Page 5 of The Odyssean Duke

He bristled and leveled his sternest, coldest expression at the woman. “Do you think so?” Stephan asked. “I fear you are mistaken. I can manage quite well enough on my own. I am, however, concerned that you may have ruined the dukedom in my absence.”

“The dukedom is prospering,” she said tartly.

Stephan took a deep breath, knowing that she delighted in insulting his honor. His grandmother was a cold and petty woman, and he had been a fool for not noticing that sooner. Seeing her retreat, even a little, filled him with a sort of grim satisfaction. “Regrettably, your service as a trustee will be unnecessary,” he said coolly. “I will have an heir.”

“Oh,willyou?” she asked. “Do you believe that you can court a lady, arrange a marriage, and find a duchess who delivers a healthyboyall within the span of a year? I would find that highly unlikely for even the most responsible man.”

“You need not worry yourself over that. I survived the war, so I quite like my odds.”

She opened her mouth as if to speak, but Stephan silenced her with a wave of his hand.

“That is quite enough from you,” he said. “You have made your opinions abundantly clear, and we have nothing further to say to one another.”

The Dowager Duchess scowled before turning away in a sharp, vicious movement. Stephan watched as she climbed into the waiting coach. He scarcely let himself breathe until the coach was in motion and moving benignly away from the townhouse.

Well, Stephan supposed banishing his meddling grandmother was a good first act to take as the Duke of Rothbury. The gall of that woman! Stephan was certain that it wasshewho had thought of such preposterous stipulations. The title had never been separated from its fortune before. He clenched his jaw, some of his fury making place for concern.

His grandmother was right on one account. A year was not much time to find a proper lady, court her, arrange a marriage, and have a child. Not just any child either, but amale child. Even the most accomplished man among the ton would find difficulties in accomplishing that all in a year. Stephan raked a hand through his hair. Where did he even begin?

A small, rational part of him even considered the possibility of abandoning the dukedom entirely. He had achieved some renown as a naval officer, and he would have been content to continue as he had been. What was to prevent him from abandoning the duchy and returning to his ship? At least, his men respected him. That was more than could be said for his grandmother.

A throat cleared, and Stephan’s head snapped to the doorway. There stood a man with dark hair and brown eyes; Stephan guessed that he was somewhere around thirty years of age. “Yes?” Stephan asked.

The man stared at him for a long moment. Then, he made a strange, panicked sound and bowed hastily. “Your Grace! Welcome,” he said. “Welcome home.”

The man exuded a nervous energy, as if he had never before encountered anyone from the ton. That could not be the case, however, given that he stood in the former residence of the Dowager Duchess of Rothbury.

“And who are you?” Stephan asked, managing a tone of polite indifference.

In truth, he was vexed. He suspected that this anxious man was one of the staff, and a duke’s household ought to be better managed.

“Nathanial Alms,” he said. “I am the butler.”

Stephan inhaled sharply, fighting to keep his temper in check. It was not Nathanial’s fault that he had already proven himself unsuitable in several ways for this position; doubtlessly, that had been his grandmother’s doing. Butthiswas the butler?

“How long have you been the butler?” Stephan asked.

“Just a week, Your Grace. All the staff was recently hired.”

“And why was that?”

Nathanial blinked, as if taken aback by the question. “The previous staff did not suit, Your Grace, so Her Grace worked to replace them all.”

Doubtlessly, that staff had suited his grandmother fine. Stephan clenched his jaw, his mind working quickly. Had his grandmother truly released all of her adequately trained staff and left him with a new, likely untrained household? As if she had not done enough already to make his becoming duke nearly impossible!

“The Dowager Duchess will be residing in the Dowager House,” Stephan said, speaking very carefully.

Nathanial nodded as though this made perfect sense, which it did. “As you wish, Your Grace.”

“I want everything of hers packed and sent to her,” Stephan said as he entered the house.

He paused, his eyes sweeping over the familiar polished wood furniture, the intricate Persian rugs laid over the floor, and the gilded portraits of his ancestors. It seemed impossible that everything was precisely as he remembered it being ten years prior, but it was.

“At once, Your Grace,” Nathanial said. “Does that include…well, everything?”

The urge to abandon the dukedom and flee on the nearest ship intensified. After having become accustomed to the strict discipline of the navy, returning to a household in such disarray was like finding himself unexpectedly in a new country. Or perhaps in one of the circles of Hell that Dante had written about.

Of course, this man would not know which possessions belonged to the Dowager Duchess. He had only recently joined the household. “Everything from her rooms,” Stephan said.