"Why not?"
"Because they're much gentler souls than I am, and besides I cannot give you an heir."
He ticked off all her excuses and negated them one by one. "First of all, you obviously haven't met many duchesses. I have, and they're all harridans, all of them much more capable of murder and mayhem than you. Second of all, I don't need an heir. Daedalus is so cow-simple about Cordelia, he's gotten the gel in the family way already, so we're going to have a ducal family full of heirs sooner than you think."
"Then why do you need me?"
"Because you're the only woman the Duke of Chelmsford will ever be able to love."
They were interrupted then by wild pounding at the door. When Persey retrieved his trousers and answered the door himself, Aunt Camilla, Col, Mr. Forsythe, Dickie, and Alice crowded onto the steps trying to see inside.
"What have you done with Captain Goodrum?" Alice squeaked. "I demand you release her at once." She blushed then in the light of the hall oil lanterns. "I heard the two of you trying to kill each other and had to walk to Camilla's house to get help. We waited for all the men to join us...just in case."
El poked her head around Percy's bare chest, giving them all a wide smile. She was swathed in a linen tablecloth tied over the top of her breasts, and she was licking cherry pie filling off her hands and arms.
Persey looked around the crowd gathered at his doorstep. "Any questions?" That query was received in complete silence, although all of their friends, as well as Alice, had their mouths open as if itching to ask them. "Well then, we'll bid you all good night." After which he slammed the door shut.
Aunt Camilla turned and motioned for them to follow her. "They must be re-decorating," was all she said before they piled into her carriage and headed back to her townhouse.
And Percy and Eleanor lived happily ever after (most of the time).
* * *
- THE END -
EPILOGUE
NOVEMBER 1837
Hawthorne Hall
"Once you know the total amount the sheep bring at market, minus the estate percentage, you divide by one-hundred..."
"Why?" Young Percy had long ago removed himself from the stool at Percy the elder's feet where he was supposed to remain whilst receiving his latest lesson in how to be a duke.
He had no interest whatever in going over ledgers all day like his august uncle, and currently lay on his stomach on a cushion near the fireplace, one of the estate sheep-herding dogs by his side. Every few minutes he turned over another page in a book lying on the floor in front of him.
"Because that's how many shepherds work on the estate."
"Why?"
His mother turned suddenly from perusing the galleys of her latest novel with his father. When she snapped her fingers, the boy shot her a guilty look.
"Close that book, young man, and pay attention to what Uncle Percy is trying to to teach you."
"Why?"
"Because I'll send you back upstairs to the nursery, and you will not be able to participate in Auntie El's class this morning."
Young Percy immediately whipped his head back around to his uncle. "I'm sorry. Please go on..." The boy gave Percy the elder a familiar raised eyebrow and dismissing wave that nearly gutted the older man.
"Did you see that, Daedalus?"
The duke's younger brother, and father to the young scamp, gazed up from the page proofs of his wife's latest novel and pushed his spectacles back up his nose. He gave a long-suffering sigh and nodded. "Of course. He's been using that with everyone, including his tutor."
"I rather think that's a good look for the lad."
"You would." Daedalus swept back to his work and in the process, his jacket sleeve accidentally caught the edge of a teetering stack of books which crashed to the floor.
