“Thank you.”
“Thank you, Beatrice. Would you please dispose of this?” He handed her the paper, ignoring the loud objections from his sisters.
“Brother, you are overreacting,” Jac said. “Truly, they were very complimentary. You were described as having sterling intellect and unimpeachable honor.”
“There is beauty in your self-restraint.”
“You are steadfast in your convictions.”
Jac snickered. “Your countenance is comely.”
“Comelyandcurmudgeonly.”
“Winnie!” Meg snapped. She turned to Peter. “They did not say that.”
Winnie pouted. “They should have, don’t you think? Our new sister should be forewarned.”
Meg narrowed her eyes. “Young ladies are already aware that Peter is prickly with those he does not know well. We don’t need the newspapers suggesting such disposition runs any deeper than the surface.”
“Exactly, sister.” No one needed to see Jac’s full expression to know that it was smug. She turned to Winnie. “Which is why it must be Meg who calls on candidates to discuss the matter. You would likely bungle it.”
Winnie snatched another cushion and lobbed it. Peter intercepted it and made a mental note to have all throwable objects banished until Jac was able to defend herself. He stared them down.
“This period during which I search for the new duchess will be brief, and it willnotinvolve any of you. In fact, I hope to have it done and dusted within the next few days.”
The room went unnervingly quiet. Meg and Winnie exchanged a look and then Meg poured the tea as though he hadn’t saidanything. Winnie demurely folded her hands in front of her, and Jac neatened her skirts. They were the picture of propriety.
Cautiously optimistic that he had, in fact, been able to curtail their meddling before it began, Peter took the tea Meg handed him and passed it to Jac, wincing in anticipation of her dropping it, or spilling it, or hitting herself in the face with it. He had ordered all food and drink to be served lukewarm for the duration of her recovery, but his sisters had kicked up such a fuss that he’d rescinded his direction and instead insisted she use a lap blanket to protect herself from a scalding.
“What are your plans for the rest of the day?” he asked, hopeful that it was safe to change the topic.
His optimism was unfounded. Jactsked as she gingerly raised her tea cup. “Brother, you can hardly expect to fall in love in a single week.”
“He doesn’t plan to fall in love at all,” Meg interjected.
Peter quickly swooped to steady Jac’s hand as her mouth dropped open. Winnie’s nostrils flared. Damn Rhett and his over-the-top public declaration of love. It had set an impossible standard.
Love wasn’t for dukes, which is why he had accepted that his marriage was to be a business decision, one hashed out between him and his peers over a glass of port at White’s rather than formed in the chandelier-lit glow of a ballroom.
Margaret took a sip of tea and then leaned forward conspiratorially. “He won’t even dance with them anymore, apparently.”
Jac shook her head slowly and patronizingly, as if she were eighty years old and not a girl a full ten years younger than him. “What is he thinking?”
“We cannot tolerate his behavior,” Winnie said.
“I am in theroom,” he snapped. “And you do not have a say in the matter. This is not a democracy.”
The room darkened, like an airship had appeared and blocked out the sun. All three of them looked at him in outrage. At least, two of them did. Jac snarled instead.
Blast.He rubbed his temples. “What I mean to say is that my personal life, or lack thereof, is not open for discussion. I welcome your opinion on all other aspects of our family.”
Meg smiled at him. With teeth. “Oh, do you now? Youwelcomeour input in our own lives. How gracious of you.”
“That is not—”Damn.This was why he preferred to remain silent when faced with his siblings’ antics. Now he needed to explain himself. “Last night simply confirmed what I already knew—that I will not get a single iota of authenticity among marriageable women. They say whatever they think I want to hear and agree with whatever opinion I offer in the hope that I’ll make them the Duchess of Strafford. I don’t respect that. I could never love it.”
What he would never tell them was that he’d lost all trust in women the day his brother’s heart had been broken. It wasn’t Peter’s fault that a schemer had toyed with Rhett to get close to Peter, but he could still recall the twisted, ashen look on his brother’s face and the rending of his own heart at the sight of open dresser drawers, strewn clothing, and a missing portmanteau. Her actions had driven Rhett abroad and torn the family apart.
For five years he’d had to bear his siblings’ suffering. It had not been hisfault, but he had been thecause. He could not forgive himself. Nor would he forget.
