Page 62 of Raising the Duke’s Unexpected Twins

Cordelia swallowed, new truths settling inside her. She could feel affection for Nicholas, and that much was certain. She did…like him and she was most assuredly attracted to him, and she felt that in some ways, he liked her. But love? That seemed entirely impossible and illogical.

And dangerous.

“Well, until that matter is settled, Mama, I think that you and me, Em, Danae, and the children have tea and cake.”

Her mother looked as though she was about to protest but then nodded. “Yes, tea does solve all troubles. Come children!” she called, and Cordelia settled back, smiling as Tim came to sit with her, and she pulled him up onto her lap.

“Do you like tea, Tim?” she teased, and he nodded, reaching forward to grab at a piece of cake.

“Mind your manners, Tim,” the viscountess said, and Tim paused.

“Please?” he asked Cordelia, and then she reached for it and handed it to him.

As for Olivia, she sat between Danae and Emma and looked pleased as punch as she received her own piece of cake. Cordelia locked eyes with her mother for a moment. Yes, her new little family was a nice thing but still, there was so much left to be resolved, healed, and unraveled. She lifted a cup of tea with one hand while she kept another hand on Tim, eager to think of nothing else but her family, the children, and a hot cup of tea.

* * *

“You are going to wear a hole in the carpet if you keep pacing like that,” Darren said from the office door as Nicholas paced.

He had come to do work, but instead, he found his mind jumbled. The surprise visit from the children in his study had unseated him. Why should they wish to see him when he’d done what he could to build a wall around his heart and to keep at a distance? He couldn’t work it out.

“I’ll pace as I please. There’s the matter of dealing with last night’s winnings and keeping the dealers happy. I’m thinking of solutions,” he said with a nod to himself as he kept moving.

“Sure. You tell yourself that. I only came up to get the interview for the new dealer scheduled.”

Nicholas nodded, his mind in a frenzy. “What about the cooks? Have they been given the new menu?”

“Yes, yes. All is in hand. You know I’ve been running the place all right without you. Your cousin’s been by a number of times too, offering assistance here and there.”

“Oh.” Nicholas paused to look at Darren. “How uncharacteristically kind and helpful of my cousin.”

He went to sit behind the desk, and he pulled out an unopened letter. Yes, business matters would settle him. They always had in the past.

Darren chuckled, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. “You don’t like your cousin?”

“I do, but he’s usually only focused on his own pleasures, bedding as many women as he pleases and drinking as much champagne as he possibly can in an evening.”

“That sounds like someone else I know.”

Nicholas scoffed. “Whatever happened to being able to find good help these days? All I’ve got now is an employee mocking his own boss.”

Darren laughed, his eyes sparkling with mirth. He was a good man to have around. Thick skin, and Nicholas was in no mood to be placating anyone. He felt like he was going to burst out of his own skin; his mind couldn’t settle on one logical thought.

“Leonard said he spotted you and that pretty wife of yours at the earl’s ball the other evening. He’s made another bet with me that you’re already deeply in love with her and just don’t know it.”

Nicholas felt a little flip of his heart, but he kept his eyes down, pretending to peruse his letter. “What a fool he is. He always was a romantic. And you bet against it?” he lifted a brow and looked up.

Darren shrugged. “I said that if you really loved a woman, you wouldn’t let anything stop you. That isn’t your way. You want something; you race after it until you have it. You’re bold like that.”

Nicholas blinked, surprised at Darren’s compliment. “Yes, well, that’s not what’s happening,” he said, even if something rang true in Darren’s words.

He stood. “I think I’ll mingle with the customers instead this evening. Too much nonsense in this office for me.” He grinned at Darren. “But you’re right. When I want something, I do go after it. And right now, I should like to have a large whisky.”

Down amongst the customers with said whisky in hand, Nicholas felt his tension fizzing out a bit more. He was friendly, chatting to a few here and there, making sure people had their drinks and food and were enjoying the new menu. He shook hands here, laughed at a bawdy joke there, and wandered about the room, doing what he usually did as the proprietor. And yet, his mind kept wandering back to the excitement of the children as they came into his office to find him.

He found himself smiling at Olivia’s question of cake, and the feel of them in his arms had lifted his heart in a way that it had not lifted in many, many years.

Fool. You will only lead them to trouble if you get close.