“Yes.” Eden frowned. “I see no harm in it.” She bolted from her seat. “I must find Donal before the marquess arrives.”
“You needn’t worry about anything but preparing yourself for Lord Rushborough’s call,” Claudia said. “Surely you don’t require the boy until after the marquess departs.”
“But I do, Aunt.” Eden met her gaze. “I intend to tell Francis that Donal is my son.”
Claudia hid her dismay. “Why, after all you have done to establish him as your cousin’s child, and legitimate?”
Eden’s face took on a peculiar, closed expression, and she spoke as if to herself. “Now is not the time for hesitation. I must see this through. And I must do it before… before Francis…” She trailed off, flushing. “This is how it must be.”
Eden’s stubbornness had grown to unmanageable proportions. She knew that Donal was Cornelius’s son but did not recognize Shaw’s true identity. If she knew of Donal’s gifts, she had never admitted to it. Was displaying Donal to the marquess, and presenting him as her own son, a test of Rushborough’s suitability as a father and husband? Or was this Shaw’s work?
Subterfuge, not confrontation, was the only way to handle this situation. “I strongly advise you against it… But if your heart is set, I shall find the boy. Go upstairs and dress.”
“Thank you.” Eden pressed Claudia’s hand and bent to kiss her cheek. Claudia watched her run lightly into the hall and up the stairs.
When the coast was clear, Claudia went through the garden toward the stables. Much to her relief, Donal and Shaw had returned from the forest and were talking to old Dalziel by the carriage house.
Claudia’s steps slowed. Now she must speak to Shaw face-to-face, hiding all the while what she knew of him. She drew on her hatred to see her through.
The three saw her approach and lined up in a row to confront her. Shaw folded his arms across his chest. Donal wedged himself between the men, peeping out between two sets of legs.
Dalziel doffed his cap. He still favored the arm he had injured in his accident with Atlas, but he was healing well, according to Mrs. Byrne. Perhaps he would be able to resume his duties once Shaw was gone.
Claudia drew up before them, holding her body very erect. “Donal, Lady Eden wishes you to come to the house.”
“She is returned from the dale?” Shaw asked. He stared at her with challenge in his eyes, acknowledging her as an enemy—but not quite the enemy he supposed.
“Lady Eden is preparing to receive a guest,” Claudia said, smiling just enough to make Shaw understand her meaning. She held out her hand. “Come, Donal.”
He did so with reluctance. “Lady Eden wishes to see me,” he told Shaw.
“I will see you tomorrow, then.” Shaw smiled at the boy the same way he had in the forest. “You did well today.”
Donal beamed. He dashed toward the house ahead of Claudia so that she had to hurry to catch up. She seized his hand just as he reached the door.
“You must learn to walk like a proper gentleman and not shame Lady Eden,” Claudia said, striving to coax rather than scold. “Before you see her, you must wash off the stable dirt and change your clothing.”
He looked down at his jacket and skeleton suit. “Very well, Lady Claudia.”
How very much like a little adult he was. She brushed away another twinge of regret. “Mrs. Byrne will help you. Let us go to the nursery, and I will call her.”
Temporarily domesticated, Donal permitted her to walk him to the nursery. She made a brief pretense of looking through his clothes, and then moved quickly to the door.
“I will come get you when Lady Eden is ready,” she said. She closed and locked the door and waited for any sound within.
For inscrutable and doubtless inhuman reasons of his own, the boy did not cry out or pound on the door. His silence was not entirely reassuring. Claudia hurried down the stairs and to the servant’s hall in search of Mrs. Byrne.
The housekeeper was in the storeroom, taking an inventory of kitchen supplies with Cook. Both women regarded Claudia’s intrusion with the same wariness as had the men outside.