Clarinda nodded, her attention still on David. “Don’t you find it rather odd that about the time our children have reached the age to marry, we find ourselves with child again?”
“I do,” Diana agreed, her head nodding. “Especially after what Adam learned about our twins this morning.” She winced, rather glad he hadn’t gone to his study the day before. His general good mood throughout dinner and their time together in his bedchamber later that night wouldn’t have happened if he had read the letters from Andrew and the Dean of Academics at the university.
Now that he had, he was livid. Only her reminder that she was off to see her physician had him settling down a bit.
A maid appeared on the threshold, a tea tray held in front of her. She hurried to the low table between the ladies and set it down. “Would you like me to serve, m’lady?”
“I’ll see to it,” Clarinda replied, deciding she didn’t want any servants learning of her pregnancy. At least, not yet. She leaned forward to prepare the cups and pour the tea. She waited until the maid had curtsied and left the parlor before she furrowed her brows. “Pray tell, what did he learn about the boys?” She knew Anthony and Andrew quite well. Her daughters were about the same age, and their circle of friends included the boys. She knew that Andrew, the spare heir of the twin, had held a candle for Danielle since they were young children.
“It doesn’t matter,” Diana replied with a shake of her head as she accepted a cup of tea. She expected that after a few days of circumspection, Adam would change his mind and relent on his demand that the boys return home, court, and take wives before he would resume their allowances. “Well, except that he’s quite insistent the boys get married.”
Clarinda furrowed a brow, wondering what had the former rogue deciding such a thing. Perhaps he remembered his behavior far too well and didn’t want his sons following in his footsteps. “Well, if it’s any consolation, my twins are rebelling against the idea of marriage,” Clarinda stated as she offered the plate of biscuits. “Take two or three,” she ordered when Diana meekly took only one. “Dahlia found the books about sexual congress in the library. Now they have a fear of the marriage bed,” she said with a roll of her eyes. She helped herself to two of the lemon biscuits. “They want... proof, I suppose, of a man’s ability to make marriage... worth it. Proof they won’t have to put up with a philandering husband.” She sighed. “I thought I had done everything right whilst raising them,” she added on a sigh. Clarinda’s gaze once again went to the window behind Diana, but she gave a start when she realized David was no longer there.
Bastard.
She bit into a lemon biscuit, determined she would eat all of them if Diana didn’t help herself to more.
“I’m quite sure my sons were counting on a Grand Tour of Europe,” Diana countered, lifting a finger to brush a crumb from the edge of her mouth. “At least, Andrew certainly was. He’s talked about it since he was a young boy.”
“Danielle claimed she wants to use her inheritance to go to Italy. Maybe even live there,” Clarinda groused.
Lady Aimsley chuckled. “My boys were counting on a few more years of attending the entertainments before taking wives,” she said with a wince. Although she was fairly sure they weren’t about to live the lives of rogues, much like their father had done before marrying her, she wasn’t sure what might have happened to change them during their time at university. For all she knew, they might be tupping serving wenches at every public house or paying prostitutes for quick tumbles. The thought had a shudder of revulsion passing through her. She finished off the biscuit and started on another.
“Have they any young ladies in mind to court?” Clarinda asked, sharing her friend’s concern. “The current crop of debutantes are just so...” She rolled her eyes as she ate another biscuit.
“Insipid,” Diana said.
“Exactly.”
“Far too young to be marrying.”
“Far too young to be having babies,” Clarinda put in, helping herself to another biscuit. She couldn’t understand what had her feeling so hungry all of a sudden.
“Which means they really need to be looking to marry young ladies closer to their age,” Diana stated, starting on another biscuit.
Clarinda blinked. “How old are they?”
“Nearly one-and-twenty.”
A slow smile appeared to brighten Clarinda’s face. “Oh, but the solution is so perfect, Diana,” she murmured.
“Solution?”
“Of course. My girls are two-and-twenty. They need to marry your boys,” Clarinda stated. “They already know them. They’ve been socializing with them since they were children,” she reasoned. “And I do believe your Andrew has his eye on Danielle.”
Clarinda knew from her conversations with Dahlia that her oldest twin had always found that Anthony’s mannerisms made him seem older than he was, but she respected his position as heir to an earldom. As for Andrew, Dahlia thought of him as the perfect younger brother, one she could boss about, while Danielle deferred to whatever Anthony said while she and Andrew behaved as if they were the best of friends.
“Problem solved,” Clarinda stated. She blinked when she realized David had reappeared next to the window, giving her a nod of satisfaction.
Bastard.
Diana blinked. “Oh, it makes sense, of course,” she agreed. For her sons to be wed to the daughters of the Norwick earldom did make perfect sense.
Never mind that Anthony found Dahlia too opinionated or Danielle too demure. That Andrew thought of Dahlia more as his older sister or Danielle his best friend or perhaps more. Between the four of them, they should be able to determine the perfect couplings.
“How do we make this happen?” Diana asked.
Clarinda furrowed a brow, but her attention went to David, who had settled against the wall, his arms crossed and his face displaying a self-satisfied sort of expression. “Perhaps we don’t have todoanything,” she replied, arching an elegant brow.
David’s expression changed to one of alarm.
“Let’s let fate intervene, shall we?” Clarinda added, rather enjoying how the ghost of her late husband seemed to slide down the wall until his bottom hit the floor.
“Well, if you’re sure,” Diana replied uncertainly.
Clarinda grinned. “I’m quite sure,” she said, one hand going to her belly.
She could only hope she wasn’t carrying another set of twins.
