Page 46 of Last Night with the Duke
“I don’t believe you.” She sighed heavily and pulled the robe up to cover her chest.
“They have no designs on Sara and Vera, and you know they don’t. They will continue to treat them as if they were their own sisters.”
“Well, as with this blasted rash I have on my face, I can do nothing about it.”
Griffin reached over and closed the window. He spread the draperies wider to allow more sunshine to come through. “Auntie, you know you can trust me to take care of my sisters.”
“Oh my, yes, I can trust you”—she looked up at him with tired eyes—“to tell me only what you want me to know.”
“Your rash has done nothing to dull your sharp tongue. Very uncommon for one who has been so ill. Now would you like me to help you back over to the bed?”
“That’s what I have a maid for. You can ask Harper to come up on your way out.”
“And that sounds as if you are dismissing me, so I’ll say good-bye.”
He reached down as if to kiss the side of her forehead that was clear of the rash, but she held up her hand to stop him and turned her head away.
“Are you off to the park?”
Oh yes.He wanted to see Esmeralda. “I thought I might as well look in on my sisters and see how Miss Swift is handling them.”
“Yes, I thought you might. I took it upon myself to tell the cook to have a picnic basket ready in case you happened by. They’ll be wanting refreshments by the time you get there.”
“You are always one step ahead of me.”
“I try to be. Now, be off with you. Don’t tarry long or you might miss them.”
Griffin sauntered out of his aunt’s room. He wasn’t worried. If he missed them in the park, it didn’t matter. He would find them walking home. He didn’t intend to let the day pass without seeing Esmeralda. There was something about her that just made him feel good and eager about life again.
Chapter 15
Do be on guard at all times. You never know who might be watching you.
MISSMAMIEFORTESCUE’SDO’SANDDON’TSFORCHAPERONES, GOVERNESSES, TUTORS,ANDNURSES
It was the warmest temperature London had seen in months. Days of gray and rain had finally ended. The dry air felt fresh, and smelled fragrant. Spring had finally arrived. Esmeralda walked into Hyde Park with a smile on her face. The twins were on her left, Josephine with Napoleon flanking her right. A few wispy white clouds scattered across a brilliant blue sky. Trees, shrubs, and bushes were beginning to show their vibrant green coat of new leaves. Cool breezes lingered in the air and fluttered the pale yellow and pink ribbons on the twins’ parasols. Heat from the sunshine made it an absolutely lovely day for a stroll.
Though the Season hadn’t officially started, the park was buzzing with pedestrian, horse, and carriage traffic. There were conveyances of all sizes and shapes rolling along the pathways and the open spaces. Milk wagons, peddlers’ carts, and fancy coaches all mingled together in the park. Families, couples, and gentlemen on horseback littered the landscape as far as she could see. Children played, couples walked side by side, and groups of people sat on blankets, enjoying refreshments, chatter, and the beautiful day.
Lady Sara’s and Lady Vera’s dispositions were much improved from earlier in the day. They chatted excitedly to each other as people passed them. Gentlemen doffed their hats and ladies smiled with nods of friendliness. The twins didn’t seem to mind that they had to stop once in a while for Napoleon to scratch and sniff the ground. They twirled the shafts of their parasols in the palm of their hands and kept watching and talking. Seeing them, no one would know many harsh words had passed between the sisters in the past few days. They appeared such loving and happy young ladies. And they were most of the time, but they could also be unkind to each other.
Esmeralda had found it was best to awaken early so she could have Josephine dressed, fed, and working on her studies before the twins were up and ready to begin their day. On her first morning, everything had gone quite nicely until Lady Sara and Lady Vera had walked into the drawing room shortly after noon dressed exactly alike, challenging Esmeralda to identify them by name. Her vision might as well have been blurred. She couldn’t have said for sure who was who if someone had been holding a loaded pistol to her head and threatening to shoot her if she got it wrong.
Over the past three days, the sisters had argued about the silliest of things as far as Esmeralda was concerned. They would get into squabbles over who could read the fastest, who had the finer embroidery stitch, and who could curtsy the lowest. They even had a spat over who was going to play the pianoforte first. That had ended rather badly with a shouting match that escalated into Lady Vera pushing Lady Sara off the stool.
Earlier in the day when Esmeralda had heard the two quarreling over the placement of ribbons in their hair she knew she had to do something drastic before she shot one and drowned the other.For the love of heaven!What did it matter if a ribbon was moved half an inch to the left or the right if it was at the back of your head and you weren’t going out for anyone to see it anyway?
The duke’s sisters were in need of something to entertain them—other than each other. Esmeralda knew that in a few days or a few weeks she couldn’t change the habits they’d developed over eighteen years. Though, if she were going to be with them longer, she might be tempted to give it a good try.
The day was gorgeous, so she gathered her courage and sent them to ask Lady Evelyn if she might take them for a walk in the park. Thankfully, their aunt had readily agreed to the idea.
Not long after they entered the park, Lady Vera found a rather stout but short limb. She asked Josephine if Napoleon would fetch it if she threw it as far as she could. Josephine wasn’t sure because it wasn’t a game they had ever played. After a short deliberation, the trio decided to put the Skye Terrier to the test. They watched, laughed, clapped, and cheered when the short-legged dog went running after the stick and promptly came back carrying it his mouth. Esmeralda wondered if it was a dog’s instinct to chase after a stick or something that was thrown or if Napoleon’s previous owner had taught him to play that game.
Lady Sara quickly lost interest in the merriment and walked over to Esmeralda. “I’m looking forward to our first ball, but I’m quite anxious about it too.”
“Why is that? You will be one of the most beautiful and charming young ladies there, and not to mention one of the most sought after too.”
“I know,” Lady Sara managed to say without sounding boastful. “I can’t wait for it to get here, but when I think about dancing with a gentleman, my stomach starts feeling like it has a ball of knitting yarn in it that’s jumping around and won’t be still.”
