Page 28 of The Duke of Deceit

“Oh, it’s nothing important.” What was one more lie on top of all the others she’d told already today? “Let’s see what came from Mr. Meade.” Jess quickly tucked the letter into her pelisse pocket before Auntie could question her further about it and stepped forward to untie the string securing the paper wrapping. “I wasn’t expecting anything. It must be related to my illustrations. Mr. Meade said he might send over other examples of botany books for me to look at.”

A second rapping sounded on the front door.

“There must be another package,” Jess said over her shoulder toward the butler. “Would you please fetch it, Simms?”

He nodded and left the room.

She pulled away the paper, and her heart skipped. Not illustrations. They were the pamphlets she’d ordered from Meade last week. After the events of last night, she’d completely forgotten all about them. But here they were, a thousand copies of the reformer’s tractThe Washerwoman of Finchley Commonby the esteemed author Lady Emily Hornblower. The tractwas filled with homely wisdoms about the blessings of simple piety, austerity, and abstinence from all vice—and on the top of the first page, a notice declared that it had been printed and distributed courtesy of the Duke of Crewe.

“Or it will be,” she mumbled to herself.

“Pardon, dear?”

Jess flashed a smile over her shoulder at her aunt. “Nothing important.”Just another chink in Crewe’s black reputation.

She hadn’t lied to Lucien. She wouldn’t relent in her attacks against his reputation until he agreed to marry Amanda, even if doing that had started to trouble her for some reason she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

Simms returned, empty handed.

Jess wrapped up the package again so Matilda couldn’t see what it was. “Where’s the second package?”

“No, Miss, not a package. You have a visitor.”

“Oh?”

“His Grace, the Duke of Crewe.”

Her heart stopped. When it lurched back to life a moment later, she had no idea if she’d been spared or cast into hell.

Auntie recovered from her surprise far faster than Jess. “Are you certain it’s the duke?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He held out a cream-colored calling card with Lucien’s name and title printed plainly across the linen.

Jess stared at it as if it were poisoned and refused to take it. She ordered hoarsely, “Please send him away.”

Matilda stopped Simms with a small wave of her hand. “Jessamyn, you cannot do that!”

Oh, for heaven’s sake…“Why not?”

“For one, he’s a duke. No one—especially not people of our rank—send away a duke, even if he’s arrived at such an unrespectable hour.” As if to punctuate her point, the long caseclock in the corner struck half past noon. “Second, what if he’s here to discuss marriage to Amanda?”

Oh, Jess knew better! “I really don’t think—”

“Simms, ask him to wait the drawing room, if you will, then hurry down to ask Cook to send up a tea tray. Right away!”

The butler nodded and left.

“Auntie, you really should not have done that,” Jess scolded. “You know what that man has done to Amanda and how he refuses do the honorable thing.”

“Which makes his arrival here all the more intriguing, don’t you think?” Matilda turned to check her reflection in the large mirror over the sideboard and fussed with her hairpins. “Given all that, why on earth would he be here without an invitation or any kind of notice? Seems to me that our drawing room should be the last place we’d expect to find him.” She pinched color into her cheeks. “Aren’t you absolutely curious?”

No, Jess was absolutely ill. “I—I’m not feeling well.” She didn’t have to pretend too hard. Her reflection in the mirror had already turned pale. “I think breakfast might be disagreeing with me. I should go up to my room.”

“Nonsense. You had one bite of dry toast.” Matilda turned toward Jess. She pulled at Jess’s long sleeves to smooth them into place. “It’s good he’s here, though. You will speak to him, apologize—”

“Apologize to him?”Never.“Why should I do that?”

Matilda leveled a no-nonsense glare at her. “Did you or did you not just send Hannah More a letter purporting to be from His Grace in which he vociferously gushed out his deep respect for all her reform work?”