Lucinda laughed. “Pregnant? No need to be embarrassed. I suppose it’s better than just being fat now, isn’t it?” She rested her hands on her belly. “Eight months now, it is.”
“And you’re still working?” Yvette frowned. “I might have thought you would be given time off…” Again, she wondered about the Duke, and again her opinion of him decreased. “Surely, it is hard on you, having to work like this?”
Mrs. Fletcher exhaled sharply out of her nose, looked as if she was about to interject, only for another member of staff to suddenly appear in the kitchen. It was a young man this time, and he rushed to Mrs. Fletcher and began to whisper frantically in her ear.
Mrs. Fletcher clicked her tongue with frustration. “Miss Norleigh, I am afraid –”
“Please, you may call me Yvette.”
She clenched her jaw. “Yvette. I am afraid I am needed elsewhere. Will you be fine to find your room by yourself?”
“I think I will manage.”
“Good.” With that, Mrs. Fletcher hurried from the kitchen, followed closely behind by the young footman.
The atmosphere in the kitchen changed the moment Mrs. Fletcher left. Far less hostile and infinitely warmer.
“She’s not as stiff as she might seem,” Lucinda said when she saw the look on Yvette’s face. “A little tightly wound, I will grant you. But she has a softer side.”
“I am sure she is as soft as a kitten,” Yvette sighed.
Lucinda laughed. “Oh, I wouldn’t go that far. But she has worked in this manor her entire life, just about, and she knows His Grace better than anyone. Practically his mother, the way she talks about him.”
“I am sure they are made for one another,” Yvette said with a little more acid than she meant. Her eyes widened when she realized how it must have sounded. “I did not mean –”
“No need to explain.” Lucinda laughed further. “I’m getting the sense that your first impression of His Grace was not as comforting as it could be.”
Yvette grimaced. “I do not wish to judge… nor am I the type to.”
“But…”
“Well, seeing as you asked.” Yvette sighed and shook her head, hoping to make it seem that she wasn’t nearly as judgmental as she was sure to sound. “I found him a little cold. And rude. And not very nice, if I am being perfectly honest. And the way that he treated his son! As if the boy were somehow at fault. As if he had nothing to do with his son’s abandonment and –” Yvette caught her tongue when she realized what she had said… and what shewas about to say. She bit into her lower lip and looked away. “Perhaps you should forget I said any of that.”
“Did you mean it?”
“Maybe…”
Lucinda laughed again. “I can see how you might think these things. Indeed, His Grace does have a quality that some might find off-putting.”
“That is one way to say it…”
“If it helps, in my experience, His Grace has been nothing but kind to me. Damn generous, in fact. He might seem a little harsh around the edges, a little dark and mysterious.” She winked. “But that’s not the real him. Once you get to know him better, I promise your opinion will change.”
“I hope so,” Yvette sighed, not believing it for a second.
“That’s how it was for me,” Lucinda said. “I first met His Grace when I was a little girl – my father is a farmer, works on the estate about ten miles from here. I used to be terrified of His Grace,” she laughed. “Thought he was the scariest man I’d ever seen. Those scars…” She shivered.
“What changed?”
Lucinda smiled, and it reached her eyes. “When I fell pregnant, my father was furious. Damn murderous, he was. He kicked me out; told me he wanted nothing to do with a strumpet like me. When His Grace found out, he offered me a job! No questions. No judgement. He knew I was with child and wanted to make sure I was taken care of.”
Yvette blinked in surprise. “He did?”
“He did,” Lucinda said seriously; Yvette could see the admiration reflecting in her green eyes. “He even checks on me, time to time, makes sure I can still work. And he’s promised that when the baby arrives, he’ll put me up for as long as I need.” Her eyes started to water, and she sniffed back tears. “He’s a good man, His Grace. Better than most give him credit for.”
Yvette was nothing but surprised. If even half of what Lucinda said was true, maybe the Duke wasn’t nearly as cold and mean as she assumed?
But if that is the case, he might do better to act this way.
