“Don’t you?” he said lightly.
She shrugged. Truly, she had no idea.
“Your sons are quite well-behaved,” he went on. He squinted up at the sky as if thinking back. “I have a cousin who has twins. They are monstrous from what I understand. I haven’t seen them in years, but their reputations throughout the county are famously horrendous.”
Rebecca froze, her eyes darting to the boys.Surely not.“Oh, and why haven’t you seen them?” She hardly got the words past her stiff and unmoving lips.
“Why would I? They belong to my cousin. He’s a squire. In fact, you—” He stopped abruptly.
She glanced at him, concerned that he was considering the same thing she was. “I, what?”
“My cousin lost his wife some years ago… it’s just… well, youarestill young, my lady. I might be able to convince my cousin to—”
The lovely scenery before Rebecca took on a scarlet tint. She swung at a buzz in her ears only to realize it was a burn of fury, sizzling through her. She speared him with a quelling glare. “Hmm,” she said as calmly as she could manage. “And here I thought you were propositioning me just before luncheon.”
A harsh shade of crimson crawled into his face.
So. Her assumption was correct. Her fingers clenched and unclenched at her sides and she clasped them at her back from sight, affecting her most congenial tone. “How mindful of you to consider my plight, Your Grace. However, I have no interest in marrying at this time.”Or ever, if she had to consider such a bore as him. She spun on her kid-leather slipper, stepping in that puddle, splashing his boot, and marched back the way they’d come.
How dare he! He thought to shove her off on hiscousin? Which reminded her. She found another path and followed Oliver’s chatter to a grassy knoll near the water.
“Serena, I’d like to speak with the boys. Alone, if you please. Perhaps you could assist Daniel with clearing the remnants of our luncheon?”
“Of course, my lady.”
Once Serena was out of earshot, Rebecca tapped her foot against the soft tundra. “Oliver,” she said so pleasantly, her teeth ached. “Does the new duke happen to be your father’s cousin?”
Two pairs of blue eyes flew to her then blinked with identical—and perhaps—well-honed innocence.
“I, uh, don’t know what you mean, my lady?”
She smiled, a smile she’d used to frighten away unwanted suitors for years. “Don’t you?” She sidled over to her charges, her skirts swinging gently. “I suppose I could ask His Grace…” her voice trailed off. She watched the variety of emotions that flitted their expressions. And waited. Shock, fear, panic.Shewas in no hurry.
The boys clasped hands. Something she’d noticed on occasion when they were nervous or scared. The sight touched her. How comforting to have someone at your back no matter your sins, grievances, joys, or excursions. She kept her face blank, however. These two were wily.
“All right,” Oliver conceded. Rebecca followed his gaze over the meadow, where the duke leaned against a tree with his ankles crossed, an unlit cheroot clamped between perfect teeth, watching them.
Rebecca turned her back on the duke, addressing Oliver. “And?”
“Our father was going to toss Owen away.”
“I don’t believe it,” Rebecca said.
“Remember how I told you people can’t tell us apart unless we speak?”
Uneasiness prickled her skin. “I remember.”
“Owen—when he talks—” Their knuckles squeezed white in their hold on one another. Whatever Oliver was about to share, she sensed it was true. “Talks… funny.”
She frowned. “Funny. What do you mean?”
“Some of his words aren’t very clear.”
She narrowed her eyes on them. “Give me an example.”
Oliver looked at Owen. Owen’s head moved in the minutest nod.
“Mostly words with ‘s’ are hard for him to say. But even ‘yes’ comes out ‘yeth’.”
