“Goodness,” Lady Stark said, blinking in surprise and exchanging a glance with Mrs.Syme.“Is it that time already?I should very much like to retire to my chamber for a bit of a rest.Johanna, you may hostess them if you wish.”
“I do.Rose and I are at-home,” Johanna said, nodding immediately.Although she was rather tired, she did not want to turn away Lady Astrid or the other two duchesses who had befriended her on their first visit with her as the lady of the house.“Put them in the drawing room, please, Holt.Mrs.Syme, could you ready some tea and a tray for us?”
She glanced at Lady Stark, who nodded approvingly.Holt and Mrs.Syme both quickly left to follow her requests.
“You have this all in hand, I am certain.”Lady Stark smiled and lifted her hand to pat Johanna’s cheek.“You are doing very well, my dear.Enjoy some time with your friends, and we can get back to this tomorrow.Without Bridget and Charlotte.I do enjoy Bridget’s energy, but she must learn where to best apply it.”
“Thank you, Lady Stark.And I fully agree about Bridget.”Her sister was a handful.Johanna could not help but wonder how training her up to be a debutante at this point would go.She hoped Miss Swift had a strong backbone.On the other hand, she could not imagine Lady Stark choosing a governess who did not.
Smiling, Lady Stark swept from the room and turned down the hall in the opposite direction of the drawing room, so Johanna and Rose were able to walk arm in arm toward the front of the house.
“Running this large a household is… daunting,” Rose said, shaking her head.“Yet I do greatly prefer deciding which foods and which linens over trying to scrape upanyfood at all.”
“As do I.”Johanna blew out a breath.“It feels like a dream, coming from wondering how we were going to get Mama through the summer… how any of us were going to make it through the winter, and being here, now.”
“A wonderful dream, I hope?”Rose asked, eyeing her.She did seem to like Matthew quite a bit more than she liked some of the other dukes they’d met, but her protectiveness over Johanna had not ceased simply because she was now a married duchess.
“Very much so,” Johanna assured her.“Like stepping from a nightmare into the most wonderful dream in the world.”
“Good.”Rose nodded her head firmly.“I was a bit worried; he is very cavalier for a duke, but he seems quite caring, and that is a point in his favor.He’s good with Micah and the girls.”
The sound of light laughter came from the drawing room as they approached, effectively ending their conversation.Johanna felt her heart lighten even more as they reached the doorway and saw their friends waiting inside.
All three ladies smiled happily when they saw Johanna and Rose, getting to their feet to greet them.
As always, Lady Astrid looked impeccable in a deep-orange shade that put Johanna in mind of a sunset, especially when set against her red hair.The Cairngorm crystal jewelry around her throat added a bit of shimmer to her appearance.
Beside her, Tiffany, Duchess of Clarence, was stunning in a bright sapphire-blue that matched the single sapphire on a silver chain and the drop earbobs hanging from her ears.Her cheeks were pink with happiness as she embraced Johanna and exchanged air kisses.
The Kalina, the Duchess of Hereford, was next to exchange kisses of greetings with Johanna and Rose.Herdark-pink rose dress trimmed with cream was the height of fashion, setting off her mahogany skin and dark hair and eyes.Kalina’s father had fallen in love with her mother after moving to India, and she took after her mother in looks.
The effortlessness with which they wielded their beauty and confidence made Johanna feel even more intimidated, despite their warm welcome.It was easier to forget that she was now a duchess when she was not surrounded by fellow duchesses.
“How is married life suiting you?”Tiffany asked as they sat down again, just as a maid came in with the tea cart.
“Very well, I believe,” Johanna replied, smiling and thanking the maid as she set down the tray.“Tea, anyone?”
Once they were all served some tea, and Lady Astrid had picked up a biscuit, a silence fell over them.The other three women looked at each other, as if they had something to say but were not certain how to begin.
Johanna glanced at Rose, who raised her eyebrow back at Johanna.Obviously, she sensed something was amiss, too.
“Well.”Lady Astrid cleared her throat, setting down her teacup, the biscuit precariously perched on the edge of the saucer.“We did come here to speak to you about something particular.”
She paused, as if searching for the right words.
Tiffany jumped in.“Actually, we were hoping to speak to you before you and Matthew were married, although once we heard your story of how he rescued you, it was not as though you could do otherwise.”Tiffany shook her head.“So, it did not matter that it ended up having to wait.”
“What had to wait?”Johanna asked, feeling her nerves rising.
“Nothing terrible, well, not terrible for us,” Kalina reassured her, glancing at the other two.“But it is possible that marrying Matthew may have put you in danger, though so far there has been nothing… but you know how his father and the other dukes all died in a tragic accident?”
“Yes.”The kernel of anxiety that had sunk into the pit of her stomach began to rise, and she clutched onto the teacup in front of her as though the tighter she held it, the safer she would be.
A feeling of utter foreboding filled her, growing wider and darker with every passing moment.Something terrible loomed over her future.She wanted to stop them from speaking, yet she knew she could not.
“It was no accident,” Tiffany said, glancing away, her voice full of grief and anger.“My father and the other dukes were murdered.”
“Murdered?”Rose asked, alarmed, while Johanna mouthed the word, unable to draw the breath she needed to actually speak it aloud.The bands of fate, the terrible luck that had befallen her family, were tightening around her chest all over again.
