Page 44 of Last Night with the Duke
“Yes, Your Grace. May I get you something to drink?”
“No, thank you. I’m going up to see Lady Evelyn.” With that, he turned and headed up the stairs.
Griffin knocked on the door and waited for the reply for him to enter. He opened the door to his aunt’s bedchamber and walked inside, closing it behind him. Lady Evelyn sat in a straight back chair in front of a window, which was opened a few inches. To his surprise she was wearing a dark plum dress. Her gray-threaded hair had been arranged neatly on top of her head, and secured with silver combs.
She smiled. “This is a pleasure. I didn’t know you were going to stop by today, Your Grace.”
“A pleasure for both of us then,” he said even though he was sure there was a grimace on his face. “I didn’t know I was going to find you out of bed, dressed, and sitting in a chair in front of an open window.” He grabbed a brown velvet robe from the foot of her bed as he passed and laid it on her lap as he stopped in front of her. “Do you think that it’s wise for someone who has been as ill as you have?”
Her aged, blue eyes stared purposefully into his. “What? Being up or sitting where I can get some fresh air for the first time in over a week?”
“Both.”
“Probably not.” She faced the window again. “I decided if I was going to be in pain anyway, I might as well be in pain sitting up enjoying spring air and this glorious blue sky instead of spending yet another day looking at these four walls.” She cut her eyes around to him again. “They don’t change much, you know.”
He shook the robe down to cover her legs and then bent on one knee and tucked it snugly around her feet. “Then I will have Sparks change out the furniture, the paintings, mirrors, and all the rest of it so you’ll have something new to look at.”
She smiled and patted his cheek affectionately as he rose and seated himself in the chair opposite her. “You’ll do no such thing. I rather like the familiar. It’s comforting. Besides, I knew it was getting close to time for Fenton’s flowers to start blooming and I wanted to see if any of them had. Unfortunately, they haven’t. None that I can see from my window anyway. I suppose he’ll enter his Persian irises in the May Day Fair again this year.”
“He has enough planted that at least one of them should bloom on the right day so he can.”
“Good. I know he wants to win for the fifth year in a row.”
“I have no doubt that he will.”
Griffin looked at the angry, welting red rash of blisters that covered one side of his aunt’s face from her hairline to her jawline. It was a devilishly hard thing to look at. The pain she endured must be great, yet she had never once complained about suffering.
“I think you are looking better today,” he lied without guilt.
“You say that every time you come. I appreciate it, though you and I know it’s not true.”
“If not today, it will be one day soon,” he said, though he admitted to himself that he really hadn’t seen much improvement in the past few days. The only good thing was that, once the rash had made it down to her jawline, it hadn’t gone any farther.
“I suppose it will.” A wistful sigh passed her lips. “The doctor, the alchemist, and the apothecary who visit me almost daily say that it will go away. They just don’t know when. In the meantime, I will continue to drink their concoctions and bear their foul-smelling creams and ointments on my face. So don’t stop saying I’m looking better. It does cheer me, even if it’s untrue.”
“Well, at least you haven’t lost your ability to brighten my day.”
She gave him a wilted smile that ended on a long-held sigh. “Nor shall I. I hope.”
His aunt’s undaunted spirit reminded Griffin of Esmeralda. She and his aunt had the same outspoken disposition. They would get along well together, if his aunt could accept visitors. Once again he thought about the possibility of meeting someone during the Season, someone who appealed to him and stimulated his body and his mind.
“All ladies should be as forthright as you are, Lady Evelyn. Unfortunately most of them are too timid. So tell me, what has you feeling so down today?”
She laughed softly. “Life, I suppose. If not for the twins coming to visit me a couple of times each day, and your visit too, I think I’d go mad.”
Griffin picked up her hand. It was cold. He kissed the back of her palm and then pulled the robe over her hands. “You know I won’t allow that kind of talk.”
“And you know I don’t usually either.” She looked out at the blue sky again. “I’m feeling sorry for myself today, so if you don’t like it, you can leave me.”
“Does it have anything to do with the house being so quiet? Sparks told me that Miss Swift has taken Sara and Vera to Hyde Park to spend the afternoon.”
“And her sister and that dog.”
Griffin smiled. “You’re still ill-tempered with me about hiring her and meeting all her demands without consulting you, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am.” She slid her hand out from under the cover and rearranged the robe on her lap in a testy manner. “Everything about her is highly unusual.”
“I’m not known for doing what’s expected.”
