Edward looked up briefly. “What I need is to not be surrounded by idiots.”
“Oh, well I’ll be going then. You know you still have not apologized for what you told the girls the other day.”
The duke looked confused.
“I hate art and can’t read or ride.”
His brother laughed. “I did not say you can’t I said youdon’t.”
Anger made his hands into fists. “Seriously? What is the difference?
“Well, one is that you are incapable the other is just a lack of culture.”
“That is what you think of me? Is that why I am here? So, you can belittle me?”
His brother gave him one of his ducal frowns. “No. You brought it up.”
Tony’s hands clenched and unclenched. “You just called me an idiot!”
“I did not! I meant others, not you.”
“Thank you for clarifying, but for God’s sake, Edward, what is going on with you?”
His brother sighed and pulled his hand down his face. “I am just… busy. You have no idea the responsibility I carry.”
Tony felt his anger. He too carried great responsibility, which his brother knew nothing of. However, his anger dissolved at the sight of his brother’s face. His usual grim countenance had slipped and was replaced by one of defeat. Tony softened his tone. “Then seek help. There is no dishonor in it.”
“That is not why I called you here,” his brother said in a gruff tone, the façade firmly back in place.
“Let me help you. Or better yet hire a secretary.”
“No. I cannot. You have Miss Sterling to deal with and your position with Stafford. I have tried a secretary but by the time I explain what I need I may as well have done it myself.”
Tony sighed. “All right, what did you need to tell me?”
Edward picked up a volume ofDebrett’s. “Viscount Foxton. The title did end with Lucinda’s father. There was no heir. Not a fertile family, it seems.”
“So, that confirms it. Interestingly, I just came back from her father’s solicitor. She is about to become a very rich woman, married or not. Thirty-thousand-pound dowry and an inheritance that I was told was quite the amount, although he would not tell me its figure.”
“How fortunate. I suppose the pressure is off you now to marry her to the next peer who walks in the door.”
“Is that what you think we are doing? I will have you know that Lucinda is the one insisting on finding a husband. She wants a family. The family she has been denied since her father decided to discard her like unwanted laundry. She has nothing but these.” He pulled out the miniatures and handed them to his brother. “To show that she ever had a family at all.”
The duke gave them a quizzical look then handed back the portraits. “I am sorry. My comment was uncalled for. I fear I have not kept up with all the comings and goings of the family lately.”
“Perhaps you need to take a break… away from London.”
Edward’s eyes narrowed. “Do not say it.”
Tony put his hands up; he knew he would never convince Edward to go to Ashtonvale. It pained him to see his brother denying himself the pleasures of the family seat and its occupants. “You can’t avoid her forever, Edward.”
With pointed ducal finger, he shouted, “Out!”
Tony left his brother’s office knowing that they had not exactly made things right with each other. He no doubt thoughtTony had brought up the subject of Ashtonvale on purpose, but he had been concerned. His brother was showing signs of overworking and he feared his health might decline if he did not find a way to handle his workload better.
It was alovely day to promenade. Lucinda and Marianne sat in the duke’s open coach, Lord Dunstan and Tony riding on opposite sides of the coach. She guessed it proved that her guardian could indeed ride. In fact, he looked like a natural in the saddle. Strong thighs hugged the saddle, his hands casual yet assured on the reins. She should be admiring Lord Dunstan, and she did; it was just her gaze kept returning to Tony looking so handsome in his blue superfine jacket and top hat. She, of course, could not ride. If they needed to go to the village, Miss Covington would accompany the girls as they walked the mile and a half there and back. Perhaps once she was married, her husband might teach her.
“Miss Sterling, I wonder, if the weather is congenial and you have no other plans may we at some point come to Hyde Park and do some sketching or water coloring of the Serpentine and surrounds.”
