Page 36 of Her Scandalous Pursuit

“Exactly.” She smiled to herself. “I remember following Papa around when I was little. Theo would get bored and slope off. He was more like the Greats, always running everywhere. But I liked to listen to Papa talk. I didn’t know half of what he talked about, but I liked the way he talked to me, as if I were grown-up. And his crates and pots and books were more interesting than Mother’s meetings.”

Alex jumped up from the floor and turned to look toward the doorway, like a pointer-spotting game. Con, standing on the table and about to launch himself after his brother, swiveled around to follow his brother’s gaze. Then, almost as one, they cried, “Granna!” Con jumped down and they took off for the door.

“Oh, dear.” Thisbe looked toward the door. “Perhaps she won’t come in here.”

In the hall there were cries of “Granna! Come see! Come see!”

Thisbe grimaced. There was no escape now. She swung around to Desmond. “I don’t think we can avoid her. I have to warn you—”

“You think she’ll disapprove of me.”

“No. Well, I mean, yes, she probably will, but that doesn’t matter. Her approval isn’t necessary to me. She doesn’t approve of my mother, either...or any number of people, for that matter. The problem is one never knows what Grandmother will say or do. It’s not only that she’s critical and judgmental—she’s also peculiar.”

“Peculiar?” His mouth quirked up at the corner. “I thought that was something the Morelands took pride in.”

“Not to the extent that we claim to talk to ghosts.”

“The dowager duchess does?” Desmond asked calmly.

“Yes. Her dead husband. Her mother. She told us the other day that she communes with the first duke’s spirit in the drawing room.”

“I shan’t be bothered. I’m accustomed to people who believe in spirits, after all.” He unfolded his long limbs and stood up, reaching down a hand to Thisbe.

“Desmond, please—please don’t mention your professor or his study.”

“I would think she would have no problem with that, if she believes as he does.”

“One never knows with her.” Thisbe glanced over her shoulder toward the door. The dowager duchess’s cane had begun to thump down the hall again, punctuating the twins’ excited chatter. “She might declare it all folderol because he doesn’t agree with her. Or, worse, she’ll want to throw in her lot with him. No matter what a thorn she is in one’s side sometimes, she is my grandmother, and I can’t bear to have her taken advantage of.”

“He wouldn’t—”

“Please.”

“Very well. If you wish it, I won’t say anything.”

“Thank you.” Thisbe breathed a sigh of relief. Now all she had to worry about was warding off whatever way her grandmother would choose to insult Desmond.

“Who fixed it? Who is this fellow Damon?” Her grandmother’s voice boomed from outside the room.

“He’s Thisbe’s,” Con answered simply.

“Thisbe’s? Thisbe’s what?” Thisbe’s grandmother asked as she stepped in the door, her face turned down to the little boys tugging on her skirts. Thisbe’s mother entered the room behind them.

“Dezment!” The twins pointed triumphantly at Desmond.

The dowager duchess raised her head and saw Thisbe and Desmond standing in the middle of the room. She came to a dead stop and stared. “Good God in heaven!”

“Grandmother,” Thisbe began, starting toward her.

Her grandmother paid no attention to Thisbe. Her gaze was riveted on Desmond. Flinging out her hand to point at him like Jophiel sending Adam and Eve from the garden, the dowager duchess proclaimed, “For your love, my granddaughter will die.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

A SHIVER RAN down Thisbe’s spine. “Grandmother!”

“Duchess! Really!” Emmeline said, eyes flashing. “That is the outside of enough. I do my best to pay you the proper respect, but I will not countenance you insulting visitors in my home.”

Thisbe turned to Desmond. The blood had run out of his face, and he was staring at the dowager duchess in a horror equal to that lady’s own. Even the twins had been silenced by their grandmother’s words and they stood staring up at her with jaws dropped. The boys turned toward Emmeline, eyes wide, and moved closer together. “Mama?”