Page 8 of Love, the Duke
CHAPTER3
MAN’S PRACTICAL GUIDE TO APPREHENDING A THIEF
SIR BENTLY ASHTON ULLINGSWICK
Determine if something has been stolen.
Was she fooling him? Hurst straightened fully, drawing in a deep breath, and refocusing on her face. “I don’t understand, Miss Stowe. It’s been at least two months. Hasn’t the new vicar already taken inventory?”
She continued her indomitable focus directly on his face. “If I could continue?”
He didn’t know what to do other than nod and wait to hear the rest of the story.
“The first new vicar arrived one day and took to his sickbed the next. After a couple of weeks, his illness worsened, and he decided to return to his former home. He never managed to do a proper accounting of the livings. When a different vicar arrived, he was most peculiar.”
Hurst rubbed the tension settling in the back of his neck. “What do you mean?”
“He is either a hypochondriac or superstitious. I don’t know which, but something.”
“A vicar?” That sounded incredible, but she looked as serious as a winter storm.
“An anxiety or perhaps melancholy of some disorder has him believing something is causing the vicars to getsick. First my brother, then Vicar Samuelson. Truth to tell, there was the absurdly short tenure of a Vicar Haroldsmiths that very few people are even aware of and now Vicar Morgan, who spends most of his time at a nearby inn refusing to move into the rectory yet, insisting it be cleansed, aired, and cleansed again. Consequently, he hasn’t inventoried the livings either. Now the parish is growing unhappier with him by the day and there’s talk of seeking yet another vicar. I must find the chalice before anyone knows it’s gone.”
Hurst scoffed again and held up his hands as if in surrender. “Miss Stowe. I still don’t see how I can help.”
“That’s because you won’t allow me to finish.”
“Then do it quickly and without so many vicars.”
She inhaled an audible breath. “I questioned the servants, and from one of the maids gleaned evidence that led me to believe the chalice was indeed stolen and brought to London. Now, with the mourning passed, I can finally begin my search to recover the chalice and save Winston from being wrongly accused of being a thief.”
He met her declaration with cynicism. “Is that all?”
The staunch set of her shapely lips told him she wasn’t happy with his answer. She trained those beautiful, bright eyes on him as if affronted becausehe’dsaid something wrong.
Her chin lifted again, and her features suddenly seemed filled with all the fortitude of a snow-covered mountain. The seriousness of her expression intrigued him once more.Damnation.It was unsettling that she fascinated him to the point he was now wondering how she would look with her face washed clean and dressed as a lady.
What was he to do with her? “Regardless,” he said. “What do you think I can do about it?”
“Help me find the thief. When we do, we’ll find the chalice. The maid who saw him didn’t get a good look as he donned his hat but thought he had a weak nose and chin.”
Hurst felt his eyebrows pinch and rise, but somehow, he managed to hold his retort.
“I’m sure the thief was a titled man,” she hurried on. “Possibly a duke or maybe an earl because of the crest on the carriage door.”
“What?” This was madness. “You probably think I stole the blasted thing.”
Her lashes rose and she glanced at his bookshelves with rising interest while saying, “I’m not discounting anyone. Perhaps you should remove your jacket and let’s have a look at you.”
“There is nothing weak about me, chin or otherwise,” Hurst grumbled at her cheeky comment. “You know I wasn’t at the church because I never went to see Winston.”
“Yes. True. You didn’t.”
She had the impertinence to peruse his bookshelves again. Her pluckiness had no boundaries.
With his gaze fastened tightly on hers, he candidly remarked, “A duke has no need for a church chalice, Miss Stowe.”
“It’s more than an ordinary sacrament piece and seldom used for that reason,” she explained. “There are collectors who hunt for such precious items. This one was saved from Cromwell’s theft and destruction of churches and monasteries. It’s priceless for its historical value alone.”
