Page 61 of Her Duke By Accident
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Alicia said.
“Except itwas.”
Alicia looked over at her. “Why would you say that?”
“Because of what Miss Ayles said the other day,” she explained. “Your parents were an anomaly.”
“What a splendid word, Lucy,” Alicia said with a chuckle. “Anomaly.”
“Well, it’s true!”
Alicia shrugged. “I believe your governess has a way with words.”
“How so?”
“She is very good at stretching the truth.”
Lucy eyed her. “Did you parents not love each other?”
“Of course they did.”
“Then how did she stretch the truth?”
Alicia hesitated. “My parents were lucky in the fact that time was on their side.”
“Time?” Lucy repeated, confusion written all over her face. “What has time got to do with anything?”
“Look at the duke and me,” Alicia said. “He did not court me. I am twenty, well over the age a young woman normally debuts in society. When my father began to seek my mother’s hand in marriage, she had just turned eighteen, and he twenty-four.They spent time together on promenades, and trips into the city. The duke and I were married within a week.”
“So,” Lucy said, “they fell in love.”
“Yes, they did.”
Lucy leaned her head back to look at the sky. “If I could only be so lucky.”
“Do not fret yet, Lucy. There is still plenty of time for you.”
“I fear I will never be at the standard gentlemen of the ton expect,” Lucy muttered. “I will never be at the standard your mother was if she was able to make a gentleman fall in love with her.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Alicia said. “It was a mutual courtship.”
“And—” she hesitated, chewing on her lips.
“What is it, Lucy?”
The girl barely turned to look at Alicia, as though she could not bring herself to meet her gaze. “You grew up…happy?”
Alicia tightened her hold on Ginger’s reins till she stopped moving. “Lucy, still your horse.”
A look of embarrassment flashed by Lucy’s face as she pulled on the older mare’s reins. “I did not mean to offend you,” she whispered with a lowered head.
“Look at me, Lucy.”
The girl raised her glassy eyes.
“I am not upset with you at all,” Alicia said softly. “I only wanted to look you in the eyes while we spoke of something that clings to your soul.”
Lucy laughed. “It does not cling to me.”
