Page 40 of The Duke
“What I am asking,” she bit out, her voice like ice, “is how you know anything about it.” It was a fight of more than a decade’s standing, and she wanted Celine nowhere near it. It was far too serious, far too important, to let this malicious imp get her hands on it.
Celine maintained remarkable poise under scrutiny. “I have been eating breakfast with your secretary, Mr. Shaw.”
What?She was going to murder Shaw.
“He’s very grumpy about this ongoing feud between yourself and Lord Wroth, and claims—”
“You have a knife at my throat, Miss Genet, but you will refrain from inserting yourself into my private business. You remember what happened the last time you ignored my warning.” Royce rampaging down Bond Street was nothing to the damage Celine could do if she got it into her head to interfere in this matter. What had Shaw beenthinking? He was Celine’s greatest detractor. Why had he told her so much?
She thought of all the people who worried about Celine, who seemed to care for her mere minutes after meeting her, and had a sinking feeling she knew why.
Celine opened her mouth, hesitated, and seemed to think better of it. She looked out the window on her side of the carriage, and the minutes passed in silence. Now that her good humour had dimmed, there was something drawn and unhealthy about her stillness. Something distinctly unhappy.
What on earth made you think Lord Pecke’s bill could have any effect on the mines?It was an extraordinary claim! The two things had nothing to do with each other. She wouldn’t ask. If she engaged Celine in any way beyond what was necessary, she would be giving chaos and spite free rein.What made you think—
She took off her hat and ran her thumbs around the brim’s soft edge. Looked out the window as they passed a group of womenlounging in the mouth of an alleyway, one of them cursing out a stray dog.What made you—
“What made you think of my argument with Lord Wroth over the mines?”
Celine’s eyes flickered warily over to her. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not my business, as you say.”
“Then tell me. If it doesn’t matter.”
Celine looked out the window again. “If I understand correctly, though Lord Wroth has the right to operate the mines, the actual legal ownership has been unresolved for some fifteen years?”
It was the only victory she’d been able to win against him, and it was grimly inadequate: Though he lawfully operated the mines, he didn’t quite own them yet. But then, neither did she. “I don’t see what any of this has to do with Lord Pecke’s bill.”
Celine lifted her head in a startled motion and stared at Kate. “You haven’t read the bill.”
At the mere thought, the twitching boredom came over her that accompanied any of Lord Pecke’s social causes. “I congratulate myself on not having done so. If one were obliged to read every bill Lord Pecke produced, one would not have leave to die until a hundred and fifty.”
Celine gave a small, incredulous laugh. “My God, he would have slipped it right by you, if he were able to get anything passed, and he even tried to get you to help him do it. The wily old goat.”
Her hackles rose all at once. She sensed some danger she didn’t understand.
“He intends to fund his bill,” Celine said with distinct relish, “by giving the parish union the legal right to seize any lands or works that have been under legal contest for a minimum period of fifteen years and two months. Lord Burnley thought it an entertaining anecdote to illustrate his father’s eccentricities.”
“But…” Her mind went entirely blank. “But fifteen years and two months is the exact periodmymines have been under contest.”
Celine shook her head, laughing. Distinctly laughingat. “Yes. I believe that’s the whole point. Lord Pecke has his eye on thosevery lucrative mines, and has invented a far-fetched method for snatching them from you and Lord Wroth both.”
“My God!” she exclaimed, too shocked to bite it back, though Celine was still laughing at her. “The absolute temerity of the man! What? Takemy minesto pay for his drivel? And he had the gall to spend all evening—four fucking hours—selling me on workhouses and outdoor charity? I will see the bill buried, and Lord Pecke with it.”
Celine suddenly stopped laughing and sat forward, her hands pressing into the front of the seat. “What? No.” She sounded annoyed. Impatient. “You must see that it passes into law. Lord Pecke can’t do it without you.”
It was her turn to stare. “Have you taken all leave of your senses?”
“You have been trying for fifteen years to take the mines from Lord Wroth. So do it.”
“There is the small matter,” she ground out, “of it also putting the mines beyondmyreach.” Had Celine been the smartest person in whatever swamp she’d crawled out of? It was the only way to account for her constant belief she wasright.
“But you’re not fighting for the mines because you want to own them,” Celine said as though it were nothing, as though it were self-evident. “You want the miners and their families looked after, and they will be. You get what you want. Lord Wroth doesn’t.”
Kate felt her heart thump. In the inner hush that followed, she felt it thump again.
Days ago at the club, Richard had said to her,Listening to you, one would almost think you cared about the children in those mines.He’d sounded so bitter, because it hadn’t for a moment occurred to him that she might.
Richard didn’t know her motivations. Shaw didn’t know them.
