The Dying Duke's One-Year Wife Is a Nurse novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Keys

Lord Corbin Ardmoor came to see his cousin at nine the next morning, and he brought the steward.

Rosalind was feeding the Duke porridge with no salt in it when the door opened without a knock.

The man who walked in was neat and fair, in a dark grey coat with a gold chain.

He wore the gentle smile of a man arriving at a funeral.

"Cousin," he said warmly. "And the new Duchess. I hadn't the honor yesterday, since the wedding was so hasty."

Lysander looked up from the spoon.

"Corbin," he said. "You're early. I'm not dead yet."

"Heaven forbid I'd think it."

Corbin's pale blue eyes moved over the five pillows, the open window and the empty basin by the bed.

"I came to see that the household is not troubling the Duchess."

Behind him the steward stood stiffly, a heavy man with a ring of iron keys at his belt.

There were thirty keys on that ring.

Rosalind had counted them from her chair.

"It's kind of you to come," she said. "I need the household keys."

The room went still.

Corbin's smile did not move at all.

"My dear cousin," he said, "the steward keeps the keys while the Duke is ill."

"It is the custom. It saves the Duchess from every pantry and every cellar."

"I wrote a line in the contract yesterday," said Rosalind. "The Duchess has authority over the household, the sickroom first."

"A contract of marriage is not..."

"Signed by the Duke."

She did not look at the steward.

She looked at the man in the bed, and she waited.

Lysander set down his cup.

He had slept six hours in the night, sitting up, and the gray shadows under his eyes had lifted a shade.

"Steward," he said. He had a voice that carried when it had to. "My wife asked you for something."

The steward's face went through three colors.

"Your Grace, Lord Corbin said..."

"I am not asking what Lord Corbin said."

For a long moment nobody moved.

Then the steward unhooked the iron ring from his belt and set it into Rosalind's open palm.

It was heavier than it looked.

"Thank you," she said. "That will be all."

"The physician is dismissed from this house. If he comes to the gate, he is to be told so."

"Cousin," Corbin said softly. "A man in your condition must have a doctor."

"He has one."

Corbin's eyes slid over her, slowly.

"I see you have made a recovery," he told Lysander.

"How very pleasant. Men in your state do often rally, you know. A bright morning before the end."

"I'll bear it in mind."

"Do. And Duchess." The smile came back, gentle and perfectly kind. "Do not tire yourself. Nursing is hard on the young."

He bowed and left, and the steward followed.

The door closed.

Rosalind let out her breath.

"He's going to try to kill me," she said.

"No," said Lysander. "He'll try to prove you've killed me. It is neater."

"That's comforting."

"I thought you'd like to know." He studied her face. "You took the keys as if you'd done it all your life."

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