Page 89 of Yours Truly, the Duke
“They are quiet but fine and back in the schoolroom,”she answered tightly, still troubled about what happened. “I thought you would have left for your tournament by now.”
“I had to wait and make sure you were all right. I know how upset you were.” Wyatt walked over to stand beside her.
“‘Upset’ seems such a mild word for what I’m feeling. I’m livid and disappointed with myself, you, Jane, Miss Litchfield, and the children too. I’m feeling quite infuriated at the world right now.”
He reached for her, but she stepped away. She couldn’t bear his comfort right now. She didn’t want to fall apart in his arms. That wouldn’t solve anything.
“Don’t you realize if Jane tells the Lord Chancellor what she saw he will consider us unfit and won’t allow us to keep the children?”
“This incident doesn’t make either of us unfit. Jane knows exactly what to say to worry you. Stop letting her hold that over your head. At some time in their lives, all children copy what adults do.”
Fredericka rounded on him in disbelief. “Bella is five and tasted brandy, chewed on tobacco, and was acting like a worldly man.”
“She didn’t like the drink or the smoke and will probably never try either again.”
How could he be so cavalier about this and not see the gravity of what happened? Wyatt reached out to take hold of her arm, but she shrank away from him again. She wanted to be comforted, but he was the man who had caused this problem in the first place.
“I admit it was a shock to see,” he continued in his calm, soothing tone. “Jane knows Bella couldn’t have ingested enough brandy to hurt her. None of them could have. It stings like hell. Bella was probably theonly one who had the courage to even put her tongue in it.”
Why was he looking at her as if she was the unreasonable one? “If they never try it again is that supposed to make me feel better about what happened?”
He inhaled deeply and implored her with his penetrating blueish-gray eyes. “I’m not trying to make light of how serious this was, but it’s not as bad as you think.”
She shook her head in amazed anguish. He was unbelievable. He always had been when it came to the children. “You told me they didn’t see you carousing with your card club.”
“I told you they never came into the room while the men were here. All they saw was twelve men having a good time. They had a peek and might have heard a few words. They’re curious. That’s normal.”
“Normal?” Fredericka stiffened more. “Maybe for a duke’s son, but not for my sister’s children.”
“Then maybe it should be,” he said, his voice rising. “They need a chance to grow up and experience things without always having to be so damned proper.”
She gasped in outrage. “I beg your pardon, Your Grace. That is the way they are supposed to be.”
“You’re stifling them.”
An ache started at the back of her neck. “You know nothing about children.”
Wyatt ran his hands through his hair and scoffed frustratedly. “You know I lived with them at boarding school for years, Fredericka.”
She did know, but sound reasoning wasn’t what she needed right now. Squaring her shoulders, she held her ground. “Children need to be disciplined and to know how to act properly at all times, whether or not an adult is monitoring them.”
His eyes narrowed and his lips set in a firm line for a second before he spoke in a hushed, determined voice. “‘Discipline’ is not a word I want used in this house.”
“What?” Fredericka’s back bowed. That astounded her. “Now you’re banning words as well as poetry books.”
“I have good reasons,” he insisted without a hint of backing down.
“There aren’t any,” she answered back just as firmly.
“In this house, I don’t want Charles, Bella, and Elise treated as if they were in a military school.”
Fredericka was speechless for a moment before she could breathe. “That is unfair.”
“Sometimes it seems true.” His gaze softened as if he was earnestly trying to get her to understand what he was saying. “Often, the firmer you treat children, the more they rebel when given a chance at freedom. I take responsibility for what happened today, but you don’t have to treat them as if this is the end of their innocence. Angela wanted you to love her children.”
Fredericka gasped again and set angry eyes on him. “You don’t think I love the children?”
He held his hands up in the air. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
