Page 37 of His Wild Duchess
“You truly think that?”
Mr. Moderno nodded, and looked incredibly sincere. “Your Grace, the difference between people like you, and people like I, is thatIhave the ability to believe in such things. Unfortunately…” His smile turned into a frown. “Gentlemen like you find that it is out of their hands.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” George quickly replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “If I set out to forge my own path, who’s to say any other aristocratic man can’t?”
“You have to admit, you were quite lucky, your Grace.”
George scoffed. “Nothing about my youth was lucky.”
“Really?” Mr. Moderno raised a brow. “Your title was granted to you the moment you were born, your Grace. By the way of the Crown, Yeats would one day be yours, whether you wanted it or not.”
“I’m well aware of the way it works,” George snapped. “You see, in the New World, they -”
“You can enjoy the Americas all you want, your Grace, but it doesn’t change the fact that you have sought success in England.”
George frowned, but was unable to clap back at the butler. He spoke the words he needed to hear.
“Why did you ask if I had been here in London for long?”
“Well,” George replied, “I was curious if there was anything you knew about Pen - excuse me. If there was anything you knew about Her Grace.”
“What about the Duchess?”
George shrugged. “Her family. What was it that happened with her father?”
“Ah,” Mr. Moderno mused, “That was an incident long ago, back when you would’ve still been in the Americas. Lord Egerton, the Marquess, found himself in financial distress when his business ventures failed to produce what he had predicted. The results left him in bad tidings with the partners he struck deals with. They were out of the money promised to them, and the profit they intended to receive alongside it.”
“So the late Lord Egerton was cast out of society?”
“Not cast out,” Mr. Moderno replied. “He was scorned, and put their family in financial ruin, but the Ton very much expected to see his children debut in the Season and try to better their name.”
George nodded. “And their family name was repaired.”
“In time,” he said. “Like all things. But it was, in fact, restored to their normal status after the Duke of Garvey wed the eldest daughter. And, of course, the work of Lord Egerton, the eldestson, has secured their future for generations to come.” He smiled. “Quite the story.”
Turning away from him, George pondered over the words as he glanced back out the window. The sun moved further past the horizon, and the stablehand had already gone. It was quite the tale, one that seemed to lead to his own resolutionas well.
“Might I be bold, your Grace?”
“You may,” George replied.
Mr. Moderno moved further into the room, as though he were afraid of someone listening in. “I am only a butler, but I know how the Ton tends to view ladies like Her Grace.”
George shrugged. “Her Grace comes from a respectable family. You said yourself that the sister wed a Duke. I heard months ago that they have a steadily growing family. What’s not to appreciate about that?”
“It has nothing to do with the Caney family,” Mr. Moderno said. “It is about Her Grace.”
“Well, I won’t lie and say her pack of animals isn’t odd, but -”
“Her Grace does not fit in the status quo of the rest of the Ton,” he inerjected. “If you are seeking partners, aristocriatic men who have their foot in the door already, you must do so on different terms.”
George sighed. “While I appreciate the advice, I sought out Her Grace for her family’s influence in the Ton. You might be incorrect on this one, Mr. Moderno.”
“Have you ever seen another like her?”
“No,” George replied, faster than he would’ve wanted. He cleared his throat, trying to lower the level of eagerness he suddenly had. “I have not. Well,” he paused, an amused smirk spreading on his face, “I told her recently that she reminded me of some women I had the pleasure of meeting in the New World, but none from England.”
“My point exactly.”
