Page 73 of Duke with a Deception
“I don’t remember,” she said, shaking her head.
“Pity,” he said grimly, taking a sip of his wine. “Then let us change the subject, shall we? It’s settled. We will host a ball toraise funds for the orphanage. You havecarte blancheto do as you wish, my love.”
She was grateful for both the distraction and for his offer. “I shan’t tellMamanthat, or else she will go mad with the flowers and the menu, to say nothing of the guest list and the musicians.”
King chuckled, and she was glad to see the levity restored to him, some of the stiffness leaching from his face and posture.
“I trust you implicitly, angel. Only say what you need, and it is yours. I have no doubt you’ll manage to raise all the funds your Children’s Foundling Hospital requires.”
Her heart swelled with happiness and hope. “Thank you, my love.”
How she adored him.
King foundhimself hovering at the threshold to the nursery, watching Verity and Emma within, listening to his wife’s mellifluous voice. Verity was telling the girl some manner of story that, judging from the details that reached him, she had invented herself. They were seated on the rug together, Verity running a brush through the girl’s long, golden hair. Looking upon them, one would have imagined them mother and daughter, and his heart gave a pang at the thought.
Verity would make a wonderful mother, unlike his own. For so many years, he had been haunted by the memory of Daphne and his own miserable childhood. But now, before him was a picture of what his life could be like if he allowed it. Indeed, a picture of whatalltheir lives could be like.
He and Verity could raise Emma as their daughter. Given time and her acceptance, they could become a mother and father to her. Perhaps they could even have more children as well. The notion didn’t fill him with horror or dread. These were thoughts that had never occurred to him before. Thoughts he’d never once entertained.
He had been happy as a rake, living for pleasure, cleaving to no one, carrying on with his life alone.
Or so he’d believed.
Marrying Verity had shown him just how empty his life had been. Each day had a new meaning now. He had a reason to return home, to be a better man than he’d believed possible for himself. He had been waiting for her without realizing it.
As he watched her with Emma and thought of the fatherly pull he felt toward the child, King knew he had been waiting for both of them. And for the rest of their family as it grew. There was only one thing standing in the way of his happiness, and that was the shadowy, nebulous possibility that Verity would remember.
That she would understand what he had done, recall that it wasn’t him she loved but Lord Leopold, and leave him even more miserable than he had been before she entered his world. He clenched his jaw at the thought and refused to consider it further. He would love her fully, showing her such care and devotion that, even if she recalled the past, she would forgive him for what he’d done.
Yes, that was the only eventuality he would consider at this moment, he decided, turning his mind to the words Verity was speaking to the child.
“And then the girl leapt upon the back of a dragon who winged her away to safety,” Verity was saying.
“But wasn’t the girl frightened?” Emma asked, eyes wide as she took in the tale.
“At first, she was fearful she would fall,” Verity continued. “The dragon was large and covered in slippery scales that made it difficult to hold on to as it flew. But she clung to the dragon with all her might, and after they had managed to get far enough away from the burning home, the dragon slowed. Eventually, it landed softly and quietly by a rushing brook on soft, long grasses, beneath the shade of a wizened old tree.”
“Did it try to eat the girl?” Emma demanded.
Verity chuckled softly. “Of course it didn’t, silly. Dragons don’t eat girls.”
The child blinked. “Wotdothey eat, then?”
“Why…” Verity trailed off for a moment, and he could easily imagine her clever mind whirling for an answer. “Dragons eat insects.”
“Wot kinds?”
“Bees. And spiders.”
“Spiders?” The girl scrunched up her face. “Why would dragons eat those?”
He bit his lip to keep from chuckling, entranced. Why indeed?
“Because dragons know that little girls don’t like arachnids,” Verity said, sounding quite firm on the matter.
“Wot’s a rack-nid?” Emma asked.
“Arachnid is another word for spider, dearest.”
