Free My Dearest Friend (Books We Love Regency Romance) by Hazel Statham

ease, he knew not what to expect and, as his grace seemed disinclined to open the conversation, he thought he should make at least some attempt. “Glad to see you looking more up to the nines, sir, even though you do look as if you’ve just been sparring with the great Jackson himself. You gave us quite a fright when we saw you so sparked out, thought you’d gone and snuffed it, but the miss said you were still breathing, so we put you on a carriage door and brought you here to the inn. It was the best we could do, sir, there is no other village for miles.”
    Robert slightly inclined his head. “You did well, I am grateful to you and your men. The outcome could have been quite different had you not intervened.”
    Patterson sat upright in his chair as if preparing himself for a rebuff. “You understand what they—we—are, sir? Deserters!”
    “I am fully aware of your situation, is that why you requested this interview? Are you hoping that I could intercede on your behalf, for I must warn you that it would be impossible? I have no sway whatsoever with the military.”
    Patterson stiffened slightly. “Nothing of the sort, sir, we are all responsible for our own actions.” He took an audible breath before continuing in a quieter tone. “I wanted to speak to you of your brother.”
    Robert was all attention. “You knew him?”
    “Not personally, more by reputation. Brigade-Major Lord Blake was well known and highly thought of throughout the ranks. He was said to be a fiery, energetic young officer. There are only two kinds of officers, your grace, the Go-ons and the Come-ons. Your brother was very much a Come-on. He would not ask his men to do anything he wasn’t prepared to do himself, very forward going. That, I’m afraid, was his undoing. Though I’m sure I need not inform you, sir, of the circumstances of his death?”
    “No,” Robert replied with a deadly calm, all remaining vestige of color draining from his bruised countenance.
    Jane, not wishing to intrude on the interview, had positioned herself by the small window that overlooked the village street but she forsook her post and came to stand facing Patterson at the duke ’s side.
    Patterson looked somewhat nervous now, slightly uncertain of the response he was to receive, but continued, “I wondered if you were aware of the child, sir?”
    There was an almost imperceptible delay before the duke expostulated with a great confusion, “Child? What child? I am not aware of any child. Whose child?”
    “ Major Lord Blake’s, sir!”
     
    ***
     
    There followed a shocked silence, Jane placing her hand on the duke’s shoulder as much to reassure as to deter him from rising. He looked at her in disbelief, as if expecting her to deny what they had just heard, but no denial came. She knew as little of the situation as did he.
    “My brother was married?” he asked incredulously, appearing only slightly calmer.
    “No, sir.”
    “ Then how…?”
    “Some of the officers’ families travel with the camp followers; Major Lord Blake formed an attachment with Sara, the young daughter of Sgt. Coombes in Leith’s Division. I believe they planned to marry, sir, but then the major received his injuries… and died.”
    He saw the lines deepen around the duke’s mouth, as he almost whispered, “Go on, and the girl?”
    “She was but seventeen sir and disowned by her parents, the child was born about six months ago in the Convent of Adoratricesa, near Badajos. The mother died in child bed, and the child has remained in the care of the sisters. When I spoke to Miss Chandler and she told me that you have come to Portugal to help her brother, I had thought you to have come also to secure the child, but she made no mention of it so I wondered if you were aware of its existence?”
    A long silence pervaded the room before finally the duke almost breathed, “Boy or girl?”
    “Girl, I do believe, sir.”

The duke exhaled slowly, releasing the breath he wasn’t