“Good heavens.” She sank slowly onto her chaise. Caleb and Griffin seated themselves in a pair of silk upholstered armchairs with blue and silver stripes. The duchess looked at Caleb as if seeing him for the very first time. “I wasn’t aware you knew how to do that.”
“I did mention that I helped build houses during my time in France.”
“Well, yes,” she said, “but I thought you managed such projects. It never occurred to me you might have been one of the laborers! Good grief, whatever will people think if word gets out that the Duke of Camberly is nothing more than a drudge? The scandal will have no end, and your marriage prospects will likely dwindle, no matter the title.”
Caleb winced. This was why he’d gone to France in the first place. His parents’ unwillingness to accept him for who he was. Their constant judgment and ridicule.
“I think many young ladies admire a man who works hard,” Griffin said, coming to Caleb’s defense.
“Of course they do,” the duchess squeaked, “managing estates and making investments, not balancing on a roof or wielding a hammer. Dear God, the indecency of it, Camberly!”
“It’s what I enjoy,” he told her calmly.
She gave him a look that suggested he hadn’t a clue about what he enjoyed. “Don’t be absurd. Nobody wants to do such things. That is why those of us who can afford it have servants.”
Caleb inhaled deeply. This conversation was starting to grate. “I’ll accept that a lot of people might not, but I am different. I am—”
“A duke,” his mother provided, “and as such your place is in the study behind your desk or at your club or even at a gaming hell if you so desire, but it is not on top of a roof.” She sank back against the corner of her chaise with a look of complete exhaustion. “Can you imagine if I suddenly decided I like scrubbing floors or mucking out stables?”
Griffin grinned. “Now there would be a sight to behold.”
The duchess glared at him before shifting her gaze back to Caleb. “Your duty is to maintain the fortune your forefathers have amassed, add to it if you can, and secure the lineage by marrying well and producing heirs. The more the better, I say.”
“And if that is not what I want?”
She pressed her lips together and turned her head sharply toward the corner of the room. “Your father and brother are both dead, Camberly, and you are the next in line. It is not what any of us wanted, but it is what it is, and we must all learn to live with it.”
“Duty before all else,” Griffin murmured. He gave Caleb an apologetic glance.
Caleb clenched his hands. “What about happiness?”
The duchess sniffed and he saw to his surprise that her eyes had begun to shimmer. “The dukedom is bigger than we are. It will exist long after we are forgotten, but it also demands sacrifice and dedication, and I have certainly done my part, as has your father.”
“By marrying for convenience rather than love,” Caleb said, voicing his knowledge of his parents’ unhappy union for the very first time.
“If you turn your back on the duty your title demands, it will all have been for nothing,” his mother said with a tremulous voice.
“It must end somewhere,” Caleb told her gently, “or would you have all our descendants be just as unhappy as you have been most of your life?”
He could see that the question gave her pause, and he took that opportunity to reach for her hand. “Doing what I love doesn’t mean rejecting the title.”
“But the gossips will tear you to shreds. Your reputation will be ruined and…and…”
“And what?” He tightened his hold on her hand and waited for her to meet his gaze more completely. “Why does any of that matter? I’m a duke, Mama. I do not need theton’sapproval or care what they choose to say about me.”
“If only I could be as blasé about this as you,” she said. “If only I had an ounce of your courage.”
“You’ll have my support and protection along with my love,” he told her sincerely. “But if you stand in the way of my happiness, you will have my resentment as well, just as Father always did.”
“He only wanted what was best for you, Camberly.”
Caleb shook his head. “No. He didn’t. If he had, he would not have stopped paying for my education at Oxford when he discovered I’d switched my religious studies to architectural ones.”
Sighing, the duchess slowly nodded. “I think you may be right.” She pressed her lips together and frowned. “We’ve ruined your life, haven’t we?”
He smiled at her warmly. “Don’t be silly, Mama. I’d never allow you to do that. I’m much too stubborn and bent on doing what I want regardless of who disapproves.”
“You were a fine example for Devlin and me,” Griffin said. “You gave us both courage to pursue our own dreams.”
