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Curtis cut him off sharply “I am afraid that the laill not allow it Your uncle specifically passed the guardianship of his ward to you!” Curtis’s faded eyes were leveled at the duke “If Your Grace will but read this, it may explain, for it ritten to me just one day before your uncle passed on”

Reluctantly, the duke took up the ivory sheet of paper to read:

Dearest Curtis:

If you are reading this, I will have finally, thankfully passed

See to this for me My ward, Felicia Easton, runs wild, I aht her properly supervised at her Easton Manor hoer serve my mind

My honor requires that the iven i, as I a er

Glen has been on the town too long He needs soer the boy would attend me, I’d rather he did it froiven a London season, but first … tell him to stop by that little place I have … I can’t re I am told See to it Glen can take Daphne and my ith him, to have a look at it

I leave the delicate handling of this matter in your very capable hands

Arthur

Duke of Somerset

Glen Ashton’s jaw pulsated as he gritted his teeth and composed himself

He had been fond of his uncle He felt for him, for his loss, for the fact that the old‘handled’

The young duke stared at nothing at all for a long moment Even so, why had he not been told that his uncle’s ward had been left alone? That did need attention His honor, his loyalty to his late uncle, demanded he repair that situ

ation at once

The duke turned his attention to the solicitor and asked, his voice low and tinged with annoyance, “Why, Curtis, when you told me about Uncle Arthur’s ward and that he hadn’t seen her for over a year, you never said she was alone Why didn’t you show me this letter sooner?”