Definitelyworse.
He was a despot, a supercilious, unkind jackass, and that was simply that. How dare he insist upon her precious darling sleeping in the cold stables? And more importantly, how had two vibrant, wonderful ladies like Lila and Letty been cut from the same cloth as such a terrible man? It defied logic.
Bundled up in a blanket before the merrily crackling fire in the room she’d been given, Dandy in her lap, Addy pressed a kiss to her beloved French bulldog’s head. The only way Dandy was sleeping in the cold was if Marchingham pried her from Addy’s dead hands.
“I’m thankful the duke found you when he did,” Aunt Pearl said from the other wingback chair flanking the hearth.
Like Addy’s chair, and like every part of Marchingham Hall she’d seen thus far, the elegant pieces of furniture were worn. Elegant and clearly of excellent craftsmanship. But in need ofloving attention. Despite the exterior clearly in need of repair, she hadn’t expected the inside of the manor house to be so shabby.
“Anyone with eyes could have found me,” Addy grumbled. “I was sitting in a carriage in the midst of the snow. It isn’t as if he committed some manner of impossible feat.”
Aunt Pearl tutted. “You could have suffered frostbite, or, heaven forbid, even worse. I never would have forgiven myself if anything ill had befallen you, and I daresay neither would your mother and father.”
“I’m persuaded that being forced to rely upon the dubious hospitality of the Duke of Marchinghamisworse than frostbite,” Addy drawled, feeling far from magnanimous where he was concerned.
The man was colder than the wintry snow he had helped her to escape.
He was rude. Conceited. Icy. He had scarcely even deigned to speak to her, apart from issuing edicts. And his response to Dandy had been particularly infuriating.
“You mustn’t exhibit such ingratitude, Adelia,” Aunt Pearl reprimanded with an uncharacteristic sharpness in her voice. “The duke likely saved your life.”
“I could have walked the distance with ease,” she sniffed, even though her assertion was far from true.
The carriage had mired in the deep snow a fairly significant distance from the manor house—and by horse. With her impractical skirts and silk boots, she wouldn’t have made it far. But the notion that she was somehow indebted to the duke wounded her pride. She refused to accept it.
She didn’t like the man.
“I doubt it very much,” Aunt Pearl insisted. “When Alfred, Dandy, and I arrived without you and explained we’d left youbehind in the carriage with your trunks, he wasted no time in riding out in search of you.”
“I’m sure it was with great reluctance,” Addy said stubbornly. “I’m surprised he didn’t send a servant instead.”
“It would seem there is a dearth of domestics here,” Aunt Pearl noted. “It’s almost as if the manor house is abandoned. The room I’ve been given was closed up, the furniture all under covers, with a lone maid sent to ready it for my use. However, I do believe His Grace rode off in search of you himself because he wanted to see to your welfare personally. He recognized your name at once.”
Addy could only imagine how the conversation had gone. The duke would have been initially confused and then no doubt in a rage. According to Letty and Lila, he blamed Addy for their dismissal from Académie Clairemont. It was the reason he continually refused to allow them to visit her in New York City despite years of invitations.
“I suppose that Iamrather infamous,” she muttered.
Dandy looked up at her, gold-flecked brown eyes adoring. Addy kissed Dandy’s head a second time. “Mama is quite well-known, and sometimes for dubious reasons,” she crooned. “Yes, she is.”
Dandy opened her mouth and then closed it in response.
“I know you don’t believe it, darling, but it’s true,” Addy told Dandy in a singsong voice.
Dandy launched herself at Addy, frantically licking behind her ears. Addy laughed and clutched the muscular pup to her, lest she fall off the chair. Dandy’s affection was, like everything else she did, unfailingly exuberant.
“You should know better than to speak to Dandy like that,” Aunt Pearl chastised, clicking her tongue. “She gets far too excited.”
Addy felt the sharp edge of a tooth on her right ear. “Down, you little scamp. No eating my diamond earrings.”
“How are you going to keep her from the duke?” Aunt Pearl asked, frowning. “He was most aggrieved when he spied Dandy at our arrival and only allowed her to remain within until she was warmed with Alfred and me.”
“I can imagine.” Addy wrestled Dandy back into her lap. “Apparently, he has an aversion to dogs, which also means that he doesn’t have a soul. I could have guessed as much, given his treatment of his poor sisters. The duke has the personality of a pile of frozen horse dung.”
Dandy’s mouth was open wide to reveal her alligator-like teeth as she presented her belly for a rub next. Addy obliged, trying to push all unwelcome thoughts of the Duke of Marchingham from her mind.
“And to think you traveled all the way to Paris to find such a wild dog,” Aunt Pearl said.
Addy covered Dandy’s silken ears. “She’s not wild, and you had better not let her hear you utter such blasphemy either. She’s merely high-spirited.”
