The Art of Stealing a Duke’s Heart by Ellie St. Clair

Chapter 15

Jonathan had decided that today they would stay to the roads, so while Calli was a bit disappointed not to see the open land she had enjoyed on their last ride, at least the terrain was slightly easier to navigate, particularly with Mary holding on behind her.

They hadn’t gone far, however, when the children spied buildings in the distance.

“Uncle!” Mary called, causing Calli to wince when the girl screamed in her ear. “What is that?”

“Over there?” Jonathan responded, lifting a hand to shade his eyes. “The village.”

“I’ve never been to the village before,” Mary said, this time not quite as loudly but still with a great deal of interest. Calli herself was somewhat intrigued. She had spent her life in London, but not much time anywhere smaller. What would such a place be like?

“We don’t have time,” Jonathan said, already anticipating the children’s question.

“Please?” Matthew said. “Just for a few minutes, can we see what’s there?”

Calli was sure Jonathan was going to say no, which is why she raised her brows at his assent, as begrudging as it was.

The four of them on horseback were certainly quite the draw for onlookers as they began to plod through the small town, that was as sleepy as Calli might have imagined it to be. People stepped out of doorways to watch them go by, most of them with a smile and a friendly wave that Calli and the children returned. They had only been riding a few minutes when they approached what seemed to be the village’s largest buildings.

“What are those, Uncle?” Matthew asked.

“There is a small inn with the general store beside it,” Jonathan explained, his voice as unattached as he was to most things.

“Can we go into the store?” Mary asked eagerly, likely already anticipating sweets.

“For just a moment,” Jonathan said, apparently realizing that he had lost the battle before it began and therefore chose not to fight. Calli turned her head to hide her smile.

Jonathan pulled open the obvious heavy wooden door, allowing them through. The light was dim inside the store, small windows allowing a bit of sunlight to filter through, shining on the dust motes in the air as well as the food stores on the shelves.

Mary immediately found the sweets, of course — she seemed to have a nose for sniffing out sugar — and Jonathan pulled out coin for them as Calli watched with her arms crossed and a smile on her face.

She was so enamored with the scene in front of her that she was completely taken off guard when a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a shelf.

“Xander!” she hissed when his familiar face came into focus. “What are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” he whispered with raised brows. “What are you doing? Playing house with the duke?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I’m doing,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Playing governess, anyway. Now, why are you here in Kent?”

“Arie sent me to look after you,” he said, his voice low, his eyes flicking up to look behind her now and again. “He was worried when you left London.”

“I can take care of myself,” she said indignantly. If it had been Xander who had left on an assignation, no one would have pursued him to watch over him.

“I know you can, but you… well, Calli, you have a heart like none of the rest of us do, so you can understand why Arie might be worried.”

Calli tried to push away thoughts of herself in Jonathan’s arms, worried that Xander would be able to read the guilt on her face if she let them invade.

“I am keeping to the job,” she promised with what she hoped was a convincing nod.

“Good,” he said. “Well, I’ll try to come by the estate and check in on you. I could hardly believe when I looked out the window of my bedroom and saw you riding through town, sitting high on your horse like a princess herself.”

Calli laughed a bit too loudly at that as Xander looked around her.

“Hardly,” she said, tempering herself, “although I am glad now that Arie insisted on the riding lessons.”

“You best go,” Xander said, nodding beyond her. “But be careful, Calli. Look after yourself. Where are you going?”

“To a neighbouring estate. A baron’s, I believe.”

“Ah,” Xander’s features lit up with interest. “I’ve heard of the man. He has quite the collection of Greek statues. Steal one for Arie. He would be most appreciative.”

“But—”

“Miss Donahue?”

Calli whirled around to find Jonathan looking at her with some concern.

“Were you speaking to someone?”

“I—”

Calli turned back around, but found that Xander had disappeared.

“Just talking to myself,” she said, forcing a smile.

“We bought you a sweet!” Mary said, skipping over toward her and holding out a red candy.

“Thank you,” Calli said to Mary, unable to look up at Jonathan, once again wishing that her emotions were not so easily read. But Jonathan didn’t seem to notice as he turned and beckoned them forward. Calli took one more look behind her, seeing only the back of a familiar head of black hair browsing the shelves. She swallowed and then followed Jonathan and the children out the door.

* * *

“Doyou promise that you will all stay outdoors in the yard?” Jonathan asked, looking at the three of them with question as he dismounted his horse.

“Of course,” Calli said with a quick nod, her expression making it clear that she did not entirely appreciate being spoken to as though she was one of the children. “I will keep a good eye on them.”

“I know you will.”

A groom approached and took the horses as Jonathan walked to the front door, looking back to see the children already racing across the grass, Calli in their wake. Ah, but to have such energy.

“Your Grace?”

When he turned the butler was waiting for him, and he walked through the door to find the baron already sitting in the front parlor.

“Your Grace, welcome. I couldn’t help but notice through the window of my study that you are not alone today. Perhaps you would like your wife and children to come inside as well? My grandchildren are in residence, and they might enjoy some company.”

“My—oh. My niece and nephew. And that is not my wife. The governess,” Jonathan said, even as heat began to rise from his stomach, up through his chest and into his face at the very thought of Calli being so attached to him.

“My apologies, Your Grace. She is such a beautiful woman, I could only assume. Still, they are of course invited in.”

