Page 62 of Sincerely, the Duke
“I don’t think they look much alike,” Wyatt said in an offhanded manner as he stared at the countess. “Miss Fine has freckles.” He quickly looked at Eileen and flashed a worried grin. “But lovely freckles.”
Rick sent Wyatt a thankful glance.
“Imagine what a story that would have been had it been true,” Fredericka added with a light laugh. “Triplets born and all lived. It would have made all the newsprints and people would still be talking about it to this day if it had been true.”
“Gossip never really dies, does it?” Hurst stepped up to offer his support too. “It simply lurks in the dark shadows of human minds and waits for a possibility to shineagain. But perhaps this is one we can put to rest for good, Countess. And never hear of it again.”
Rick looked at Edwina, but she was looking at his mother. He knew what she was thinking because of her superstitious leanings.The others are supporting me but will his mother?Rick wasn’t worried. His mother always protected the title. She would never allow scandal to touch her family. Especially the mother of the next heir to the title. However, Edwina didn’t know that.
“I should think so,” his mother offered with the most indignation he’d seen or heard from her in years. “I don’t know what to think when favoring one’s sisters has become so unfashionable as to be open for gossip or ridicule, Lady Middleton. Perhaps the French started it. They adore creating new fashions and I suppose sisters looking alike is a new one.”
Rick approved of his mother’s answer. He knew her well. She hadn’t made up her mind whether she believed what the countess had said, but that didn’t matter. The countess had committed an unpardonable breach of manners the dowager would never forgive or forget. She had passed on gossip about the dowager’s family.
The countess looked from Rick to the other two dukes and then to the dowager with a strained expression. “Yes, of course,” she acquiesced without any trouble. “I can clearly see now that Miss Fine does look older. Excuse me for only wanting to engage in simple conversation, Your Graces. Not gossip.”
Returning his attention to Edwina, her expression told him the rumor was fact. Astounding as it was, Edwina was one born of three? Why had she hidden it from him and not told him before they married? She had to know it was something he’d want to know when considering a wife—the mother of his heir.
He couldn’t wait to find out, but for now they were all united. He would leave his mother to handle the countess. Rick smiled at Edwina as he took her hand and led her toward the dance floor.
CHAPTER 20
THE ART OF BEING A FINE GENTLEMAN
SIR DUDLEY SAMSON PEMBERTON FINE
If a gentleman feels he has been misled by a lady, no matter the circumstance or offense, he must always accept the occurrence as unintentional.
It had been a miserable ride home from the ball. Everyone inside the carriage had been quiet as it rolled along the empty streets. Rick sat still beside Edwina. Eileen looked out one window and Eleonora the other. Aunt Pauline spent the time dozing between the two of them and was unaware the secret of the triplets had been let out into the open only to be quickly swept back into the abyss of darkness again by the duke, his mother, and his friends.
Now as they stood in the vestibule removing their wraps and scarves, Auntie was the only one who chatted away about how much she enjoyed the evening of renewing acquaintances with old friends and watching the dancing. Edwina couldn’t stop glancing at Rick and caught him eyeing her pensively too.
How could she have ever imagined he would hear the truth at a ball? She felt undeserving of Rick’s immediate defense of her and her sisters. And then to have his friendsand mother stand up for them too had almost brought her to tears in front of everyone. When confronted, she was ready to admit the truth to him, the countess, all of them, and get the burden off her shoulders and put behind her. She couldn’t have foreseen Rick denying the truth before she could confirm it. Once he’d done that, she couldn’t contradict him in front of her accuser. She had to let his answer stand.
Nonetheless, there was no doubt she read in his face that he knew the truth.
Ever since the countess had walked away from them, and through the tense waltz with Rick, Edwina had been fighting the threat of panic that wanted to overtake her. Quite smartly, Eleonora had claimed she’d once again overindulged in too much champagne, which Edwina knew she hadn’t, and asked if they might hurry home. The duke agreed to call for the carriage.
“Are we going to talk about what happened tonight?” Eileen whispered to Edwina in a low voice.
“Not now,” Edwina answered just as softly. “I need to talk to the duke first.” Although he had stood up for her without foreknowledge or questions, she was sure he was going to have plenty to say to her privately.
The girls and Auntie said their good nights, and Edwina shored up her courage and turned to the duke. “I know you have a lot of questions.”
“I’ll see you upstairs in a few minutes,” he said in an even tone, avoiding eye contact with her.
Anxiety filled her. “Of course,” she answered softly, wondering how long he might want to avoid the conversation. “I’ll be waiting.”
Edwina hurried up to her chambers where Henrietta waited to help her out of her stays before retiring to her own room. After donning the sleeveless white nightshiftthe duke had asked her to wear, Edwina walked over to her dressing table and eased down on the stool. The fire had been banked and the room was chilled. Lamps burned on the dressing and bedside tables, but they added no warmth to the air.
She knew Rick wanted answers. Which she was willing to give, but could he understand the simplicity of them? They weren’t complicated, filled with details, or even mysterious. Now that it had come to this, she wished he’d been the one to ask her if they were triplets so she could have told him when they were alone. It wasn’t fair he had to hear it from someone else and in front of other people, but once spilled on a table, milk couldn’t be returned to the cup.
Edwina was attracted to him from their first conversation. It might not have been a fleeting spark of love at first sight for her, but certainly attraction and longing desire, which she didn’t even know existed until meeting the duke. She had never experienced the wanting to be held so close and kissed by a man until Rick. Perhaps there was never the time, or the man, but one thing was sure: She didn’t want to lose him.
With a trembling hand, she started tugging the brush through her hair. She hadn’t slept without a nightcap for many years but doing so was an easy thing to do for Rick when he’d done so much for her. Thinking a braid would be the best way to contain her long curls, she set about lacing three separate strands together as she mulled over the thoughts of how the conversation with Rick would start. Anger was a good bet even though she hadn’t seen it in his expression or heard it in his voice. Confusion was a possibility. Disappointment. Perhaps all three. Condemnation, accusations, and much more.
There had always been the chance this would happenbut now it was real. The ramifications, whatever they may be, felt like a devastating blow to her chest.
A soft knock sounded on the door between their rooms and it opened immediately. Edwina’s stomach jerked and tightened. With an uptick in her already racing heart, she quickly finished tying the ribbon at the bottom of her plait, rose, and turned to face him.
