“I do believe that you and my mother will get along famously,” he was saying.
The past three months fell away, and the charming duke who had rescued her returned. The man who had stolen her heart. Who had given her hope for a home away from her father’s wrath and children of her own. For a future.
They reached the floor where the drawing room was located, and her mother was comfortably seated once more in her invalid chair. Everett dismissed the footmen and pushed her mother to the drawing room, Sybil following awkwardly in their wake.
He stopped at the closed door, knocking before entering.
“Riverdale! You weren’t expected today.”
The chorus of excited feminine voices within had Sybil straightening her spine. This was to be her first meeting with her husband’s family. At long last. And it was a far cry from how she had once envisioned such an introduction might happen.
An older woman who resembled her husband came into view in an excited swirl of dark-blue skirts, followed by a lovely dark-haired woman dressed entirely in black, a golden locket at her throat, who could only be Riverdale’s sister.
Their expressions of surprise when they spied Sybil and her mother were identical.
“As you can see, I am indeed a day early,” Riverdale drawled, casting a glance in Sybil’s direction before hastily averting his gaze, as if looking at her pained him. “And I’ve brought some very important guests with me.Mamanand Verity, may I introduce you to Sybil, the new Duchess of Riverdale? Sybil, my mother, the dowager Duchess of Riverdale and my sister, Lady Verity. Accompanying us is the Marchioness of Eastlake, my wife’s mother.”
“Duchess?” His mother had gone pale, the surprise and curiosity on her countenance replaced by shock and disbelief. “Wife? You’remarried?”
“Married,” Lady Verity repeated, her mouth agape.
“Yes,” the duke said tightly. “Married.”
“You,” Lady Verity emphasized, as if she required further confirmation.
Sybil felt heat creeping slowly up her throat, drenching her cheeks.
“Quite,” her husband said, still not bothering to look in her direction again.
“But, Riverdale,” his mother protested, her bejeweled hands flitting about as if she didn’t quite know what to do with them. “How? Since when?”
“Since over three months ago,” he admitted.
“Three months? Riverdale, how could you?” His mother staggered backward, looking pale. “Someone fetch me my smelling salts at once. I feel faint.”
“Do be so kind as to fetch my mother her hartshorn, won’t you, Linsdale?” Riverdale’s sister asked a gray-haired companion who was hovering at the periphery of their uncomfortable gathering.
“Yes, of course,” the woman said, hastening into motion as she dipped into a curtsy and fled from the room, presumably in search of the smelling salts.
“You sly fox,” Lady Verity scolded the duke. “Keeping such secrets from us.”
She moved toward Sybil, offering a welcoming smile, arms outstretched. “I have always dearly longed for a sister. What a happy occasion to finally have one, even if I am only learning about you three months too late.”
The latter was a pointed aside for Riverdale’s benefit, Sybil realized, as his sister enveloped her in a perfumed embrace.
“Better late than never,” Riverdale said, his expression dour as his pale gaze at last flitted back to Sybil.
She wasn’t certain she agreed with that sentiment. But for now, she was willing to hold her tongue and hope for the best. Because that tiny speck of optimism was all she had left to cling to.
CHAPTER 9
“Iwondered if I would find you here.”
Everett paused in the act of lifting the whisky to his lips and winced. He wasn’t surprised that Verity had stolen into the library after midnight to harangue him. But he had expected his sister’s arrival at least a half hour earlier.
“Youknewyou would find me here,” he corrected her, not bothering to stand politely as he ought.
The lamps were out, and there was naught but a fire in the grate to cast some meager light on the chamber. Verity knew Everett couldn’t abide by the study that had belonged to their sire. Whenever he sought solace, he came to the library instead. Over the years, they had met many times in the library like this, always when the rest of the house was abed.
