Page 23 of The Best-Kept Secrets
“Others?” she repeated, confused by the plural.
“That was what I originally came in here to tell you. A family has arrived: a mother, father, and young child. They, too, have been turned away from the bridge.”
That increased the risk of discovery. But it also meant she absolutely could not, in good conscience, refuse to see to it that everyone was fed.
“I wonder how many more will arrive,” she mused.
Duke shook his head. “Impossible to say. This isn’t a very busy road, but there might be more.”
“There is a decent amount of food in the larder and root cellar,” she said. “I can keep us fed, though I will need to know how many coachmen and servants are here as well. I think we ought to take food to the old man in the cottage as well.”
“I emphatically agree. And I plan to make certain he is reimbursed for what we eat.”
He was still holding her hand, though she didn’t know if he realized it.
“Nia can prepare the needed bedchambers,” Eve said. “Will you discover what our newest arrivals are willing and able to do?”
He squeezed her fingers one more time before letting her hand go. “I will see to everything outside of your domain here. And I will do all I can to procure you some milk and cream.” He stepped toward the door.
“Duke?” She’d called after him almost without realizing she had.
He looked back at her. “Yes?”
Mercy, those eyes of his. There truly ought to be a law of some sort to save unsuspecting young ladies from being upended every time that indigo gaze rested on them. Of course, thenshewouldn’t be able to enjoy watching his thoughts flit through his eyes, and that would be a shame.
“Thank you,” she said, realizing that she hadn’t answered his inquiry.
“Perhaps you should save your gratitude until after we discover if I am able to procure you any cream.”
“I wasn’t thanking you for the cream.”
His ebony brows hooked low. “Then, what were you thanking me for?”
She couldn’t very well say any of her most recent thoughts about his eyes and voice. So, instead, she just shrugged a shoulder and smiled.
“If there existed an occupation in which a person repeatedly posed riddles to anyone and everyone, that would be my next guess in our game, Eve.”
She grinned. “I would be brilliant.”
“Yes, you would.” A quick smile tugged at his lips.
And she stood rooted to the spot, frozen in place by the impact of that smile long after he’d left the kitchen. Beautiful eyes. A warm voice. An earth-shattering smile. A wonderfully dry and understated sense of humor. Kindness. Intelligence. Thoughtfulness.
If she weren’t very, very careful, Duke Seymour would have full claim on her heart before long.
Chapter Ten
“Mrs. Seymour has declared thatshe won’t leave her bedchamber.” Nia had brought in a bucket of milk earlier and had remained in the kitchen. She helped with the tasks she could, but her abilities were not in the kitchen.
Eve flipped a farl on the hot griddle. “She is requiring you to bring her food on a tray?” Nia looked tired. She really oughtn’t be carrying trays about.
“She is requiringDuketo do so,” Nia said.
That was not surprising. “His family demands a lot of him, and I have the impression that most of those demands are that he dedicate his time and energy to making them happy when they are determined not to be.”
Nia stirred the butternut squash soup in the pot hanging over the fire. “That makes me a little nervous about having this house party at the Greenberrys’ home. They are his aunt and uncle, after all, and, thus, part of the problem.”
Truth be told, Eve was feeling much of that same apprehension. “Colm didn’t seem to treat Duke the way his grandmother does, which gives me hope that Colm’s parents don’t either.”
