The Duke and Duchess of Westhampton sat opposite him in the great hall of Laverloch.
Fox had already renewed their acquaintance and had given Leah’s apologies, citing a recent death in the family for his wife’s indisposition.
The duke was much as Fox remembered him: imposing and stern with an impressive salt-and-pepper mustache. His Grace surveyed the great hall with a censorious gaze.
Thankfully, the bare room that existed before Leah’s arrival was long gone. The great hall now shimmered with elegance. Two velvet sofas and a pair of chairs graced the enormous fireplace. Matching velvet curtains framed the windows. Side tables and a games table were all polished to a high gloss. The old tapestries had been cleaned and repaired and lent the room a stately, authoritarian sort of air.
Fox supposed he might be biased, but the room looked fit for a duke’s residence. Or, at the very least, fit for a duke’s granddaughter.
“Once we learned of our Madeline’s existence, we simply could not wait to bring her home,” the duchess was saying, a tremulous smile on her lips. Though older, she was still a lovely woman with silvery hair and kind eyes. A graceful counterpart to her steely husband.
Reconnaissance, as any good soldier knew, was utterly essential to anticipating the enemy. And Fox had made good use of his few hours at Muirford House the day before, quizzing Hadley and his countess about Westhampton and his duchess.
“Her Grace is known for her warmth and charitable works,”Lady Hadley had candidly informed Fox.
“His Grace is fair but stubborn when it comes to getting his own way,”Lord Hadley had added.
“You intend to take Madeline, then?” Fox asked Her Grace, barely keeping the panic from his voice. “Lord Dennis had agreed she could stay with myself and my wife.”
“Bah! Dennis does not know what is best for the girl.” Westhampton’s aristocratic voice dripped irritation, causing his impressive mustache to quiver. “My son is a scapegrace and a scoundrel, as you well know. I still cannot fathom why a man of your integrity, Captain Carnegie, remained his friend for so many years. I have learned everything regarding Dennis’s abominable actions toward your sister. My son has always been a rapscallion and shall feel my wrath. Too much like my own younger brother, may his soul be curs—”
“Husband.” The duchess placed a hand on the duke’s arm, the gentlest of reproaches in her tone.
“In short,” the duke continued, shaking his head and looking entirely too much like a walrus in the process, “Dennis has made it clear he has no wish to raise the girl, which is why he allowed her to languish in this god-forsaken place.” He rolled his eyes, indicating the hall around them. “We intend to correct that.”
“She is our first girl, you see.” The duchess pressed a hand to her bosom, eyes lit with happiness. “I have three sons and five grandsons, but no girls. And I havesolonged for a girl.”
Fox barely avoided a scowl, his leg twitching and aching, all of him wanting to push to his feet and pace.
This would be so much easier if the duke and duchess were arrogant and supercilious. Then he could feel justified in his resolve to keep Madeline from them.
But this?
The earnest hope in the duchess’s eyes.
The honorable determination in the duke’s voice.
They hadn’t even met Madeline, yet they clearly cared for her.
“We appreciate you nurturing our Madeline up to now, Captain,” the duke said, “but we are keen to see her raised in a manner befitting my granddaughter.”
“We will ensure she is well-educated.” The duchess nodded. “She will have all the luxuries and comforts a lady requires to thrive in this world.”
Except Leah and myself, Fox thought.
Except a mother and father who love her dearly.
Except a family, with possibly brothers and sisters to love and be loved by.
The thought filled Fox with such longing. The image of Madeline acting as a bossy older sister to his and Leah’s own brood. A house full of noise and laughter.
He couldn’t stay silent.
“What about a family?” Fox asked. “I have been Madeline’s whole world for nearly five years. She considers myself and my wife to be her mother and father. She calls usmammaandpapa.”
The duchess faltered at that. Fox saw it in her eyes. The woman finally recognized that she was ripping a little girl from the only family she had known, and that two parents’ hearts were breaking in the process.
Her Grace bit her lip and looked away, shoulders stiff and resolute.
