I don’t disapprove of him.
She frowned as she watched his hands. “So, it’s Nicola you disapprove of. Why? Is it because she’s in love with Jacob? Do you not want your brother to marry beneath him—as you did?”
Her eyes glistened with moisture.
Surely she didn’t still harbor fears that he resentedherbirth?
Do not speak so foolishly.
Her lip wobbled and a tear splashed onto her cheek. Charles rose from his seat then approached her and took her hand. Her fingers were cold, and she trembled. Was she sickening for something?
He caressed her fingers then brushed his lips against her hand.
“I…” She hesitated and caught her breath, as if she were about to faint. “I miss Eleanor,” she said. “I-I didn’t realize how much I would. Eleanor says little, but I took much comfort from her quiet presence. Nicola isn’t Eleanor, but she’s pleasant enough and I want to be kind to her. Her mother died, you see, not long ago. You must understand how painful that is.”
He kissed her knuckles again.
“She was her stepmother really, but Nicola told me how devastated she was when she died in childbirth. I fear that…”
She broke off and leaned forward, trembling more violently, and Charles caught a flash of fear in her eyes.
Shall I invite your sister to stay?
“I—I don’t understand.”
He gestured to the sheaf of papers on the side table. The footman brought it over together with a pencil, and Charles scribbled on the top of the page. A visit from Olivia’s sister-in-law might cure her melancholy, whatever the cause of it was. And it would have the added benefit of reminding her that there were better female companions to be had than an ambitious young miss with a little too much envy in her eyes.
Olivia read the words, then shook her head and another tear spilled onto her cheeks.
“I-I cannot invite her yet. I’ve lost her necklace—the one she gave me as a wedding gift—and she’ll think me awfully foolish.”
That was unlikely, given how much the duchess loved Olivia.
“She was kind enough to send me a pair of earrings to match it,” Olivia continued, “so she’ll expect me to wear them. I-I cannot…” She shook her head. “She might think I care little for her if I’ve been careless with her necklace.”
He set the pencil down and gestured with his hands.
Of course not. She and I…
Love.
Charles paused. How was it that he had no hand gesture for love? Had his life been so devoid of love that he’d seen no need for it, that he’d never stopped to think that he might love another person enough to want to tell them?
“She and you…what?”
He picked up the pencil, his hand shaking. To make such a declaration, not as an ephemeral utterance, but written down such that it could never be unsaid…
I…
Charles jumped as the door opened and his hand jerked to one side, leaving a thick pencil line across the paper.
Jacob stood in the doorway, his mouth curled into a grin.
“Late again, aren’t I?” he said, mischief twinkling in his eyes. “I forget the need for punctuality when eating in the house. But you must forgive me, brother, for I was just exercising caution.”
“Caution?” Olivia said.
“A husband and his wife must never be interrupted, just in case,” Jacob said with a wink.
