“May I be of assistance to you, Your Grace?” Sparks said calmly from the doorway as Lady Sara and Lady Vera skidded up to flank him.
Lady Vera gasped as she surveyed the broken pieces scattered around the floor. “What happened?”
“Oh my!” Lady Sara cried as she covered her mouth with her hands. “How did the cat get out of my room?”
“This must be the girl and her dog,” Lady Vera said. “Auntie Eve was just telling us about them.”
Her anger spent, despair settled around Esmeralda. She could have never imagined anything so catastrophic would happen. And all because of a cat. She swallowed hard and opened her mouth to tell the duke they would leave immediately, but he spoke first.
“Lady Vera, Lady Sara, this is Miss Swift’s sister, Miss Josephine, and her dog, Napoleon.”
In the midst of all that happened and with tears in her bright green eyes, Josephine had the presence of mind to curtsy to the young ladies after the introduction and say a greeting.
Lady Vera stepped farther into the room. “I thought you must have been teasing Auntie Eve when you told her their names were Napoleon and Josephine.”
“I was not teasing, and I’m in no mood for teasing right now, Vera,” the duke said. “They will be living here with Miss Swift for the Season. I suppose I should have mentioned it when we were talking earlier.”
“That’s highly irregular,” Vera offered. “That a chaperone would bring her sister and her dog with her.”
“They are here because that’s the way I want it,” he answered.
“Well, all right. I don’t mind.” Vera huffed. “But if Miss Swift could bring her dog to Mayfair, why couldn’t we bring Jasper with us to London?”
Esmeralda watched the duke’s jaw tighten. She was waiting for an opportunity to enter into the conversation so she could excuse herself, Josephine, and Napoleon and get out of the house with the least amount of fanfare as possible.
“I’ve never kept you from bringing Jasper,” the duke said. “If you wanted to bring him, all you had to do was do it.”
“I didn’t think you would allow us to.”
“Why didn’t you ask? He’s as much, if not more, your dog than mine. I would have told you to bring him.” He turned to his other sister and asked, “Sara, is that your cat?”
“Not exactly,” she timidly said, looking at the excited tabby in Esmeralda’s arms.
“Then what, exactly?” he asked pointedly.
“I saw him in the front of our house yesterday, so I picked him up and brought him inside to give him some milk. I was going to put him back out when it grew dark, but instead, I ended up keeping him in my room all night. My maid must have let him out. I’m sorry, Griffin. I should have asked for permission before keeping him, but he was so friendly.”
“He’s clean and looks well fed,” the duke offered, as Napoleon tried to lick his face again. “I don’t think he’s a stray. He obviously belongs to someone, and they are probably looking for him to return.”
“Don’t be angry with her, Griffin,” Lady Vera said, coming to her sister’s defense. “She had no way of knowing there would be a dog in the house today.”
He inhaled deeply and looked at Josephine. “I’m not angry with anyone.”
“You sounded like you were,” Josephine said.
“You’re right, I did. I’m sorry about that.” He looked over at Esmeralda. His gaze swept down her face. “And I think your sister is sorry too. Aren’t you, Miss Swift?”
If only he knew. “Immensely sorry, Your Grace, and Josephine.”
“I’m sorry too,” Sara said softly to Josephine. “It was my fault about the cat, but I like your dog.”
“He’s usually a good dog.”
“He will be again,” the duke said, walking over and handing Napoleon to Sparks. “Take him outside.” He then turned to Josephine. “Go with him,” he told her as he took the cat from Esmeralda’s arms and gave him to Lady Sara. “Sara, put him back out the front door where you found him so he can find his way back home. Do not bring him back into this house as long as Napoleon is here. Vera, go tell Lady Evelyn what happened before the stress from all the noise has her rash spreading to the other side of her face. I’m sure she’s desperate to know what all the uproar was about.” He then turned to Esmeralda and said, “You stay there.”
Esmeralda groaned silently as she nodded for the tearful Josephine to follow Sparks out and then watched as the twins quietly left the room too. She should have known that working for the duke, earning the kind of money he’d promised, was only a dream. A very fine dream that had filled her with the kind of excited anticipation she hadn’t had since before her mother died.
Why had she let herself believe their lives would be different, better than before they met the duke? Why had she agreed to try? She should have never said yes to the determined duke. Getting her hopes up and Josephine’s too only to have them dashed caused a great hurt deep in her soul.
