Page 24 of A Virgin to Tempt the Duke

“No,” Anna said. “I am all right, my lady.”

“And the marriage… Has it been…?”

“No,” Frederick said.

Another pause. Lady Oldbarrow looked at her hands, which were folded in her lap, and then at the window. Frederick could see her working through it, the social arithmetic of the situation, the columns of risk and consequence.

“The scandal will be considerable,” she said at last. “When it comes out. Even if the annulment is successful. The ton doesn’t take broken marriages well.”

“I know,” Anna said, and Frederick admired her bravery as he admired her appearance.

Few women possess this sort of bravery, to run away from an impossible situation with few resources and connections. How could she possess such strength for such a beautiful creature?

“Your cousin will not take it quietly. And Birchall…” He stopped. “Men like Birchall do not accept losses with grace.”

“I know that too.” Anna kept her voice steady. “I have had some time to consider it, my lady.”

Lady Oldbarrow looked at her. It was a long look, the kind that assessed. Then her face softened, settled, and what came through was something simpler and more direct.

“You are very composed for a lady in your situation,” she said, which was exactly what Frederick had been noticing for days.

“I am trying to be.”

“That is usually how it works.” She was quiet for a moment. “You have nothing to fear from me, my dear. I shan’t say a word. Not to anyone, not in any company, not even to my nieces Lily and Sophia. They are rather good with secrets, I will say, but that is besides the point.” She glanced at Frederick and raised her eyebrow, arching her body slightly toward him. “You might have told me, you know.”

“You were in Bath,” He said as he crossed his arms defensively.

“I was in Bath and I have legs, Frederick. And a perfectly functional postal system.”

“I was managing the situation,” He said as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Yes. You were managing italone,which is your preferred method of managing everything and has been since you were seventeen.” She looked at him for a moment longer and let her eyebrow retreat to its normal position. Then she looked at Rachel and shook her head. “You look exhausted, my dear.”

Rachel blinked, then rubbed her arms with her hands. “I… I’m perfectly?—”

“You’ve been arguing with your brother.”

Rachel’s mouth opened, then closed. Frederick noticed then how her amber eyes were dark, the fatigue in her usually rosy cheeks.

“The house has a particular atmosphere when you two have argued,” Lady Oldbarrow said. “I have stayed here often enough to know it.” She accepted more tea from the pot Anna had lifted, with a small nod of thanks. “I’ll stay for dinner and leave tomorrow morning.” She patted Rachel’s hand. “Now tell me about the rose garden. I saw it from the carriage. The left border looked rather overgrown.”

Dinner that evening held a different quality from the ones preceding it. Lady Oldbarrow sat at Frederick’s right, which was where she had always sat, she informed them. It had been that way since the previous duke had placed her there forty years ago, and she had no intention of relocating.

Rachel sat across from Anna. Percy, whose internal geography appeared to include the dining room on cool evenings, materialized from somewhere near the sideboard and arranged himself beside Frederick’s. The food was good, and the fire was warm.

“Frederick,” Lady Oldbarrow said, as the first course of mulligatawny was served. “Do you remember what you said to the gardener when you were nine years old? About the topiary?”

Frederick reached for his wine. “No.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I’m certain I don’t.”

“You told him,” Lady Oldbarrow turned to Anna with a wry smile. “The old head gardener had spent three weeks shaping a rather ambitious hedge into the shape of a horse. Enormous undertaking, even for such talent as old Henry. He was very proud of it.” She paused. “Frederick walked past it one morning, looked at it for a very long time, and told the under-gardener that it looked like aremarkably well-fed sheep.”

Rachel made a sound that was not quite a laugh, successfully suppressed.

“I was nine,” Frederick said as he motioned for a footman to refresh his wine glass.