Page 40 of Her Duke By Accident
“That’s enough, Lucy,” Matthew suddenly snapped, his voice raised.
The girl shrunk backward till her back pressed against the wall, eyes lowered. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Matthew huffed. “You get too excited.”
She cowered even more.
Alicia stepped forward, reaching out with her hand towards Lucy without even thinking.
With barely a second passing, Matthew’s head turned in her direction, and as his eyes adjusted to the shadows, he glared. “Don’t you have better things to do than eavesdrop, Your Grace?”
Before she could reply, Matthew looked back at Lucy and the governess waiting for them in the dining room. He bowed. “Forgive me,” he said through clenched teeth, “but I will not be joining you for dinner this evening.”
Alicia scoffed. “Your Grace.”
“Goodnight,” he snapped before storming off past Alicia and into the darkness of Garvey’s halls.
Lucy sulked into the dining room, taking her seat beside the governess as Alicia sat across from them. The meal began quietly, with food being served and Miss Ayles eating without a care in the world. Alicia poked and prodded with her meal, glancing every now and then at Lucy.
The young girl’s face slowly changed as the minutes went by, till soon it seemed as though nothing could have ever happened.
“Might we have our lessons outside tomorrow?” Lucy asked her governess.
“As long as there is no rain,” she replied.
Lucy groaned. “It would be better in the rain!”
Miss Ayles eyed the girl before rolling her eyes and looking back at her plate.
“Lucy,” Alicia began, “is it normal for you and the duke to be like that with each other?”
“Like what?”
“Happy siblings one minute,” she paused, tilting her head, “angry and sad the next.”
Lucy stiffened under her gaze. “You have siblings, don’t you?”
Alicia nodded.
“Then how is it any different?”
“It’s a lot different, Lucy,” Alicia said with a sad smile. “Itcanbe different. If you could just talk to me?—”
“I believe,” Miss Ayles interjected, “dinner is a time for eating, not talking.”
Alicia looked at the governess with a frown. “It is also a time of togetherness, and if,” she looked back at Lucy, “your brother was here, you’d understand that.”
“There’s nothing for you to fix, Your Grace,” Lucy said with a shrug.
“I told you to call me Alicia,” she whispered.
The young girl pushed her food around, not paying attention. “I don’t think it’s smart to come into Garvey Manor and think you can fix things.”
“I just want to understand,” Alicia said.
Lucy looked up at her. “There’s nothing to understand,” she quietly replied. “Matthew is distant, it’s just how he is.”
Alicia sighed and pulled her gaze away. Lucy was already changing the conversation, asking the governess to tell her about the lesson plan for the next day. Alicia remained then, in the present, thinking about everything she still had yet to know about her new family.
