Page 46 of The Best-Kept Secrets
“Of course I would.”
But she didn’t seem convinced. “Your family asks too much of you, and you don’t tell them.”
“They will likely begin suspecting as much when I ‘join the enemy,’ as my parents and grandmother are likely to describe the situation, and potentially bring to Fairfield a larger battle than the one my grandmother is now planning.”
“And they truly intend to stay at the house party, no matter that they weren’t invited?” An anticipated misery clouded her usually bright and joyful eyes. “How do your aunt and uncle usually act during these battles?”
She had more than enough worries weighing on her. It was inexcusable for his family to add more.
“Uncle Niles usually steers clear of the fray.” Duke had always envied him that. “Aunt Penelope manages a tense calm, for the most part. Family gatherings aren’t precisely pleasant for either of them.”
“Your grandmother sounded as if she means to intentionally escalate hostilities among and with her children.”
A twist of dread clutched at his stomach. “She will almost certainly do precisely that.”
“This is likely my last time among the Huntresses and the Pack, and it’s going to be miserable.” The disappointment in her eyes skewered him, though he didn’t think it was truly aimed at him. She stepped toward the door. “I think I’ll follow Nia’s lead and get a bit of rest.”
“Tell me if you decide she ought to have a doctor before morning,” Duke said.
“I will. Thank you.” Eve left with so little of the joie de vivre she usually had.
This was what time with his family did to people. Eve had managed to endure nearly a week with his grandmother, but one evening with the rest of the quarreling Seymours had visibly and heartbreakingly dampened her spirits.
“Duke is a protector,”Aunt Penelope had said.“At some point, he will decide that he cannot bear to watch our animosity hurt his friends.”
That animosity had already caused Eve pain and had done so here, where he was supposed to have been free from the bickering for a time. He had no expectation of Fairfield being an unbroken idyll should his aunt and uncle allow him to live with them. But he’d not even had a single minute of freedom from the feud since his arrival.
He was never going to truly escape it.
Aunt Penelope was absolutely correct. Duke would do what he must to protect his friends from his family.
Chapter Eighteen
“What will happen when youhave cost him every connection he has, Liam?”
Aunt Penelope’s question—herprophecy,if Duke were being entirely honest about how it felt—had echoed again and again in his thoughts all night long. And the reality of it all had crashed down on him that morning as he’d dressed. He had fully expected to attend this house party as Duke, member of the Pack. But if he were to have any hope of keeping his family from making his friends utterly miserable and ruining this rare time of all being together, he needed, instead, to spend the next two weeks being Dubhán, peace negotiator of the Seymour Family.
It is horrifically unfair.
“Do you think he will thank you for the lonely future that would stretch out in front of him?”Aunt Penelope had also asked Father the night before.
Lonelyfuture.As if all this hadn’t already cost him connections and moments of camaraderie. He’d missed some of the school holidays the Pack had spent together because he’d needed to go to Writtlestone and he didn’t dare invite his friends there. When Father had visited him at Eton and Cambridge, Duke had arranged for the two of them to be extremely busy so there would be limited opportunity for Father to interact with anyone.
Living with his parents when they were in London would mean never having his friends there. He’d have to do his utmost to avoid connecting enough with anyone new that they would not call at his parents’ home. And he’d likely not have the privilege of joining the same gentlemen’s club as Father. All this had Duke’s thoughts begging houseroom from his aunt and uncle even when in Town.
Now, with his parents’ and grandmother’s decision to remain at Fairfield, he would have to spend this house party as the peacekeeper rather than being permitted to relax and participate fully. This was his first social foray since ending his time as a student. It was a new beginning of sorts, yet his old difficulties had followed him through the door.
“Good morning,” Colm said, approaching him with curiosity.
That morning after finishing his breakfast, Duke had placed himself next to the door everyone used when making their way out to the stables. His cousin, being a Seymour and thus an avid and skilled equestrian, would without question be planning on a morning ride. Hovering near the exit was Duke’s best chance for talking with him.
“Before you leave for your ride,” Duke said, “I have two favors to ask, which I realize is a little presumptuous.” They were cousins, but they were also not well acquainted and didn’t interact often.
“No harm in asking,” Colm said, still watching him with an inquisitive look. Though Colm was not truly a hardened person, at least from Duke’s limited time with him since Colm’s returning from war, there was an authoritative air to him that a person couldn’t miss.
“The first is a little odd,” Duke said, “but mostly because I’m not certain precisely what it is I’m asking for.”
A quick nod of acknowledgment. “Thatisodd.”
