“And you say that they had no idea that you were listening?”
“None, Your Grace. I was careful not to make a sound because I was frightened.”
“That they would dispose of you?”
There was a cynical note in the Duke’s voice that told her he thought that she was hysterical.
She therefore turned again to the door, but Harry was standing in front of it.
“Of course you were frightened,” he said. “If they had found out you were listening to their scheming, it is doubtful if they would have allowed you to escape to tell the Duke what was being planned.”
“I-I was very frightened,” Isa admitted, “and, when I reached home, I wanted to tell my father.”
“Surely he was the first person you should have consulted,” the Duke remarked as if he wished to find fault.
“I thought of it, but because the me
