Page 11 of Five Nights with a Rakish Duke
“Margaret?” Adam said in surprise as he stepped out of the door. “I thought you were practicing the pianoforte?”
“I was,” she said with glee, “but I believe myMinuet in Gis now almost perfect. Lord Laurence came calling this morning and said my playing was quite perfection, superior to any other lady he had met.”
“And you believed him?” Adam said with a smirk. Penelope had to cover her mouth with both hands to stop herself from laughing. “He was probably trying to get you to think well of him, sister.”
“At least I practice the piano,” Margaret said tartly. “Penelope has done nothing but read all morning.” Penelope lowered her hands and glowered at her cousin.
“What is so wrong with reading?”
“It is a skill that is hardly going to catch you a husband, is it?” Margaret said derisively.
“On the contrary,” Adam said, stepping in before Penelope could argue anymore. “Reading improves one’s mind. Our cousin is smart to continue her education in such a way.” He smiled at Penelope, with a smile that she couldn’t help returning. Despite all of Margaret’s talk of Penelope being a drain on Adam’s estate, Adam was kindness itself, always being thoughtful to her and caring. She loved him dearly as a cousin, and he got all the love that she was unable to give to Margaret as well.
“That is a discussion we can have later,” Margaret said with a wave of her hand. “I wish to talk about something else.”
“Margaret, please,” Penelope said, stepping toward her cousin, but Margaret turned a triumphant smile on her, clearly aware that Penelope was trapped.
“Penelope disappeared from Lady Chambers’ soiree last night.” Margaret spoke decisively and firmly, as though it were the greatest transgression that there had ever been.
Adam lifted one raised eyebrow and turned his gaze on Penelope, waiting for an explanation. “I was reading in Lady Chambers’ study,” Penelope said, praying her lie sounded true. When Adam’s fair eyebrows frowned a little, she quickly added more. “Despite my godmother’s assurances, I still felt it was a little too soon to be attending events after my father’s death. I was uncomfortable.”
“Cousin,” he said with a softened tone and reached out toward her. He placed both hands comfortingly on her shoulders. The moment he touched her, Penelope felt a release of the tension that she had been holding onto. “Of course, how could you not feel uncomfortable about it? You do not need to attend events until you are ready. Please know that.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling widely at Adam. He smiled back, mirroring her happiness before he lowered his hands and turned his gaze on his sister.
“Margaret, stop meddling,” he warned. Margaret’s jaw slackened in what looked to be amazement, and her gaze followed her brother as he walked back into his study. Penelope smiled a little and folded her arms, offering Margaret the same triumphant look that she had been given earlier.
“This is unfair. If I disappeared off with a man, you would make me marry him –”
“Margaret, that is a heavy accusation to make.” Adam reappeared from the study, pulling on his tailcoat and pulling down the lapels. “Did you see our cousin leaving the soiree with a man?”
Penelope held her breath, watching her cousin. She prayed she had not been seen at all, but the thought of being seen with the rakish stranger was a little intriguing to her. At least then she might find out his name and who he was.
“No, I did not,” Margaret snarled tightly.
“Then do not spread rumors. You will harm us all to do such things,” Adam said before shaking his head and offering an exasperated look at Penelope, showing her exactly what he thought of his sister’s antics. He walked between the two of them and headed off down the hallway.
“Where are you going?” Margaret called as she followed him. Out of curiosity and fear that Margaret would continue to plague her brother, Penelope followed the two of them.
“Out,” Adam declared, walking forward with such purpose that his boots clicked along the marble floor. Penelope followed, wincing a little with fear that his boots would mark the marble.
When the manor had been her father’s home, it was cared for dearly. Her father praised it as one of the finest estates in London. With the great Palladian-style frontage and an entrance hall flanked on two sides with white pillars, it almost felt like a Grecian palace.
As they hurried past the staircase, Penelope gazed at the pillars, allowing her eyes to flit between them up to the staged staircase, bordered with golden handrails and mahogany balustrades. Between the pillars, great paintings were hung with some of the portraits showing the faces of the previous Earls of Larson. Her father was at the far end, smiling down at her from the painting, though Penelope’s smile faltered when she saw it. The pain of his loss was too fresh for her to smile at his image just yet.
“Where are you going?” Margaret demanded as Adam exchanged a few quiet words with the butler, requesting for the carriage to be brought around. Once that was done, he looked back to Margaret and Penelope.
“Just to meet a few friends in town. Now, you two will not argue any more whilst I am out, will you?” he said, looking between the two of them.
“You talk to us like we are naughty children,” Penelope said with a small laugh.
“Ha! You two do sometimes behave that way with each other,” Adam said, laughing too. “Just do me a favor, cousin, don’t push her in the pond as you did when we were all children.”
“That was never proven,” she said with a smirk and folded her arms.
“I was there! I saw it,” he said, still chuckling away.
“She was trying to push me in first.”
