Page 108 of Duke with a Deception
“I’m going to catch this frog,” Emma announced with infectious glee.
Verity smiled sadly, wishing King were here to witness the child’s happy abandon. He would have loved watching Emma embrace the country, experiencing everything with great wonder. It was such a different world from London, where Emma had spent the entirety of her life. Watching her see everything with a child’s eyes, all of it new, was a gift she somehow knew King would have appreciated.
That was just the sort of man he was, one who appreciated small moments and who watched others closely, one who had enough room in his heart for an orphan girl despite the loss of his own daughter, which had impacted him so deeply. One who was already an excellent father, and one she hoped would be pleased to make room in his heart for yet another child soon.
Her courses still had not come, and she was more certain than ever that she was carrying his child.
“You had better move slowly,” Verity advised, trying to distract herself and keep an eye on Emma at the same time. “Frogs are quite clever. If you run at her, she shall leap away before you even have a chance.”
“I’m faster than frogs,” Emma tossed over her shoulder with the steadfast assurance that only a child could have.
“I’m sure you are.”
Verity stopped where she was, overseeing Emma’s frog-catching attempts and missing King.
A full two weeks had passed.
A fortnight of showing Emma all the places Verity had played as a girl at Riverdale Abbey. Two weeks of quiet reflection and remembrance. Two weeks of long walks alone in the fields and gardens where she and Leo had once spent so much timetogether outdoors. Their courtship had returned to her in scents and sounds, in the quiet hushed stillness of the countryside, in wind rustling grasses and birds trilling overhead, in the soft rushing of a stream.
One seemingly endless fortnight, and all she thought of was King. He was at the edge of every thought, a shadow chasing her each step. He was in her heart forever.
She was in love with Peregrine Septimus Castelyn, the tenth Duke of Kingham. That acknowledgment was undeniable, even if it did come with its own share of guilt. But she had come to realize that loving King didn’t diminish her love for Leo. It didn’t mean she loved Leo any less, or that she had never loved him at all. He would always hold a piece of her heart. The memories of their time together, now fully returned to her, would not fade again.
But maybe, just maybe, it was time for her to live. To let go of that part of the past. She no longer had the black mourning gowns, which, after the fire, she had assumed had been from her period of mourning for her father. And she wouldn’t commission more.
Emma continued down the path before her, her steps growing slower, her arms outstretched as she crept up on her quarry. But just as she leapt forward, intent upon catching the amphibian in her cupped hands, the frog jumped beyond her reach.
“Bloody hell,” Emma cried out. “I almost caught the bastard.”
Verity bit her lip. “You mustn’t say such vulgar things, darling, though it was very good of you to pronounce thehthis time.”
Small victories, she reasoned.
Emma gave her a gap-toothed grin. “I’ve been practicing, Lady Vitty.”
“Brava, my dear.” She clapped. “Now, then. What do you say we leave our little frog friend to sun herself in the gardens whilst we go and see if Cook has any treats?”
Emma’s eyes went wide. “Oh yes! That would be right lovely, it would.”
“Come along.”
Emma began running.
“At a ladylike pace,” Verity reminded her.
The child slowed at once, doing an estimable job of controlling her boundless enthusiasm. They walked together from the gardens through the pair of doors that led into the drawing room at Riverdale Abbey. Once, Riverdale Abbey had been a cherished home for Verity. But even when she had initially arrived from London, brokenhearted and weeping and confused, the long, familiar drive up the approach had left her feeling strangely as if she were returning to a place where she didn’t belong anymore.
Because home had come to feel like it could only be at King’s side, and wherever he was, she also wanted to be. No, strike that. At King’s side was where sheneededto be. In the absence of his persuasive charm and sensual magnetism, she still felt no differently than she had before her memory had returned to her. She loved him. He was her husband.
The time away had been meaningful and important, but she was ready for it to end. She wanted to go home to him, but after the way she had departed and his subsequent silence, she wasn’t certain how or what to expect when she did. During the fortnight that had passed, she had expected a letter, however brief. Each day, she hid her disappointment when not a single word from him came.
The only letters she received had come from Sybil and Everett. Her brother had offered to trounce King on her behalf. She had begged him not to do so, although she was secretlycertain King would emerge the victor of any such battle between them. Sybil had been sympathetic and understanding. Both had offered to make the trip to Riverdale Abbey to join her, but she had declined, needing the solitude without others’ thoughts intruding upon her own. Her family meant well, but no one else could understand the complicated emotions she had felt. She had needed this time, needed to be sure.
And now, she was.
“What do you think about returning to London soon, Emma dearest?” she asked as they made their way through the drawing room.
“To see the duke?” Emma asked expectantly.
