The duchess took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, then smiled. “My child is attempting to murder me. Slowly.”
“Would you like me to send for the doctor or midwife?” Dear Lord, don’t let her go into labor while he was there.
She shook her head and gave a feeble smile. “I’m told false labor is to be expected. If I sit for a bit, everything will be fine.”
Joshua nodded and helped her lower herself to the settee. Once she was seated, she gave another sigh and waved him over to the seat across from her. “To what do we owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit today? I thought you were coming after the first of the year to discuss the title and its holdings.”
“Are you worried about the holdings being passed on to your child?”
The duchess shook her head and rubbed her stomach. “I’m not concerned. I know this little demon inside me is a boy, and I have nothing to worry about.”
Joshua refrained from wincing. “But if it’s a girl?”
“Then my daughter will always have a home at Caerlaverock and I have faith in you to ensure the rest of the ducal estates, tenants, and servants are well taken care of.”
With that statement he did wince. “Mr. Jarvis has made it blatantly clear that my services will no longer be needed if he is the duke’s heir.”
She leaned as far forward as her stomach would allow and patted his hand. “Then you have nothing to worry about, because I know this child is a boy. A girl would never treat her mother in such a roughshod manner.”
He nodded his agreement but wasn’t certain a mother could determine if she was having a boy or a girl with that sort of barometer. If the duchess had a girl, it would not bode well for the servants or tenants of estates. “I’m actually here to see Lady Drake.”
The duchess grinned. Her expression somehow slier than the cat who ate the proverbial creme. “As you said. You don’t need to hide your affection for Phoebe from me. I couldn’t be happier for the two of you.”
He cleared his throat and nearly choked. “I—I assure you I don’t know what you mean.”
“Mr. Forrester, how long have I known you?”
“I’ve been in your service for almost a year, Your Grace.”
She waved her hand in dismissal of the meager timeframe. “I have known you since I was fourteen years old. I am now three and twenty.”
She spoke as if she were ready to move to the dowager house. “Our relationship when you were a child was a bit different than what it is now.”
“That’s true. You used to be my knight in shining armor.”
He blinked. Surely the duchess did not mean what he thought she meant, and yet for the life of him, he didn’t know how to respond. If Phoebe had been sitting in front of him, saying the same thing, the flirtation would have been automatic. “I hardly know what to say.”
The duchess stretched her back, appearing more uncomfortable by the moment. “You don’t have to say anything. What I’m trying to convey to you is that I am aware of the attraction between the two of you. How I missed it before is beyond comprehension. I’ve spent a good part of these past few months running over the different times I’ve witnessed the two of you together over the years, and the attraction was rather obvious. Yet not one person seemed to be aware of it. Except of course, Nithesdale.”
“He was the most observant man I’ve ever known. Nothing got past him.”
Her eyes teared up. “I miss him every day and I wish he was going to be here to see his son born.”
“I suspect he is still plotting and moving us on his chessboard from heaven.”
She chuckled. “I believe you are correct.”
Phoebe walked into the room and her eyes went wide as she froze just inside the door. He had believed she was avoiding him, her stunned expression proved otherwise. She’d been unaware of his arrival. He glanced at the duchess, who wore a pleased expression on her face, and he realized he had an ally where he had least expected. His gaze returned to Phoebe as he drank in her beauty and rose to his feet.
“Forgive me. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said and began to back out of the room, her gaze landing everywhere but on him.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” The duchess let out a deep breath as she finished speaking. The girth of her stomach taking a tremendous toll on her decorum.
Joshua crossed the room, unable to stop his perusal of Phoebe’s lush curves immaculately displayed in an emerald green day dress with pearl beading across her breasts. He bowed before her, suddenly envisioning her being round with pregnancy. The idea held more appeal than he’d ever imagined.
Phoebe pregnant with their child.
He took her hand and kissed the back of her knuckles, allowing his lips to linger as he looked up into her eyes and conveyed exactly what he would like to do to her without saying a word.
