Page 57 of An Unwanted Widow for the Duke
Victoria laughed, delighted by his solemn expression. “Four, my darling boy. I assure you, that is quite enough.”
“Not nearly enough!” Hector declared, his small hands gesturing wildly. “If I had a dozen sisters, there would always be someone to play with.” He paused, thoughtful. “But I am an only child. So I suppose I must hope for a brother or a sister.”
That pronouncement elicited a ripple of laughter across the table.
Elizabeth caught his eye and raised her eyebrows in teasing triumph. “Your Grace, I fear your son and my youngest sister will become partners in mischief before the week is out.”
Gerard’s lips twitched, the closest thing to a smile he could muster before a room full of new relations.
“It would do him no harm,” he said evenly. “Better he learn to conspire with companions than alone.”
Wilhelmina, overhearing, looked at him, her expression unreadable.
But not everyone shared in the mirth. The Marquess of Grisham had scarcely touched his plate. His gaze, whenever it strayed toward Gerard, carried all the warmth of a blade.
“I do quite respect the Duke, Mina. However, I trust you know what you’re doing,” he muttered, his voice pitched low. But Gerard had caught the words all the same.
Wilhelmina’s spine stiffened. “I do,” she replied firmly, though her eyes remained on her plate.
Gerard let a beat pass, then spoke across the table, his tone courteous but edged. “It seems you doubt me, Lord Grisham.”
Grisham’s gaze flicked up, cool and steady. “I do not doubt you’re your Grace. I doubthaste. And I doubt any man who marries my sister without courting her first.”
A hush fell over the table, broken only by the clink of a spoon against china.
Wilhelmina lifted her chin, her voice steady despite the faint flush on her cheeks. “Daniel?—”
But Gerard leaned forward, his dark eyes never leaving the Marquess. “Then you may keep your doubts, My Lord. What matters isn’t your approval, but your sister’s decision. And she has chosen.”
Grisham’s lips pressed into a hard line, but he said nothing further.
Hector, mercifully oblivious to the tension, tugged at Victoria’s sleeve again. “Are sisters as noisy as brothers, or worse?”
Victoria laughed, breaking the tension in the air, and Elizabeth joined her.
The hum of conversation resumed, though Gerard’s pulse still beat with the sharp satisfaction of staking his ground.
Wilhelmina told herself that she ought to be content, if not blissfully happy. Contentment was no small thing.
She had married once more. And not to some minor lord, but to a wealthy young duke. A handsome one, at that. The ton would be wagging their tongues soon enough, if they were not already. At least she had secured her place before they could sharpen their teeth upon her.
Yet her brother hovered like a dark cloud on an otherwise pleasant day. He had not bothered to hide his disapproval, and the weight of his gaze on her was every bit as heavy as his words had been earlier. He glared openly at the Duke, with a frank hostility that caused her embarrassment.
She was not accustomed to Daniel being so brusque.
“You think I am making a mistake?” she whispered, meeting his eyes across the space between them. “Think about it. This is not my first marriage. I am hardly leaping into the unknown.”
Daniel leaned closer, his tone clipped. “Precisely my point. You first married young, at your prime, and that still ended badly. Now you have tied yourself to a man who did not even court you, who offered you no time to get to know him properly. How could this end better?”
His words struck home with cruel accuracy.
Wilhelmina was not in this marriage for love, nor for passion. It was a practical affair, conceived out of necessity, but that was not a truth she could confess, least of all to Daniel.
She knew her record in marriage was already one of disappointment. She had not entered this new union to garner admiration or sympathy. She had entered it tosurvive.
And survival, she reminded herself, was something she had grown accustomed to.
The feast progressed with its subdued merriment, the dining room filling with the hum of conversation and the laughter of younger voices. After the meal, many of the guests drifted into smaller groups, strolling around the room or clustering near the tables.