“Ah, yes, thank you,” Jonathan said, slightly thrown still by the idea the baron had put forth.

“Very good. I shall have my butler approach them. Come with me to my study.”

He held his arm out, and Jonathan followed him toward the door he pointed to. “I trust you have had the opportunity to see the lands that I would like to sell?”

“I have,” Jonathan said with a nod. “May I ask why you would like to be rid of them?”

The elderly Baron Chilton sighed as he settled his considerable frame into the chair behind the desk.

“My son… he is a good boy, but not entirely responsible. He likes the gaming tables.”

The baron looked down morosely for a moment, not needing to say anymore. “I suppose I need some of the funds to pay off his debts. It is not ideal, but—?” He raised his hands in the air.

Jonathan looked past him to the walls of the office and the statues that lined the shelves.

“You have a fair bit of artwork that could be sold off, do you not?”

The baron steepled his fingers together in front of him.

“I do,” he said with a nod. “You have a good eye. But the truth is, Your Grace, I am not getting any younger, and my son, well, I’m not sure how the lands will fare under his leadership. I am concerned for the wellbeing of the people, the animals, the land itself… It might be best under the hand of someone who knows what he is doing. My son has never cared enough to pay any attention.”

“Fair point,” Jonathan said, respecting the man’s honesty as well as his dedication to his tenants and the people who worked for him. It was not often one saw such commitment that he was willing to give up part of his own property to ensure the welfare of others.

Footsteps suddenly pounded overhead, interrupting them, and the man’s worried face eased into a smile. “My grandchildren,” he said. “It seems they have found your niece and nephew. Good of you to bring them.”

Jonathan thought of their pleading for him to do so, and managed a nod. “Of course.”

“Your man of business likely provided you with my thoughts on what I’d like for the land,” the baron said. “Now the question is, what do you think it’s worth?”

The two of them began negotiations, and before long, they were standing, shaking hands after coming to an agreement that they both seemed to be pleased with.

“Would you like to see my gallery?” the baron asked, light entering his eyes, and Jonathan nodded.

“Very much so.”

The baron’s “gallery” was not so much a shrine to the art such as Jonathan’s own room, but was more so a parlor or sitting room that had been redesigned to accommodate his many statues, all of which appeared to be Greek in origin.

“Fascinating,” Jonathan said as he wandered the room, reminding himself of Calli when she had first entered his own gallery. “Where did you come by most of these sculptures?”

“Some were brought back to England by Elgin himself,” the baron said, raising his bushy eyebrows.

“With the Elgin marbles?”

“The very ones,” the baron said, his eyes gleaming, “although most of them ended up in the Museum. Others I have accumulated over the years, from other collectors, or from those who have gone on acquisition trips.”

“I see,” Jonathan said. “How have you organized them?”

“By date of origin, or at least, by date as well as we can determine,” the baron said, placing his hands on his hips as he looked around him with a sigh. “Unfortunately, my collecting days may be at an end for now, but I will do what I can to look after what I have. And, in the meantime,” he said as he turned to Jonathan with a twinkle still in his eye, “I have made sure that my daughter is the one who will look after them once I am gone.”

Jonathan grinned at that, wishing for a moment that he could give away his own inheritance as he wished and not as how he was entitled to by law and tradition. Although he supposed he was no different than the baron — he could do as he wished with anything not entailed.

He was nearly finished his perusal of the room when he came to the final shelf, closest to the door.

“What used to be here?” he asked, pointing to a circle where it seemed a statue had used to stand. “Did you have to sell something off?”

“I’ve sold nothing off,” the baron said before lumbering across the room. “Where?”

Jonathan showed him, and the baron’s expression lost all signs of a twinkle, his countenance growing rather irate as his face reddened.

“There should be a statue here of Perseus,” he said, looking around as though Perseus was going to jump out from behind a pillar nearby. “Where is it?”

“I’m not sure,” Jonathan said, uncertain of just whether or not he was supposed to answer that question. “Perhaps it was moved for cleaning?”

“No one touches my collection except for my butler,” the baron said. “I trust no one but the man who has been with me the longest. One slight hit by an errant duster from a new maid, and thousands of pounds could be shattered to the floor in a moment.”

Jonathan also thought that the pieces of history that would be scattered might also elicit a reason to be wary, but he didn’t feel that it was his place nor the time to say anything.

“Perhaps the butler knows then,” Jonathan said as the baron went out to the corridor, calling for the man.

The butler, however, seemed as bewildered as the two of them.

“Well,” the baron said, raising his hands in the air, “I am sorry to end our visit on such a note. At least everything else went quite well and I thank you, Your Grace, for coming all this way.”

As though on cue, the children appeared from upstairs, their faces red but their manners intact.

“We are ready to depart,” Jonathan said to Mary, Matthew, and Calli, who all nodded, and Jonathan couldn’t help but note the baron’s appreciation for Calli as she walked by. Even though he was well aware that there was nothing to fear from the man, nor that Calli might potentially be interested in someone old enough to be, at the very least, her father, he still questioned just where this jealousy had come from and whether or not it was warranted. It was most certainly not welcomed.

“You shall hear from my man of business regarding the particulars,” Jonathan said before leaving. “And best of luck in locating your statue.”

The man nodded, and Jonathan greeted the fresh air with a smile.

It had been a good day, indeed.