Free Engaging the Enemy by Heather Boyd

the salver back at Wilcox and said softly, “Would you please thank Lord Shaw for his visit, but inform him that I am otherwise engaged today?”
    The duchess smiled wearily at Leopold and urged him away from the main staircase. “Perhaps we’ll take the servants’ stairs just this once.” She turned and opened a discreet panel halfway along the hall and disappeared. The familiar, dark staircase brought back unpleasant memories for Leopold, but he instinctively caught the duchess’ elbow for the long climb up the stairs. Since she moved in something of a hurry, she didn’t appear to notice his assistance. But as they reached the upper corridor she murmured her thanks before leading him to the old duke’s chambers.
    The door swung wide and stale dusty air washed over him. He coughed then hurried across the room to throw open the drapes and a window to fill the chamber with fresher air.
    The duchess covered her mouth. “I never dreamed the room would be so bad.”
    Leopold’s disgust rose at the state of the apartment. Dust covered every surface in a thick blanket and swirled on the current of air that they had disturbed. “The housekeeper should have attended to the cleaning of this room without being instructed to do so.”
    She grimaced but didn’t comment.
    Leopold considered the room, wondering where the old duke might have kept his secrets. He wouldn’t want just anybody to stumble upon them. Would the scoundrel want the hiding place in clear sight of his bed or hidden from view?
    Leopold checked behind every painting and mirror on the walls, looking for hidden compartments opposite the bed while the duchess checked the drawer contents. Since there could be room to hide paper behind each drawer, Leopold moved to the duchess’ side and worked with her, removing the heavy drawers completely and peering behind them.
    “Just think my father-in-law would be spinning in his grave about now. I had my suspicions about his nature, but never knew he was so evil. What did you do to be banished from England?”
    His heart had beat too strongly for the old duke’s comfort, or he’d never wanted Leopold to learn he’d fathered the current duke. Both were probably good reasons for the old duke’s actions, but he couldn’t very well confess the latter to the duchess. Leopold shook his head. “It’s an uncomfortable story.”
    The duchess sat back on her heels and regarded him. From the light in his eyes, he gathered she was preparing arguments to pry the secret from him. But, until he learned the fate of his siblings, he couldn’t risk telling her the truth about his life. She’d send him away for certain if she found out.
    The duchess knocked the dust from her fingers. “Another time, perhaps. When you’ve come to trust me. I should like to right the wrongs done to your family. You are our family as well, now.”
    Leopold swallowed hard, feeling the worst sort of cad. Neither of them trusted the other completely yet, and she certainly shouldn’t trust him. Something she said, though, made him uneasy. The duchess and her son were indeed part of his family; family he didn’t want to have and one relationship he could never acknowledge openly. Leopold shrugged off his discomfort and turned back to the task at hand. Despite the kiss, and their possible past, Leopold had best remember that she was still the enemy.
    When they had exhausted all obvious possibilities, he moved to the bed. The solid mahogany behemoth, another symbol of the duke’s power, took up most of the space. Determined not to be intimidated, Leopold tossed the mattress, and then crawled into the space beneath to check for hidden compartments. He couldn’t imagine the duke on his hands and knees hiding anything, but it was best to discount all possibilities. He rapped his knuckles against the paneling, searching for oddities in the construction of the piece.
    The duchess poked her head under just as he was finishing. “Did you find