Too Bruised to Stand, She Collapsed at the Ballroom—Until a Duke’s Gentle Hands Changed Her Fate
Chapter 5
Three days later, Eleanor returned to Ravensmere House as the duke’s guest.
London society noticed immediately.
Whispers traveled faster than letters.
A duke had taken in Lady Vale.
A duke had intervened against her uncle.
A duke had refused to return her.
Some said Eleanor had trapped him.
Others claimed she had seduced him.
Julian ignored every rumor.
Eleanor tried to do the same.
The duke’s estate was vast, but the household was strangely quiet.
There were servants, gardeners, grooms, cooks, and tenants coming and going, yet Julian seemed to live in a world apart from them.
He rose early.
Rode before breakfast.
Read correspondence in the library.
Visited tenants.
Returned after sunset.
Eleanor slowly discovered that the duke’s silence was not arrogance.
It was habit.
He had learned years earlier that every word spoken by a duke became someone else’s weapon.
One evening, Eleanor found him in the library.
“You have been reading my father’s journals.”
Julian looked up.
“Yes.”
“Did you find anything?”
“Perhaps.”
He pushed a small leather book toward her.
Eleanor recognized it immediately.
“My father’s handwriting.”
She opened it.
Several pages had been removed.
But one remaining entry mentioned a man named Thomas Wren.
A former steward.
“He knew about the trust,” Julian said.
“Where is he?”
“According to my records, he left the Vale estate six years ago.”
“Dead?”
“No.”
Julian handed her a letter.
“He is living in Bristol.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“You already knew?”
“I sent a messenger yesterday.”
She stared.
“You did all this in one day?”
“I had a good horse.”
She smiled.
Then she noticed something in the letter.
A name.
Edmund Blackwood.
Her smile disappeared.
Julian saw it.
“What is it?”
“He was my uncle’s creditor.”
Julian leaned closer.
“Your uncle owed him money?”
“A great deal.”
“And if your estate passes to Blackwood through your marriage…”
“He clears my uncle’s debts.”
“And gains your lands.”
Eleanor closed the journal.
“It was never about marriage.”
“No.”
“It was about ownership.”
Julian nodded.
“And someone has been patient enough to make the theft appear respectable.”
Outside, rain began tapping against the tall windows.
Eleanor looked at him.
“What happens now?”
Julian’s answer came quietly.
“Now we stop them.”
