Page 20 of Caught by the Forbidden Duke
“Newton,” he said, and the cat opened one eye. “We have to go.”
Newton shut that eye, completely disregarding the command as his tail flicked. James gathered him with the steady care and set him beside Annabelle on the bench.
Annabelle watched him go with Miss Hartley without argument. That was a great improvement from the first week.
Downstairs, Helena was on the chaise longue with a novel held at arm’s length, which meant she had stopped reading some time ago and was simply thinking.
Lady Rosenhall sat at the writing desk with the composed authority of a woman who had already written three letters and was on her fourth.
A sealed envelope sat on the side table in Lucien’s handwriting.
“The post came while you were upstairs,” Helena said, without looking up. “One from Fairmont.”
Annabelle broke the seal. Lucien wrote the way he always had—brief, warm, the point arrived at directly. The estate business was largely concluded. They would remain through the end of the summer. Charlotte, their toddler, was quite happy about that. Elinor’s postscript occupied the bottom third: she was expecting again,please do not tell Lucien. She sent her love.
“Read it aloud,” Helena said. “I have done nothing of any interest in five days.”
“Helena,” Lady Rosenhall chastised.
“I include correspondence in that.”
Annabelle read it. Lady Rosenhall set her pen down at the news about Elinor.
“A second child,” she said. “Good.” A pause. “That is what a marriage built on the right foundations produces. A husband who is present, a household in good order, children provided for.” She picked her pen back up. “It begins with a sound match. That is how all of it is built.”
“A sound match,” Lady Rosenhall continued, writing a line, “requires a certain watchfulness on the part of those who care about a young woman. Especially when her brother is absent.” Another line. “Especially when new situations arise.”
Helena turned a page. “How are the lessons going, Annabelle? Lord James seems to be coming along well.”
“Very well. He has real instincts for it.”
“Lovely.” Helena turned another page. “And His Grace?”
Annabelle cleared her throat. “Drops James off and collects him. That is the arrangement.”
“Mm.” Helena shifted on the chaise. “He’s very tall, isn’t he? I noted it last week and I note it again.”
Lady Rosenhall looked up from her letter. “Your remarks,” she said, with middling patience, “arrive wearing smaller clothes than they own.” She looked at Annabelle over her reading glasses. “The Duke of Silverford has a considerable reputation, my dear. I am not questioning the arrangement. I am only saying that reputation does not cease to matter simply because the circumstances are respectable.”
“I understand,” Annabelle said.
And she did.
The Duke of Silverford was Lucien’s oldest friend, which made the entire subject rather beside the point; a lady did not think of her brother’s oldest friend in those terms; it was simply not done. Besides, the Duke’s reputation was exactly what Lady Rosenhall had named it.
And Lucien…
Lucien had strong opinions about the men Annabelle spent her time with on the best of occasions. He would have somethingconsiderablystronger than an opinion about that.
The arrangement was practical: James was a lovely boy, and the lessons were going well. That was the full extent of it, and there was truly nothing further to consider.
“I trust you do,” Lady Rosenhall replied and then returned to her letter.
Chapter Six
“You are helping Lucien’s sister find a husband?” Miles cocked an eyebrow.
Dominic’s friend had been back from the continent for three weeks. Which was long enough to have fully reconstituted his capacity for inconvenient observation.
