“Yes,” she said.
“I do love you, Phil,” he said. “It must be very obvious to you, of course, but I believe women like to be told, do they not?”
She laughed with what sounded like a gurgle of glee. “Oh yes,” she said. “We do indeed like to be told. Don’t men?”
He thought about it and grinned at her. “I suppose we do,” he said.
“I love you too, Lucas,” she said. “To the moon and the sun and the stars.” She laughed again. But the laughter faded as he swept her into a wide twirl and another couple moved sharply out of their way.
“Lucas,” she said more softly. “I do love you. With all my heart.”
“Which is just exactly as much as I love you,” he said. “How fortunate that our feelings for each other are in such harmony.”
—
The Duke and Duchess of Wilby did not stay for very long. They withdrew to their suite of rooms before the supper dance began, a move that was quietly applauded by all their family members, who from the start had feared a repetition of what had happened at Almack’s, but perhaps with a different outcome this time.
Lucas and Philippa accompanied them, though they could not stay away long from the ball. They must be present for the suppersince it was in their honor and would involve a few speeches and some cake cutting, Gwyneth had admitted when Philippa had questioned her closely.
But they did wait while His Grace settled in a comfortable chair in the sitting room of the suite and sighed with relief that the sound of the music was more distant from here and the noise of conversation and laughter quite obliterated.
“The time was,” he said, and paused as Her Grace poured him a cup of tea, upon which he frowned with some disgust though he knew better now than to grumble and demand a glass of port or claret or ale or...anything but tea, May.“The time was when I would have danced the night away, but now I must leave that to the two of you. Come and kiss my cheek, Philippa, and tell me this is one of the happiest nights of your life, and then we will keep you no longer. I intend to be tucked up in my bed before another hour has gone by, after which Her Grace may sneak out to dance away what remains of the night if she chooses.”
“I will be tucked up right beside you, Percy,” the duchess said. “How very kind your brother and his wife and your mother are, Philippa dear, to make these rooms available for our comfort even though we live scarcely more than a stone’s throw away.”
Philippa sat down on a stool beside the duke’s chair and took his hand in hers, though she did not immediately kiss his cheek.
“I was intending to wait until tomorrow,” she said. “Until after I had talked with Lucas tonight. But somehow the time seems appropriate now, and why should not the three of you hear it from me at the same time?”
His Grace looked sharply down at her. The duchess sat down with her cup and saucer in her hands. Lucas, standing before the fireplace, raised his eyebrows.
“I am not perfectly sure,” Philippa said. “I have not consulted aphysician yet. But I do believe I am with child.” She felt her cheeks flame with heat—and probably with color too.
The duke’s hand closed more tightly about hers. “Well, of course you are, Granddaughter,” he said. “You have been married to my grandson for almost a month, have you not?”
Lucas’s eyes were very intent upon her.
“It might be a girl,” she said.
The duchess had set aside her cup and saucer in order to clasp her hands to her bosom.
“It would not dare,” His Grace said. “Hewould not dare.”
“I would love her,” Lucas said, “with everything that is in me.”
“And so would we all,” the duchess agreed. “Including Grandpapa, Philippa. We love Susan every bit as much as we love Timothy and Raymond, after all. Girls are in no way inferior or less welcome to a family despite the fact that they cannot inherit ducal titles and properties. You and Lucas have all the time in the world to produce a boy. There always has been one in this family for generations past. There will be another.”
“I do not have all the time in the world, May,” His Grace reminded her. “But I daresay if she comes out a girl, I will find her the most perfect thing ever created and send the two of you back to work. But you, my Lady Roath, must see a physician at your earliest convenience. Tomorrow. Luc will see to it.”
“I will do so,” Philippa promised, getting to her feet and bending over his chair to kiss his cheek. She did the same for the duchess.
“And now, my dear,” Her Grace said, “you must get back to your brother and sister-in-law’s guests, who have come to celebrate your wedding.”
Lucas was offering his arm.
“Remember, though,” the duke said as they were leaving the room. “I am fully expecting a boy.”
Lucas led her out of the room and closed the door quietly behind them. He had not spoken a word since making his comment about loving the child even if she turned out to be a daughter. He had not even bidden his grandparents good night. Perhaps, Philippa thought, she had made a mistake in not telling him her news privately first. It was certainly what she had intended to do. But...
