Page 68 of An Innocent Maid for the Duke
His hand on the child’s back stilled. His shoulders tensed. A little muscle in his lean jaw flickered.
For a long moment, Rose feared he might stop the carriage and walk away.
He inhaled a slow breath and blew it out. ‘I don’t know. Perhaps they did,’ he finally said.
‘I miss Grandpapa,’ Lucy said quietly, sadly. ‘And Uncle Ralph.’
‘Me, too, poppet,’ he said in a low voice.
The pain in Jacob’s eyes was hard for Rose to see. She wanted to offer comfort, but all she could do was look down at her hands so he would not see her sympathy. She did not want to intrude on his grief. She did not have the right.
Oh, but she did understand their sense of loss.
There was an empty space in her heart where a mother and father should have been and perhaps one or two siblings.
She blinked the mist from her eyes. Perhaps she was the lucky one after all. Seeing the depth of Jacob’s sorrow made her think it was better to have never known her family, than to have had them wrenched out of her life in such a cruel way.
‘How much farther is it?’ Lucy asked, returning to her bright eager self in the wink of an eye.
Jake smiled at her fondly. ‘Not far now.’
What a wonderful father he would make. Wealthy. Protective. And best of all, loving. The woman he married would be fortunate indeed.
She on the other hand would likely never have children. For that she would need a proper home and husband, but women in service rarely married, because if they did, they lost their positions and income.
No, what she had with Jake was the best she could ever expect. Sadly, it would not last for ever, but when it was over she would have the most wonderful memories, including those of today.
‘Time to go back to your seat, young lady,’ Jake said, lifting Lucy as if she was lighter than air and setting her beside Rose as the horses slowed, turned the corner on to Cranbourn Street and halted.
Jake climbed down and helped them to alight to the pavement. He crouched on his haunches so he was eye to eye with Lucy. ‘You will hold my hand at all times,’ he said, once more his tone stern. ‘Your mama will spank my backside so hard I won’t be able to sit for a week if I lose you.’
Lucy roared with laughter at the thought. Rose couldn’t help smiling at the image her mind conjured up, though she had the feeling Jake meant every word.
The entrance to the rotunda was rather small, though it proudly proclaimed its exhibition and promised delight and amazement. The porter at the door tipped his hat.
‘Westmoor,’ Jake said. ‘I am expected.’
‘Indeed, Your Grace.’ The man bent almost in half, his bow was so low. ‘This way if you please. All is ready for your party.’
Rose frowned at him.
Jake raised a brow. ‘I sent word ahead. The place is reserved for us.’
‘Reserved for...’ She gasped. ‘You mean no one else can come in while we are here?’
‘One of the benefits of being a duke. Privacy.’
She eyed him with suspicion. There was a little too much smugness in his voice. But with Lucy able to hear every word there was little she could say.
Jake held out his arm, she hooked hers through his and, with Lucy holding his other hand, they followed the porter through a door.
The narrow passage in which they found themselves was dimly lit. There was absolutely nothing at all to see in the chilly gloom of the corridor that twisted and turned like a labyrinth.
‘Not much of a vista,’ Rose, said savouring the unfamiliar word.
Jake patted her hand. ‘Wait. You’ll see.’
The shadowy passage arrived at a set of equally badly lit stairs winding upwards. Finally, at the top, they stepped through a black curtain and on to a platform. Rose blinked at the sudden brightness.
