“I will be honest with you, in ways I have not been with your sister,” her grandmother continued. “The doctor is likely to inherit the title. The odds are not in Freddie’s favor. Government dislikes moving against the tides of precedent and history. So why not allow the doctor to kiss you? Why not encourage his affections and take my place and your mother’s as Lady Lockheade?”
The bald shock of Grandmère’s words pushed all the air from Lottie’s lungs in a giantwhoosh.
“Grandmère! How could you suggest such a thing? The next Lady Lockheade will be Freddie’s wife! I cannot rob Freddie of his inheritance. I cannot betray Margaret’s trust. The very idea is heretical. Besides, I must disagree with you. Dr. Whitaker has said he does not want the marquisate. He will sign the attainder as soon as he is well enough to journey to London. The very thought that he . . . that I . . .” Lottie tossed up her hands in frustrated bewilderment.
“Then why the concern with letting the doctor kiss you?”
“I kissedhim,Grandmère.” Lottie tapped her chest. “Itook the liberty.”
Grandmère’s censorious eyebrows climbed even higher.
“Well,” Grandmère paused, setting down her embroidery, “did the doctor return the favor?”
“What do you mean?”
Grandmère rolled her hand. “Did he kiss you in return?”
Lottie’s face burned brighter.
Why do you kiss me?
His plaintive words still rang in her ears.
Didhe kiss her in return?
Oh, gracious.
“I do not know, Grandmère!” Lottie pressed her hands to her fiery cheeks. “How can I not know? I kissed him and, well, I lost my head a bit.”
Grandmère’s expression softened. A faint smile appeared.
“L’amourhas a way of doing that,ma petite.”
“I am not in love with Cousin Alex.”
“Oh! Cousin Alex is he now.”
“Grandmère!”
“Pfft.” Grandmère waved a dismissive hand. “You modern girls. You takel’amourfar too seriously. So you kissed him? Apologize if you must.”
Sometimes Lottie felt like her English heart would never understand her far-too-French grandmother.
Lottie rose and made for the door.
“But Lottie—” Grandmère waited for Lottie to turn around before continuing. “If you enjoyed his kiss—and the doctor is amenable—no need to be shy in encouraging him to kiss you again. You have my blessing, at the least.”
Lottie found CousinAlex in his bedchamber.
Of course. Where else would he be?
But he was not, for once, lying in the bed.
“You are upright!” she exclaimed. “You are walking!”
“I am!” he returned, eyes lit with an exuberant warmth.
He was indeed standing upright in the middle of the marquess’s bedchamber, a crutch under each arm and a complicated-looking brace wrapped around the lower half of his left leg. It looked as if a cooper had made a strange barrel with metal bands and leather straps holding the vertical wooden slats together.
