Son of a Duke (35 page)

"It is nearly eight o'clock, and you did not wake me," he said, his voice gravelly with sleep.
 

Nora wanted to laugh.
 
She wanted to laugh very loudly so that everyone in London heard her.
 

"I don't have to wake you anymore, dear.
 
You can wake yourself whenever you'd like."
 

Nathan leaned over her to put in, "But I'd advise waking early as the food in this house tends to disappear quickly."
 
He nodded very seriously.
 

Samuel smiled and rubbed his eyes.
 

"Could I have some of the food then?" he asked.
 

"Absolutely."
 
Nora went to rise, but Nathan stopped her.
 

"I'll get it," he said, standing up.
 

Nora helped her yawning son into a chair and felt a yawn coming on herself.
 
She put her hand to her mouth to hide it, but Samuel was too quick.
 

"Mama, are you all right?
 
You look sleepy."
 

Nora felt heat rush to her cheeks.
 
"Aren't I always sleepy?"
 

Samuel shook his head.
 
"No, you always look tired.
 
But now you look sleepy.
 
There is a difference."
 

"Oh," Nora said, turning her attention back to the table to find everyone staring at her.
 

Nathan set a plate of food in front of Samuel more loudly than necessary, and everyone snapped back to themselves.
 

"So, how are you feeling this morning, Samuel?" Thatcher asked.
 

Samuel looked up from the food.
 
"Fine, thank you, sir."
 
He paused.
 
"You are not English.
 
I did not notice that the other night."
 

Thatcher smiled.
 
"No, but then you were a tad distracted the other night."
 

"From where in the Colonies have you come?" Samuel asked.
 

"I'm from the southern states in America."
 

"States.
 
That will never last," Richard murmured into his cup of tea.
 

"Why not?" Thatcher defended.
 

"You're already on your second form of government, and you're not even out of knee pants," Jane said.
 

Nora watched the conversation go back and forth and broke in.
 
"What do you mean, second government?"
 

Thatcher smirked, shyly.
 
"Well, the Articles of Confederation didn't work so well, so the people in charge over there got together and created a new government under a little piece of paper called the Constitution."
 

"They can do that?"
 

"Sure can.
 
Power of the people and all that."

"Huh." Nora sat and thought a moment.
 
"What happens if people you don't like are in power?"
 

"We vote them out," Thatcher said.

"We vote?
 
Are you allowed to vote, Mr. Thatcher?"
 

"Currently, no.
 
I don't own land over there right now, but if I did, sure.
 
I could vote for anything and anybody."
 

"And people trust each other to make the right decision?"
 

Thatcher shrugged.
 
"I guess so.
 
It's been working all right so far."
 

Nathan reached for the teapot.
 
"As fascinating as this talk about the attributes of democracy is, I think we should get down to business."
 

Nora nodded and looked at Richard.
 
"What is the plan, sir?"
 

"The plan is for you to stop calling me sir and start calling me Father, and then we'll discuss the plan."
 

Nora felt a smile tugging at her mouth.
 
"Alright...Father."
 

Richard smiled at her.
 

"Does that mean I'm supposed to call you Grandfather?" Samuel asked quietly.
 

Nora felt her heart constrict at the faint sound of hope in her son's voice.
 

"Of course," Richard said, speaking with such casual assurance Samuel could not doubt his sincerity.
 

Samuel's shoulders straightened immediately, and Nora's heart constricted more.
 
Nathan laid a hand on hers under the table.
 
She turned her hand over and squeezed his.

"First things first," Richard said, "I need to bestow my wedding gift upon my son."
 

Nathan's, Nora's, and Samuel's heads all swung around at once.
 

"Gift?" Nathan asked, his voice suddenly weak.

"Yes, gift.
 
I set it aside a long time ago in case you ever got married.
 
Frankly, I never thought you would, but now that you have I'm very pleased to hand it over to you."
 

He pulled a folded piece of parchment out of the inside of his jacket and extended his arm across the table.
 
Nathan did not reach up to grab it, so Nora did, taking the parchment in her fingertips and holding it in front of her husband.
 

Nathan stared at it, and Nora squeezed his hand harder under the table.
 
He looked at her and finally took the parchment.
 

He was silent for some moments after he unfolded it, and the anxiety was starting to make Nora insane.

"What is it?" she finally hissed at him.
 

Samuel leaned into her.
 
"Yes, what is it, Father?"
 

Nathan did not look up from the parchment.
 
"It's...land."
 

"Land?" Nora repeated.
 

"Land?" Samuel repeated her.
 

"Holdings really.
 
Down in Kent.
 
A baron died about a decade ago with no heirs and somehow the land came into the family.
 
I didn't need it, so I deeded it off into your name." Richard sipped his tea casually.
 
"I hope you don't mind being a farmer after this whole business with Napoleon is over."
 

Nora felt tears burning in her eyes and looked up to find Nathan's eyes had gone glassy with tears as well.
 
His fingers had lost their grip on hers, or maybe hers had lost their grip on his.
 
She did not know, but then they both stood together and strode around to the other side of the table.
 
Richard was already on his feet when they got there, taking them into his arms as Nora and Nathan embraced him with all the gratitude that was welling up inside them.
 
