“Don’t worry about them,” he said, and she knew he meant theton. She nodded.
“I think that’s easier said than done.”
“You’ll do fine. I have faith in you.”
His confidence bolstered her, almost wrapping around her like a shield. And though the path ahead was uncertain, for the first time in days, she felt a sense of hope return.
“I’ll show you out,” he said. But when he moved to return Ernest to his cradle, she held up one hand.
“That isn’t necessary.”
And it wasn’t.
The challenge of facing thetonloomed ahead, but here, in this room, for just a few minutes, she felt a flicker of strength she’d forgotten she possessed.
JOSIE’S QUESTIONS
Later that afternoon, Melanie sat before her mirror, her gaze following the maid’s skilled fingers as they wove through her hair. The rhythmic motion should have been soothing, but it wasn’t. If anything, it only made the knot in her stomach tighten. Soon—far too soon—Malum would arrive to collect her. And then they would drive into Hyde Park, where the charade would begin in earnest.
The entire house seemed to hum with a quiet anticipation, so when Josie barreled into the room without knocking, Eloisa inadvertently jammed one of the pins into Melanie’s head.
“I’m so sorry, my lady,” Eloisa gasped before returning to her work. Not wanting another jab, Melanie could only shift her gaze to scowl at her sister.
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Josie’s voice broke through her thoughts, bright and insistent.
“Tell you what?” Melanie asked.
“Reed says that you love him!” Josie’s eyes were wide with excitement and full of curiosity.
Melanie shrugged.
“Don’t you dare go silent on me. We all know you can talk if you want to.” Josie’s words were more than a little hurtful. Because it wasn’t like that.
Although she thought she might be improving, Melanie didn’t know why she could speak so easily at certain times—when she was with the Duke of Malum and little Ernest, mostly—and yet it was nearly impossible at others. It was like a lever was being switched on and off inside, one she had almost no control over.
“That’s not?—”
“Perhaps his love has healed you?” Josie looked like she was only half teasing as she interrupted her, but then she turned unusually serious. “When did you know that you loved him? How did you know?”
Melanie folded her hands to keep them from shaking. It was beginning. Already.
“At first sight.” The lie came out a little too easily as her mind raced back to that day. “I suppose…” The day she’d seen a woman leave what she’d assumed was a basket of food on the duke’s doorstep. The day she’d run across the street to ensure it wasn’t stolen or ruined in the rain.
She figured she ought to follow the truth as closely as possible.
“Someone left a basket,” she said, “On his stoop… I went across…”
“Your gazes locked, right? I think that’s terribly romantic. But what did you do? How did you know?” Josie’s voice was a mix of wonder and impatience.
Melanie remembered that she’d noticed he hadn’t been wearing boots or shoes, or even slippers. But Josie wouldn’t care about that. Although, seeing him in stockinged feet had, in fact, somehow shifted her judgement of him.
But it was more than that that had endeared him to her.
“There was… something about him,” Melanie said. “Even after finding a baby on his step, he was… remarkably collected.” Anyone else would have panicked. Not him. It was this seriousness, in fact, that first conveyed his quiet strength. “And he has the most beautiful eyes…”
Melanie was making this up, wasn’t she?
The maid paused for a moment in her arranging of Melanie’s hair, eyes darting between the sisters in the mirror before resuming her work, pretending not to listen.
