Page 9 of Sincerely, the Duke
“No, not right now. Thank you.”
He expelled a breath of frustration at her reluctance for help and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want tea?”
“Perhaps a little water,” she answered. Forcing herself to remain calm as she unfurled the bow to give instant relief. “If you don’t mind.”
The duke turned back to the tray that held the brandy. There was no water on it. His gaze then searched every flat surface as if thinking surely there must be a pitchersomewhere in the room. When none was spotted, he cleared his throat and said, “One moment.” He placed his glass on the desk and quickly strode out the door.
Lifting the short-brimmed bonnet off, Edwina plopped it onto the seat of the chair in front of the desk along with her reticule and started removing her gloves. It was a great relief seeing him walk out. Thank goodness she now had a few moments alone to gather her wits.
A tranquil and inviting place such as this room with an extensive library was a good place to do it, she thought, looking at the duke’s grand collection of reading material. Her father would have considered this space, with its thousands of books and wall of windows giving plenty of light to read by until dusk, Heaven on earth. She’d like to think perhaps he and her mother had spent time in rooms like this one before he’d had to escape from London.
Edwina wasn’t too overly tall, but for the past few months she’d had a tall order in front of her. Find a husband. Which wouldn’t have been too terribly difficult under ordinary circumstances, even with what some would consider only an adequate dowry.
After all, she was a sensible person, intelligent, strong-minded—a trait that she’d been instructed by her aunt to hide from all men—and fair enough to look upon she reasoned. Since those were the sort of things it took to garner a suitable husband, she’d assumed she’d do reasonably well at the upcoming Season and marriage mart she’d been preparing for, even with red hair. The wrinkle was that Edwina didn’t needahusband, she neededthree.
She’d hoped with her reasonableness and instinct to overcome that obstacle as well. All she had to do was convince her older sisters they not onlyneededto marry butwantedto marry. A task that had provenmore difficult than she’d imagined when broaching the subject with them on many occasions in the past few months.
However, with time and persuasion that could be dealt with as well. Edwina had convinced herself that once she made a match, she could gently impose upon her betrothed to help coax Eileen and Eleonora into finding and accepting husbands as well. But she had a feeling thatgently imposingmay not work on someone like this duke.
As it happened, none of those things were Edwina’s biggest obstacle in fulfilling the promise to her father. She faced the prospect someone would know or find out they were the rumored triplets that were born almost twenty years ago. A feat so rare most people still had never heard of the possibility and wouldn’t want to believe it if they had.
There were instances recorded of women birthing two babes one right after the other, and both living to adulthood, but three were more than the average mind could comprehend. That it should befall any woman was bad enough, according to her father, but it happening to a lady of quality was a misfortune that couldn’t be overcome, so it had to be hidden from Society. Furthermore, there had to be a reason such an unbelievable phenomenon had occurred, and it couldn’t have been anything as simple as a blessing.
Their mother had died shortly after their birth. Distraught and overwhelmed at the time, her father had done the only thing he knew to do: He fled to a remote village in York where they had lived somewhat secluded ever since.
Sighing heavily, Edwina pushed aside the stories herfather had told her about how the three tiny babes had managed to defy the odds and live when they were so small and had so many health issues to overcome throughout the first few months. He’d said their infant days were a struggle and Edwina’s especially so.
She laid her gloves on the chair beside her bonnet and unfastened her heavy wool pelisse, easing out of it and hanging it over the arm of the chair. On his deathbed, her father decided he must make amends for denying the truth about his daughters’ birth. Too ill to take any kind of action, he’d asked Edwina to promise she would do it for him. Go to London and see they were all married or betrothed by the end of the Season.
Now, it was up to her to vindicate her mother and father and set things right for herself and her siblings so they could take their rightful place in Society. Triplets were extraordinary to say the least, but she and her sisters were not monsters. They were not a product of infidelity with three different men, her mother was not cursed, nor was her mother or any of the three sisters witches as some superstitious people believed. Edwina, Eleonora, and Eileen were normal human beings like all other young ladies. Well, except for Eileen’s penchant for learning the names of plants, her fascination with numbers, and gazing at the stars every night. But really, could that be considered a bad thing?
She, Aunt Pauline, and her sisters had talked extensively about their births. If Edwina was going to expect others to treat them as ordinary people, she insisted they had to do it first. She wasn’t going to offer the information they were triplets to anyone, including the duke, but if he or someone else should ask, she wouldn’t deny it. She’d never lie about it but was convinced she didn’thave to reveal unnecessary information. As far as she was concerned, she had two older sisters. That was the truth.
With all going against her, prospects had been looking rather dim for a clean sweep during the Season until this miracle of an offer for her hand had come from the divinely attractive Duke of Stonerick. To say she and her aunt were stunned into silence when his letter arrived was too mild a description for such a windfall.
After much ado about the simplistic proposal, the possible reasons for it, and what her answer should be, Edwina and her aunt Pauline decided the best thing to do was pay the duke a visit and accept in person. As luck would have it, they had already arrived in London so Edwina could make final preparations for the first ball of the Season, which wasn’t much more than a couple of weeks away.
Having lived with two active sisters, Edwina wasn’t one to get rattled. Or so she thought. But an uneasiness skittered up her spine. The Duke of Stonerick had her feeling as if she were standing on a ship that was being tossed up and down by the winds of a fierce storm. She couldn’t seem to feel as if she was on steady feet. She swallowed hard and wished her sisters were with her. They didn’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but they would be comfort for her.
Her stomach jumped when the duke walked back into the room and stopped just inside the doorway to stare at her. An indecent and entirely inappropriate tingle raced across her breasts and seemed to propel itself right down to her most sensitive spot. He was so handsome and powerful that looking at him caused a catch in her breath. It was difficult to take in the sight of him allat one time. There was an imposing presence about him that was impossible not to notice and be drawn to.
A fluttering developed in her chest when she realized his intense gaze was skimming over her from head to toe. She supposed she did appear a little different without her traveling coat and bonnet. Her long-sleeved, pale-gray muslin dress was adorned with a darker shade of braided, satin ribbon at the high waist and along the scooped neckline. As if being born one of three wouldn’t be enough adversity to overcome, the sisters were all blessed with green eyes and thick red hair as well. She was the first to admit their tresses had a beautiful wave and the color wasn’t brassy—more of a soft golden-red—but still red enough to have been teased by children and adults alike from time to time.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, feeling a tweak of defiance at his unnecessary and lengthy inspection of her.
“No.”
He strode up to her and stopped so close she felt his heat while catching the scent of freshly shaved skin and the smell of his expensive wool coat. He extended the glass to her. That he brought the water himself rather than have a servant do it caused her heart to beat erratically. It seemed a very intimate thing for him to do. The muscles in her stomach coiled and tightened in response to his unanticipated personal attention. Why couldn’t he have been like the older, reserved men she’d read about and envisioned in the many hours she’d played this meeting in her mind? It somehow seemed another unfair blow from fate that the man who had proposed to her was so attractive she wanted to lay her cheek on his chest and rest against him.
Stunned and embarrassed by the track of her thoughts,Edwina avoided his eyes and said, “Thank you,” as she took the glass, careful to make sure her fingers didn’t brush across his. She didn’t immediately take it to her lips.
“Go on,” he encouraged brusquely. “Drink.”
“You are short and sharp with your words sometimes, Your Grace,” she complained, and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew she should have kept her opinion to herself. She didn’t need to irritate the duke. She needed to marry him.
“I am a man of few words, and little patience.”
She searched his eyes for a reason behind his ungentlemanly tetchiness. “I would venture to say it’s more like none.”
