Page 11 of Secrets of a Duke's Heart
“Nathaniel will wonder where I’ve gone off to.” She cast a pebble into the sea. “Eventually.”
“Probably not until nightfall.”
“I hope it’s sooner than that. I never did get breakfast.”
Jude winced at the loud gurgle of her stomach. “I should have waited for you to be ready.”
“I am a grown woman and chose to join you. Besides, I have been told I should try a reducing diet.”
“By whom?” he said indignantly.
“Nearly everyone, at one time or another. My mother, sisters, friends…” She trailed off. A pensive expression clouded her delicate features. “Everyone.”
“Any person who would ask you to change yourself is not worth your time,” he said gruffly.
She flashed him a quick, sunny smile that nevertheless failed to break through the clouds in her eyes. “A conclusion I also arrived at, although the lesson came at a considerable cost.”
“We’re not going anywhere, it seems. Tell me what price you paid, Miss Penfirth.” He leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. “If it’s not too intrusive of me to ask.”
She chucked another pebble at the waves, casting a little too hard and sending the stone careening off the far wall instead. He’d touched a nerve. Despite her reticence, it felt nice to think about something other than Harriet’s predicament. He couldn’t remember spending time with a woman for no purpose other than idle conversation and companionship, other than his own female relatives.
For years he’d been so focused on raising Harriet to be a proper lady that he’d neglected his own life.
“It’s not a very interesting story.” She gave up throwing rocks and leaned back against the cold stone next to him.
“We’ve nothing else to do until someone decides to rescue us.”
Still, she hesitated, until Jude thought he might explode from curiosity.
“I am the eldest daughter in a family of nine children. My father died not long after my fifth sibling was born. Mother was forced to remarry, which resulted in three more children. Her sister, my aunt, is Nathaniel’s mother. When the Prescott title passed to him, my mother saw an opportunity to launch the family into a better social circle.
“Alas, her grand plans for me were thwarted by the fact that the Prescott name was penniless. A new viscount with little in the way of a fortune was considered an upstart. His poor cousin was no prize. After my first failed Season, upon which she had spent a considerable sum that we couldn’t really afford, I was put on a reducing diet and sent back to try again. If I were a stone lighter and kept my mouth shut, surely I could attract a wealthy gentleman.” She scoffed.
“Not one man in London took an interest in you? I find that difficult to believe.”
“One did. For a time,” she said wistfully.
“What happened to him?”
“To the best of my knowledge, he is hale, hearty, and happily married.” Her sigh of resignation was swallowed by the churning sea. “He courted me for three Seasons before throwing me over for an heiress. I truly believed we had a connection, but in the end his love of money outweighed any affection for me.”
“His loss.”
Her quiet scoff was swallowed by the lapping waves.
“Love makes fools of us all,” he said.
“Except for you,” she teased impishly.
“Yes, except for…How did you know?”
“That you’ve never been in love?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“An educated guess, Mr. Montague. I have known you for only a day, and yet I feel we have an understanding of sorts, which has loosened my tongue unforgivably.” She shuddered. “I must apologize. I am boring you with wretched family secrets and being completely ill-mannered in discussing money, of all things. I understand how such topics invite discomfort. I assure you that I have experienced the burden of a too-light purse for most of my life. It is only recently that Nathaniel has managed to restore the Prescott family’s fortunes and provide me with an escape from my mother’s constant criticism. Even so, if you are here to beg his aid, I can assure you there isn’t much to spare.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to say that money was not an issue for him, that in fact he had more of it than he knew what to do with, but then Jude realized that she thought he was in financial straits andthatwas his purpose in visiting her cousin. Which was not an illusion he could afford to dispel at present. His true identity must remain a secret for Harriet’s sake.
