Page 19 of Her Wicked Duke
Patrick Leeds was a weedy man, with more power behind a gun than his muscles. Yet, Mary had fallen in love with him and had doted on him.
When he paused and spotted Anne, he smiled politely. “Good afternoon, Lady Anne,” he greeted. “I did not realize you would be visiting us today.”
Mary’s smile brightened, but there seemed to be something slightly lacking about it.
Anne looked at her sister a moment longer before lifting her gaze to Patrick. His eyes were trained on her letter, and she hastily tucked it beneath her.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
“Of course, My Lord,” she said. “Just an admirer sending letters.”
“Ah, he must be quite interested! How did your mother’s ball go last night?”
“Well enough, thank you, My Lord.” She smiled.
Patrick’s gaze flicked to his wife, and his smile turned tight. “Eloise has been crying a lot while you were out promenading,” he said.
“You could not calm her down?” Mary asked.
“She is a girl,” Patrick replied.
There was something sharp in his voice that made Anne glance at her sister’s face.
It was neutral. But perhaps forcibly so. Anne knew her sister’s expression. It was one Anne herself had worn a lot when she did not like how their father spoke to their mother.
“A girl would prefer her mother over her father. When we have a son, I think my presence might help to soothe him. But I believe Eloise is more your responsibility than mine.”
With that, he wandered off down the hallway.
Silence fell over the parlor, and Anne frowned. “Is everything all right, Mary?”
The expression on Mary’s face immediately changed. Anne wondered if her own façade looked this flawless.
“Of course. He is a man who knows nothing about babies. He talks about Eloise as if she is a young lady with a monthly cycle that only I, as a woman, can help with, not an almost three-year-old who cries when she is simply hungry. A boy would cry for that, too.”
Mary said it with a light, almost laughing tone, but Anne worried for a minute.
“Are you two trying to conceive an heir?”
“We are trying.” Mary nodded. “It is not going very well. But Patrick wishes for a son, so I want to provide us with that so our family can grow. It is simply normal marriage things, dear sister. Do not worry yourself so much.”
Anne nodded, and Mary fell quiet.
Soon, the afternoon tea was brought in, and they lapsed into their sisterly chats about Anne’s friends and what souvenirs Christian might bring back from his travels.
They talked the early afternoon away, eating their fill of sandwiches and pastries. It was not long before Anne let herselfforget about the worrying letter and what it meant for her chances this Season.
Anne climbed into her carriage and ordered the driver to take her back home. As she felt the wheels jerk forward, an idea began to form in her mind.
She could help Alexander fulfill his promise to her brother while also using the situation to her own advantage to ward off her stalker.
And also gain the experience you taunted the Duke with last night, a small voice in the back of her head whispered.
Anne followed the idea, let it soothe her.
Alexander had claimed that he wasn’t a dangerous man to a person he considered his friend.
Everybody else, however…
