“Does this really seem like the kind of thing I would make up?”
“No, no, of course not, but.” Her heartbeat surged. “It’s just that I’m caught completely unaware.”
His expression remained suspicious. “I assumed you knew he’d planned an extensive holiday abroad and changed the guardianship.”
“No,” she said, feeling shaky again, but determined not to sound as if she were about to fall apart. “Did you ask him to do this?” she demanded of him.
His eyes narrowed again. “I assumed you did.”
“Me?” She gasped again. “Of course not. Why would I want you to be guardian of me and my sisters?”
“Perhaps you were eager to marry me?”
“You!” she exclaimed, staring at him in disbelief. “I would not marry you if you were dipped in gold and trussed up with rubies, Your Grace. When we arrived here, there was a letter from my uncle stating that he would be gone for the Season, but not that he had left England. Mrs. Trumpington is the only servant he left behind to help us. I’m sure she doesn’t know anything about this either. Surely she would have said something to me.”
“Did you travel here alone?”
Feeling numb and bewildered, she said. “Of course not. I knew better than to attempt that. Miss Kindred is the younger girls’ governess. She has been with our family since before I was Bonnie’s age.”
“Did Lord Wayebury leave you without securing Gwen a chaperone for the Season?”
Once more, she shook her head. “His letter stated that his wife’s sister, Mrs. Ramona Colthrust, would be here to guide us through the Season, but she wasn’t here when we arrived and I’ve heard nothing from her.”
His eyes darkened and narrowed yet again. “I have met Mrs. Colthrust. She is not a suitable chaperone for you or anyone else.”
“You are not suitable to be in charge of us either,” she said indignantly.
Suddenly Lillian’s playing was more than Louisa could bear at the moment. Louisa turned to her and, in as quiet a manner as she could muster, said, “Lillian, would you please go ask Mrs. Trumpington to add some apricot tarts to the tea tray?”
“Yes, Sister,” she said, and quietly left the room.
Louisa looked back to the duke, furious her uncle had been so unkind as to force this man upon them. First her father died, then her brother, and now her uncle had abandoned them, too. She knew the responsibility for five girls was a lot for anyone to manage, but to cast them off like unwanted garments to a stranger proved just how little her uncle cared for them.
She sensed the duke was growing weary of their conversation by the deep frown line between his eyes, but she had more to say. “My uncle never wanted the responsibility for us in the first place, so I am not surprised by his unscrupulous actions. But I can’t believe you would accept. A true gentleman wouldn’t have.”
“A true gentleman did—all because I made a promise to a dying friend. It’s also true your uncle left me no choice. I couldn’t deny that I was the proper person to take care of the woman I said I would marry. More than a dozen men heard me tell your brother I would. And most of them have long wondered why I haven’t made good on my word.”
“Rubbish! I don’t believe for a minute that anyone even remembers my brother, let alone your vow to him.”
“On the contrary, Miss Prim—they expect a gentleman to keep his word, so what am I to do? I can assure you the last thing I want is to be in charge of a gaggle of blond-haired, blue-eyed girls who run around the house screaming like banshees thinking the hounds of Hell are after them.”
Louisa expelled another harsh sound. She rose tall on her toes and lifted her face toward the duke. “Did you call my sisters banshees?”
His hard gaze bored into hers. “Did you and your sister race around this house making noises that would have woken the dead?”
She blushed despite her indignation. “You’re a beast.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, too.”
“That doesn’t surprise me in the least,” she countered. “Say what you truly feel about me, but do not speak of my sisters in such a manner.”
She heard him curse under his breath and saw the muscles working in his neck. “I saidlikebanshees, not that they are.”
“Same meaning,” she said, pressing harder, unwilling to let him off the hook for his offensive expression or back away from him. “Would you say something so unkind about your brothers or sisters?”
“Yes. If I had any. It so happens I don’t.”
“Cousins, then.”
