy his overabundant curiosity. But he would not bicker in front of a stranger. Especially one who had come seeking a job.

“Barnaby. This is Miss Phoebe Redmond, a potential nursemaid for the little one. Miss Redmond, this is my good friend Barnaby Henshaw, the Viscount Dunsmere, who I am sure has more pressing matters to attend to than our interview.”

Barnaby smiled at the young woman, ignoring Leopold completely. “Miss Redmond, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

She gave him a small nod and an awkward curtsey in return.

“Delighted,” she said.