Page 46 of The Truth About Dukes
“Your trust had been violated too.” He kissed her brow. “I just went away, didn’t I?”
“You fell silent. The lapse was momentary, not half a minute. We were discussing our earlier association, at the asylum.”
He enfolded her in an embrace that invited her to hide her face in the crook of his neck.
“You will be angry with me,” he said. “All those years ago, I notified your brother of your whereabouts. I saw his advertisement asking for information regarding a dear relation gone missing from York. You fit the description. I sent word to him anonymously—Alexander risked much to abet that effort—that a young lady matching the particulars had taken up employment at a facility familiar to me. Your brother replied within a week.”
Constance took in his words, knowing that in all material regards, Rothhaven was honest to his bones.
“Youalerted Quinn to my whereabouts?”
“I did. While I was prohibited from sending mail, Alexander had limited correspondence privileges. He was happy to do me that favor. I did not feel I had the right to impose on him again when it came to answering your note to me some weeks later. Nothing could have come from a correspondence between us in any case. You may explode now if you like. I won’t blame you.”
Constance did not want to explode, exactly. She wanted tounderstand. “When you contacted Quinn, you took a risk with my welfare. You assumed my family would be kind to me, that they were not the reason I was on my own.”
Rothhaven stepped back and took her by the wrist, leading her into the orchard, then closing the gate behind them.
“I assumed your family was part of the reason you sought a position in service in a corner of the world the Almighty Himself preferred to forget. But we are not at our most rational when aggrieved at the age of fifteen, and the ad had been appearing in every paper I read for weeks. I demanded assurances from your brother that you would be well received, without recrimination or punishment. He provided those assurances by return post. You admitted to missing your family, to regretting that you’d caused them worry.”
Rothhaven walked off a little way and slanted a look at her over his shoulder. “How I envied you a family who worried about you. I concluded that if I raised the topic of your brother’s search with you, you might well disappear again, perhaps even take ship. Surely the care of a concerned family was preferable to that outcome? As I said, I can understand if you are in a temper with me over this revelation, but I did not want a lie by omission between us.”
“We are in accord in that regard. Is there anything else I need to know?” How different this discussion was from the passionate kisses they’d shared in the garden, and yet, both were intimate. Both required trust and courage.
“Yes, in fact.” Rothhaven brought a branch heavy with pink blossoms to his nose, sniffed, then let it go. “I sent Miss Abbott a letter this morning apologizing for missing yesterday’s appointment and explaining that I became abruptly unwell. I informed her that regardless of any further developments in my situation with you, I was prepared to stand any expense involved in locating your daughter.Any expense, any effort. The search is to proceed with all due haste to a happy conclusion, whether you and I wed or not. I have meddled in your personal affairs. I believe that brings to three the total justifications you have at present for exploding.”
Any expense, any effort.Constance heard those words, heard the absolute determination in them, and had to focus on the fading blooms overhead lest she turn into a watering pot.
“You sent that letter?”
“By express courier. I am determined on two objectives, Constance Wentworth. The first is becoming the best husband I can be to you. The sooner we speak our vows, the better, if you’ll have me. My second objective is to find your daughter so that you may be assured of her well-being, and decide on the best course going forward.”
“Artemis is a by-blow. I don’t expect to be able to acknowledge her openly.”
Rothhaven approached, his green eyes lit with some emotion Constance could not fathom. “Peers have by-blows as regularly as King George has fevers. If the child is happily situated, and you are content to dote on her from afar, so be it. If her circumstances lend themselves to her joining our household, then she will join our household. If you aren’t comfortable claiming her as a by-blow, I happily will. I prefer that option, actually, as it will lend the girl more consequence, but you are her mother, and your wishes must be controlling.”
You are her mother.You are her mother.Said with such conviction, such certainty. “I am her mother.” Constance threw herself against Rothhaven, herheartexploding. “I am her mother, and I will be your duchess, and the very best wife I can be to you. This, I vow.”
Chapter Eleven
A man in love was willing to endure many hardships for the sake of his beloved. Witness, Nathaniel was enduring this chess match with Althea.
“I love flowers,” she said, gaze on the bouquet Nathaniel had arranged on the windowsill of his sitting room. A lone tulip nestled among the last of the irises, the best he could do on short notice. “They make me sad too, though. Their beauty fades so quickly. A whole year goes by before they bloom again, assuming they can withstand our winters.”
Nathaniel moved his rook. “Would we appreciate them as much if they were ever-blooming? I think half of what gets Robert through the winter is planning his flower beds, inspecting the ground to see if the bulbs are coming up, and fretting that they’ll come up too soon. Our siblings have left the garden.”
The last time Nathaniel had looked out the window, Robert and Constance had been in a shocking embrace at Saint Valentine’s feet, which left a younger brother torn between relief—Robert was long overdue for some shocking embraces—and concern.
“You aren’t attending the game,” Althea said, shifting a bishop halfway across the board. “Check.”
Nathaniel had no interest in chess whatsoever. Althea was suffering the female indisposition. She’d announced this before he had bowed over her hand. That she’d share that information so baldly, and with such a disgruntled air, presaged an intimate and interesting marriage.
Though how was a doting fiancé to receive such news? “You have me,” he said, knocking over his king with one finger. “Where do you suppose Robert and Constance got off to?”
Althea caught him by that finger. “They are of age, courting, and sensible. I hope they are admiring the wonders of the potting shed.”
“As do I, but it’s an adjustment, to go from worrying every waking minute about my brother, and knowing he’s somewhere within a very narrow range of possibilities, to being dismissed by him as if I’m a nosy footman.”
Althea came around the card table to perch on Nathaniel’s knees. “I worry about my siblings. They aren’t eccentric to the same degree Robert is, but they have vulnerabilities. He’s making great strides, though, and Constance will be a ferocious ally.”
