Page 6 of The Duke's Tempting Widow
“The entirety of the estate will go to the Duke of Somerfield, Weston Howard. A distant cousin of Jacob’s, and one that he did not speak of in the kindest terms. Furthermore, he has been named the guardian of Margaret.” Lydia said in a hollow voice. She did not wish for it to be real.
She had raised Margaret for most of her life. She loved that little girl as if she were her own flesh and blood. Margaret and Juliet were sisters, and they loved one another as such. She could not imagine a world in which they might be parted. “How am I supposed to not only lose my home to a stranger, but also my daughter?”
“...it is not fair.” Kitty said, settling into the space beside her sister and drawing her knees up to her chest. There was no telling if the duke would allow Kitty to continue to reside there with them. He might think the extra bodies a burden in his home. He might send Lydia and Juliet away and then Kitty would be forced to live in one of father’s properties.
Lydia could not stand it. “I only agreed to marry the earl to help father resolve his debts! A fact that I think he forgot about the moment that he was given payment! He was never grateful for it to me, not one single time. Of course, I am blessed in that the earl was not a violent man!
Father kicked me into the world without a moment to acclimate myself. He certainly did not care for my health or happiness the moment he was no longer responsible for me. I guarantee you that he is sitting in that house right now, thinking of all the ways he can profit from this new contact.”
“Well, if the duke has any manner of intelligence, then he will not fall for any of father’s cons.”
“Perhaps that would be worse.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean if he does not fall for the cons, and sees right through him. What will he think of us? A conman’s daughters? An overly ambitious man who likely raised his daughters to be the same?”
“But we are nothing like him…”
“And you expect somebody to know that from a first impression?”
Lydia let her chin rest on the arms that she crossed over her bent knees. It was foolish of her to think that she would have time to do things on her own. She had never been allowed to pursue her own dreams or passions because she had dedicated her life to the service of others.
She did not wish to think that she was bitter. Through necessity, she had been motherly to her sister and helped raise Kitty as best as she could. Jacob traveled so often that she was fortunate enough to have the skills to run her own home and some control over the finances.
Had she become too comfortable?
It seemed so impossible to accept that the life that she had grown accustomed to was likely about to be ripped out from underneath her feet.
“Do you know anything about this duke? Did the earl ever speak of him to you?” Kitty asked. It sounded as if it were just a casual conversation, but Lydia could see it for what it was. She was attempting to discern what she was in for.
“Not much from my husband. He was never one to gossip or give a single piece of information more than was strictly necessary, you know that. But I have heard about him.” Lydia sighed. Nothing that she was about to say was going to put her sister more at ease. “A standoffish rake. That’s what they say about him.”
Well, it was far from all that she had heard about his rather colorful reputation, but it was all that she was going to share with Kitty.
There were a great many things that she kept from her sister. Sometimes she wished nothing more than to speak her mind freely and shed all the responsibilities on her shoulders, but she could not.
There had only been one time where she had been able to get away with that. The night that she had spent with the only rake that she liked to think about. To this day, she had never encountered those eyes again. Every time that she saw a man ofequal height or stature, she still found herself wondering about the identity of the only man who had ever let her take control of herself, even if only for a moment.
If only she had not run from him that night, what might her life look like now? Sometimes she embarrassed herself with indulgent fantasies of how far she might have been willing to go that night. If he had taken her, as she sometimes desperately wished that he had… would she still be sitting here today like this? No, she knew the answer.
“Lydia?”
“Hm?” She had allowed herself to become lost in thought once more. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“I said, what do you plan to do?”
She had no idea. All Lydia knew was that she was never going to allow herself to be a slave to a man ever again. Nor will either of her daughters.
“I’m going to fix this.”
Chapter 3
What bothersome news.
Weston leaned back in his worn leather armchair, staring at the opened letter sitting on his desk. Inheriting an estate always came with trouble. He could recall meeting the earl once or twice, but it was not as if they were friendly. He could not remember a single meaningful conversation that he had had with the man.
It was sad that he had passed at such a young age. It just was not how he wished to spend his summer months. There were a great many plans that he had for the warmer weather and none of those things were going to be possible if he was in the middle of the countryside, puttering about an estate that was not going to want him there.
