Page 32 of Her Duke By Accident
“Really?” Lucy asked. “How are we alike?”
“Well,” she began, a smile tugging at her lips, “for one, Penelope would spend all her days in the wilderness if fate allowed it. I am only three years her senior, but her youth has never changed. She climbed trees while I waited on the ground, arms outstretched in case she fell.”
Lucy giggled. “Did she ever fall?”
“Plenty of times,” she replied.
“Your sister is the one with the hounds, isn’t she?”
Alicia looked over at her as they walked. “Why, yes. How could you have possibly known?” she eyed her skeptically. “I know neither of you met out in society.”
“Oh, no, none of that,” Lucy replied with a wave of her hand. “My brother told me.”
“He did?”
“I believe it came up in a letter,” she said. “Though, it felt like he was telling me outright in order to deny my request for a stray before I ever brought it up.”
“I–I’m surprised it was even mentioned.”
Miss Ayles took a few wide strides behind them to catch up, standing directly on Lucy’s left while Alicia walked to her right.“I pray you’re not saying you’d like a filthy hound,” she sternly said.
“Worry not,” Lucy said, her lips pressed together in disappointment, “I know Matthew would never allow it.”
“I can arrange a time for you to meet my family,” Alicia said encouragingly. “Perhaps some time with the hounds would be all the duke needed.”
Lucy paused in their path. “You’d—” she stopped as her eyes snapped over to the governess, who watched closely, “—you want me to meet your family?”
“Of course,” Alicia replied, confused at the girl’s reaction. She tilted her head. “Why do you ask like it would have never happened?”
The young lady held her head down, not looking Alicia in the eye or responding to her question. Miss Ayles stood behind her like a shadow, hands twisted behind her back and a stern look in her eyes.
Alicia took a step towards Lucy, reaching out till she could grasp her small hands within her own. “I know we don’t yet know each other well enough, so forgive me if I’m being too bold,” she began, “but I hope that, with time, you can learn to trust me, and we can be… well, like sisters.”
“Sisters?”
“If that is what you’d want,” Alicia softly said. “Only if it is what you want.”
Lucy sniffled, and suddenly threw her arms around Alicia’s neck, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I would like that,” she whispered in her ear.
Miss Ayles clears her throat from behind them. “I thought we were out here to take a stroll. Might we continue on, Your Grace?”
Alicia ignored the governess and her sour attitude, squeezing the young Lucy before pulling away, a fondness growing in her heart. They intertwined arms again and continued along the path that wrapped around the manor. As they approached a corner, going back towards the gardens where Renfield worked, Alicia let herself feel hopeful at the new friend walking alongside her.
“How old are you, Lucy?” Alicia asked in the comfortable silence.
“Fourteen, Your Grace,” she replied.
Alicia smiled. “You can call me Alicia.”
The governess scoffed from behind them, but didn’t say anything.
Lucy gave her a wide smile. “All right, Alicia.”
“Do you know when you’ll be debuting?”
“No,” Lucy answered, looking a little glum. “I haven’t prepared much, other than my classes with my governess.”
“Which,” Miss Ayles interjected, “go smoothly when you are paying attention.”
