Anne Barbour by A Man of Affairs Read Free Book Online

mouth form an 0 of surprise. "Since most of my time is spent on His Grace's affairs, I have never sought to remove myself to other lodgings."
    "His Grace?" put in Zoë. "But isn't he your father?"
    "Zoë!" Lady Beckett exclaimed in scandalized accents.
    "Well, but how am I to know anything if I don't ask?" responded Zoë reasonably. She turned to Seth. "I heard that you are the duke's son."
    Seth hesitated, startled. Lord, had the chit no sense of propriety? He said coldly, "Yes, Miss Zoë, I am the duke's son—his adoptive son, although I cannot conceive of what possible use this information might be to you."
    Eden gasped, and even Zoë seemed taken aback, but she continued her impertinent interrogation. "But I do not believe I ever saw you before the night of Lady Saltram's ball. Do you usually attend such functions? Or go to the opera? Or to Almack's? I suppose you must be allowed there."
    By God, this was the outside of enough! Seth opened his mouth to offer the young lady the set-down of her life, but was stayed by Eden's expression of mortification. "No," he said stiffly, "I am seldom out and about except in the commission of my duties."
    He glanced up to catch Eden's wide gray gaze on him. The candlelight had turned her eyes to the color of fine old silver, and he thought he caught a glimpse of gratitude—and yes, interest—in their glowing depths. To his surprise, he heard himself continue, "I do not believe it would be seemly to trade on my connection with the duke."
    Zoë merely stared blankly. "How long have you been with him?" she asked at last.
    "His Grace took me in when I was nine years old." Seth realized with no little dismay that he was speaking solely to Eden now. "He was Lord Hugh Lindow then, a second son, serving in the army. My father—my birth father, whose name was George Winslow—served under him as a sergeant."
    Though he must have been aware of the lifted brows this statement provoked, Mr. Lindow remained cool and self-possessed. If, reflected Eden, he felt any stigma in having been born into the lower orders, he had either come to terms with it or was accustomed to concealing his discomfort.
    "It was at the siege of Toulon," continued Mr. Lindow, staring directly at Eden, "that my father lost his life saving that of Lord Hugh. When he sold out after being elevated to the title on the death of his older brother, the duke went to visit George Winslow's widow with the intention of providing for her for the rest of her life. When he arrived at Sergeant Winslow's home village, however, he discovered that the young woman had herself perished from smallpox not three months previous. He also discovered Winslow's nine-year-old son, myself, being sheltered by an uncle. I was, by the by, about to be sent to work in a nearby foundry." Mr. Lindow's dark gaze focused on a distant point, and his voice harshened. "I was terrified at the prospect, for I knew boys who had been sent there. Within weeks they were transformed from happy, laughing children to small old men, weary and sullen. The tales they told of abuse and careless cruelty made me shiver with fear."
    Eden watched in unwilling sympathy as Mr. Lindow's fingers tightened around his fork. What must it have been like, she wondered, for the small boy, overwhelmed by the enormity of his double loss and obliged to face the vision of hell provided by the youngsters who served as industrial fodder. What must he have felt upon being summoned to meet the Duke of Derwent in all his titled glory. To her surprise, Mr. Lindow glanced at her, and as though reading her thoughts, smiled.
    "The duke is a tall man," he said, "and it seemed as though I had to look up to the sky to meet his gaze. He stood in a shaft of sunlight. The jewels he wore in his cravat and on his fingers were set ablaze, and I thought I was in the presence of God.
    "Before I knew what was happening, he whisked me up on his shoulder, and bade me call him 'Father.' Subsequently, he arranged