Samuel appeared and wrapped his own arms around everyone's waist.
 
Nora did not feel silly at all hugging a duke in the middle of his morning room during breakfast.
 

When they finally separated, Richard had his own tears in his eyes.
 
"I take care of my children," he said and smiled at all of them, looking down at Samuel to give him his own smile.
 

"Oh."
 

Jane jumped up from her chair and embraced them as well.
 
Jane was amazingly strong, and Nora felt a sense of comfort she had not felt in years.
 
She had not only married a man with land, but she had married a man with family.
 
And that meant so much more than any amount of land.
             

Matthew Thatcher cleared his throat somewhere behind them.
 

Jane turned and shook her hand at him.
 
"Alright, alright.
 
What were we talking about?"
 

"Saving the world from Napoleon," Thatcher said, leaning back in his chair.
 

Nora and Nathan sat back down, Nathan drawing Samuel onto his knee.
 

"What do we know about Dover?" Richard asked.
 

Nathan was already shaking his head.
 
"Nothing.
 
It's crawling with agents who haven't heard so much as a belch of conspiracy."
 

"Then why would they want us to go there?" Richard responded.
 

"I don't know.
 
Unless there is something going on there, and the agents haven't figured it out.
 
Something that they were supposed to figure out."
 

Richard frowned.
 
"I would hope our men and women are more well trained than that."
 

"Maybe they are trained well; they're just not looking in the right places."

Everyone looked at Nora.
 

"What places?" Richard asked.

"Below stairs," she said.
 

Samuel nodded furiously in Nathan's lap.
 
"Lots happens below stairs."
 

"What sort of agents do you have in Dover?" Nora asked.
 

"Mostly members of the peerage.
 
We put all the really top agents down there," Richard replied.
 

"Members of the peerage wouldn't even know there was a below stairs in which to look," Jane said.
 

"I agree, so what should we do, and more specifically what should I do?" Thatcher asked.
 

Richard pointed at Thatcher.
 
"Your only task is to find my wayward son and his wife.
 
I'm afraid he's gone off and done something very stupid, and when he realizes he's done something very stupid, I don't want him to be alone with a wife who will likely murder him."
 
He turned to Nora and Nathan.
 
"You two are going to Dover.
 
Samuel, you're coming with me and Jane."
 

"I am?" Samuel asked, incredulous.
 

"I need someone who can scamper below stairs unencumbered."
 
Richard was already standing.
 

Samuel jumped out of Nathan's lap and nearly ran over to his new grandfather.
 
"Where is it that I'll be scampering?"
 

"Amongst the servants of Lord Archer's townhouse.
 
I want to know where the good man is."

"I would imagine he's gone on to the Earl of Kent's country dance," Nora put in.
 

Richard nodded.
 
"Except he never showed up.
 
Our man down there said Lord Archer never left Lord Heathenbaum's."
 

"The Duchess of Chesterfield passed a note to that man in the church yesterday.
 
Would that have something to do with it?" Nathan asked.
 

Richard shook his head.
 
"Lord Archer disappeared before that.
 
Right after you shot the wrong man actually."
 

"Word traveled that quickly?" Jane asked.
 

Thatcher spoke up this time.
 
"Maybe it wasn't our word that was traveling."

It was his turn to be stared at by the population of the room.
 

"Maybe something went down on the other side of the spy game."
 

"You mean from Napoleon?" Richard asked.
 

"Yes, I mean, you found Archer out for the spy he was after all.
 
Maybe he was making serious mistakes, and the other team eliminated a weak player before it cost them."
 

"Who would do the eliminating?" Richard asked.
 

"The Duke of Chesterfield was not at Gregenden House the other night," Nora said.
 

Richard was already nodding.
 
"But would Napoleon risk one of his top spies on such a trivial task?"
 

"Maybe they didn't eliminate him.
 
Yet," Nathan said.
 

"What else would they need him for?" Jane asked.
 

"That's what I intend to find out," Richard said, grabbing Samuel's hand.
 
"Nora and Nathan, you'd best start for Dover.
 
You have at least a four days ride ahead of you.
 
And if Alec's gone in the same direction, he has a two day head start."
 
He turned to Jane.
 
"My love, would you do me the honor of accompanying me on a spying excursion?"
 

"Oh, it would be my pleasure," Jane replied.
 

Nora looked at her son.
 
"Samuel, will you be all right while I'm gone?"
 

"Of course, Mama, do not worry.
 
I'll be fine.
 
And Nathan, I mean Father, will take care of you."
 
He smiled and kissed her on the cheek before walking out the door with his grandfather.
 

Nora felt Nathan's hand slip into hers.
 

"I've never spent the night away from him," she said, feeling the tears gather in her eyes but not feeling the need to let them fall.
 

Nathan squeezed her hand in reply, and she felt suddenly, infinitely better.
 

And then Samuel ran back in the room.
 
Nora turned, startled and worried that maybe Samuel was not as fine with this as he had said.
 
He ran up to Nathan and leaned in close.
 

"I think of you as my father.
 
Not that other man.
 
I'm very lucky to be able to call you Father," he whispered to Nathan, "I just wanted to make sure you knew that."