“We have that,” Danielle stated. “With Father... or Uncle Daniel, I suppose I should say.”
“Daniel will not live forever,” Clarinda replied, a wince appearing when she realized she could easily outlive him. He was considerably older than she was, as was her brother, the Earl of Heath. “And you’ll not have children, at least not legitimate children,” she went on, hoping there wouldn’t be illegitimate children in their futures. The earldom wasn’t in possession of a seaside cottage in which the girls could reside whilst raising a bastard.
“That’s because having a child would require at least one trip to the marriage bed,” Dahlia replied.
“Would it really be so bad, do you suppose?” Danielle whispered. “What if you had a contract with Anthony that limited the positions in which you’re willing to be bedded?”
Dahlia stared at her sister as if she were a traitor. “Who have you been speaking with?”
Danielle shrugged. “Mother, I suppose,” she replied in a whisper. “All the ‘ohs’ weren’t because she was appalled,” she reasoned. “And why are we whispering?”
Clarinda rolled her eyes. “I cannot help what comes out of my mouth whilst your uncle pleasures me,” she stated in a loud voice.
“Ssh!” Dahlia said as she lifted a finger to her lips. She pointed with the other hand to the door. “Hummel,” she mouthed silently.
Clarinda scoffed and moved to shut the door. She faced the two girls, her hands on her hips. “I’m of a mind to find the Comber twins at the garden party tomorrow and tell them they can have their ways with you. Ruin you thoroughly so that you have to marry them.”
“Too late,” a male voice said from the corner.
All three women shrieked in unison before Clarinda rolled her eyes. “David!” she scolded. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Since you invoked my name,” he replied as he unfolded his arms from his chest and plunged his hands into his pockets. “I’ll have you know it’s all under control,” he added, a grin of satisfaction lifting his lips. “Whilst you and Lady Aimsley were discussing your pregnancies, I was seeing to our daughters.”
Dahlia and Danielle both gasped. “Mother?” they said in unison. “You’re having a baby?”
“David!” Clarinda scolded again. “I haven’t yet told Daniel,” she wailed.
“Or us!”
She gave her daughters a quelling glance. “I haven’t even confirmed it with a physician,” she added. “I only suspected it this morning, when Lady Aimsley paid a call.”
The girls turned their attentions on their father. “Is she?” they asked, as if they trusted his answer.
“Yes, but it’s another boy,” he said as he waved a hand in dismissal.
“Thank the gods,” Clarinda murmured.
The girls sighed in disappointment. “It would be nice to have a sister.”
Before Clarinda could stop him, David piped up with, “But you already do.”
Their startled gazes going to their mother, the twins both said, “What?” at the same time.
“Don’t look at me,” Clarinda said. She lifted her chin in David’s direction. “He’s the one who had anaffairewith my late Aunt Arabella,” she added on a huff.
“Before she married the Earl of Craythorne,” David put in, not about to admit to an illicitaffaire. “Whilst I was still a young buck in university.”
The girls looked as if they were going to faint. “Cousin Isabella?” Danielle ventured. “The Duchess of Huntington is really our... oursister?” she whispered in awe.
“Half-sister,” Clarinda stated.
“Doessheknow?” Dahlia asked in shock.
“She knows,” Clarinda replied. “As does Octavius, the duke,” she added, deciding that would be their next query.
“In my defense, your Aunt Arabella was the spitting image of your mother,” David stated. “Gorgeous.”
“I was two-and-twenty when she died,” Clarinda countered on a huff.
