Page 111 of Duke of Bronze
Martha scampered to her side again, cradling something in her arms. "Pray look, Miss Anna—he brought me a castle!" she cried, holding the small wooden toy aloft as though it were a crown jewel.
Anna's breath caught as she reached for it. She recognized the craftsmanship at once.
Jane, reading her expression, nodded. "He brought them gifts, too. The boys have not stopped playing since. They're around here somewhere?—"
"Here! Look at mine!" John called, appearing with a wooden knight mounted on a painted steed.
"And I received a ship!" Abraham added proudly, lifting his miniature vessel with sails and a flag as though he had conquered the high seas himself.
Anna stared at them all, the children's joy blurring before her eyes.
She remembered Colin at the hospital. The way he had knelt to the children's level, the care with which he had handed out the gifts, the unguarded tenderness in his expression.
That same constriction returned—tight in her chest, seizing her throat.
"Are you quite well, Anna?" Jane inquired gently, her brow furrowed with concern as she leaned ever so slightly forward, her voice touched with genuine worry.
"I am simply glad to see he is already proving himself the most attentive of uncles—and a brother too," Anna said softly, her smile tinged with a trace of wistfulness.
To her surprise, both Jane and Roderick paused, their expressions touched with identical notes of astonishment.
"I know," Anna said, meeting Roderick's gaze with quiet steadiness. "He told me. About your relation."
A beat passed, and then Roderick set down his spoon and leaned back slightly in his chair.
"Well then," he said, a grin beginning to form, "are we to expect the sound of wedding bells in the near future?"
"I beg your pardon?" Anna blinked, completely nonplussed.
"Oh come now," Roderick said with a knowing tilt of his head. "I've watched the pair of you, and I daresay one need not be particularly clever to see it—there is something between you. And besides, any gentleman who would entrust a lady with what may well be his family's greatest secret must hold her in extraordinary regard."
Anna swallowed, the motion tighter than it ought to have been.
"It does not signify," she said quietly, lowering her gaze to her soup. "It changes nothing."
Jane reached across the table then, her hand warm as it settled over Anna's. "I may not understand all that has passed, my dear, but do not surrender to despair. Hope is a stubborn thing—it lingers when we least expect it."
Anna managed a smile in return. From the quick glance Jane and Roderick exchanged, Anna suspected they understood her desire to change the subject—and kindly chose not to press further.
Clearing her throat, she turned abruptly to the children, who were still absorbed with their toys.
"Would you care to play princesses and pirates after luncheon?" she asked brightly.
Three heads snapped up with enthusiastic cries.
"Well," she continued, a playful lilt entering her voice, "we have a grand castle, a brave knight, a fine ship, and the most beautiful of princesses. I should say we are quite ready for adventure."
Their squeals of delight filled the room, lifting the heaviness that had lingered only moments before
"But wait…" Martha's voice rang out, halting the chorus of giggles with sudden seriousness. "The Duke did not bring us a princess. So whoisthe princess?"
Anna stilled for only a second, her lips curling into a mischievous smile before she leaned slightly over the table.
"Why,you, of course," she declared. "You are our little princess, Martha."
She reached across the table and began to tickle the child's side, prompting an eruption of delighted squeals.
Martha writhed in a fit of laughter, her curls bouncing as she cried, "No! No, I am a pirate!"
