Marblestone Mansion 01 - Scandalous Duchess

myself?”
    “ Of course, how could you brag about your hunting talents otherwise?”
    “ Perhaps I might consider it for the billiard room.” He closed his accounting book, put it in a drawer and stood up. “Come, I have something to show you.” He took her by the hand, led her to the back of the house and then up the first flight of stairs. He stopped, looked upstairs and down to make certain no one could see, and then pushed on an inside section of the wall.
    McKenna was astonished when the door opened into a small room. A table, just inside the door, held candles and matches to use if necessary, but from somewhere above, the sun gave off enough light to climb the spiral staircase. She did not hesitate to start up. “A secret room, how thrilling.”
    He carefully pushed the door closed. “All mansions must have a secret room or two.”
    “ Indeed they must.” At the top of the stairs, oval windows were set in a pattern to look like the rest of the mansion’s outside decorations.
    “ I built this in case the Arapaho Indians are not as happy on the reservation as President McKinley claims they will be. What do you think of the view?”
    McKenna was speechless and quickly sat down on a wooden bench facing one of the windows. The sun was beginning to set behind Pikes Peak and the scattered clouds were in shades of gold and pink. Below the mountains, the lights of a small town were beginning to come on. “‘Tis breathtaking. What is that place called?”
    He chose a second bench to sit on opposite another oval window. “That, my dear, is Manitou Springs. There are many wondrous things to discover there. The mineral pools have a way of soothing aching bones and the watering holes have tiny bubbles coming from somewhere in the earth. If you are silent, you can hear the rumble in the ground.”
    “ Is it dangerous?”
    “ Not that I have heard. There are magnificent cottonwood trees everywhere, hotels, parks, a very fine bathhouse and of course, a few mansions. None as grand as mine, I boast.”
    “ And none with a secret room?”
    “ Not that I am aware of. I come here sometimes when I want to be alone. I believe Charlotte goes quite mad trying to find me.”
    “ She fancies you, I think.”
    “ I suspect it too, but so far it has not been a problem.”
    “ It might be, now that you have no wife.”
    “ Charlotte is the least of my concerns.” He was quiet and just watched the colors of the drifting clouds change for a time. “When I feared Olivia would not leave, I told her I had been unfaithful. Can you guess what she did?”
    “ What?”
    “ She forgave me. Any other woman would have had my head.”
    “ Perhaps she still will, once she’s had time to think about it. They are rare, but with enough money and the right solicitor, she might manage to secure a divorce without your permission.”
    “ Do you suppose that is what she is up to? It would explain her refusal to pay the servants and Mr. Graham.”
    “ Perhaps. She might have hoped she could lure you back to Scotland, but if not, she would have the money to secure another means of happiness.”
    He considered that for a moment. “It makes more sense than anything I have come up with.”
    “ Yet I care far less about her than I do about you. Without a wife, you shall have no children. Father would wish the bloodline to continue.”
    “ I fear Cameron must see to that now.”
    “ Oh brother, my heart breaks for you. You would make the best father in the world.”
    “ Thank you for that. Whatever would I do without you here to comfort me? My heart is broken too, but I am determined to recover. I have no high opinion of Olivia now, and I must learn not to love the memory of what I thought her to be.” Hannish sighed. “I had such plans for our life here. Now I know not what to do with it all.”
    “ Well, I still need a home as do you. Therefore, you must continue on as before and I will help. The servants need positions and this place needs hundreds of guests to entertain.”
    “ True and perhaps you might fill the place with children someday. I can love your children just as well as my own.” He stood up and pulled her to her feet. “Are you not hungry? I am starved.”

    “ Telephone for you, Miss McKenna,” Prescot said.
    “ For me?”
    “ Mrs. Whitfield, Miss.”
    “ Thank you.” She got up, walked to the wall phone in the upstairs sitting room and lifted the receiver. “Abigail… I am much improved, thank