Page 88 of The Duke’s Rejected Mate

“I see. How long?”

He leans over and kisses the top of my head. “The notes have been steady for over a year, but recently, they started targeting me and then you. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you. I know you do not wish to be bound to this town house, but just give us a little while longer to figure things out.”

As I nod, he slips from my hands, and I go to finish the letters. My heart feels heavy as I request for all of them to come. At least he’s not trying to separate me from my friends. Besides, I can really use the distraction now that I know the true cause.

My heart flutters with happiness as all the wives crowd in around me. They greet me with smiles, well wishes, and hugs all around. Little Thomas even coos as he reaches his chubby little hands out to me. With a grin, I take him from Teresa and hold him in my lap.

“He’s been inconsolable without you,” she laughs. “Poor thing looks about the parlor every time I bring him down there. I can’t even walk by anymore without tears springing to his eyes.”

“Be honest,” Joseph says. “You’re just wanting someone who is willing to watch him so you can have the night off.”

“Well, who wouldn’t with a husband like you?”

The other men groan as he leans in to kiss her.

I hoist little Thomas up a bit higher, holding him close as I breathe in his smell. “Well, I don’t mind having him come visit whenever he likes. Such a charming little gentleman.”

“The child is certainly charming, but his emissions certainly are not.”

Lewis strides by with the massive vase in his hands from yesterday. “Emissions never are. Doesn’t matter the age.”

When he sets it down on a nearby table, Charles strides over. “Ah. The winnings. I had quite forgotten about that in the midst of such excitement yesterday.”

“I figured as much,” he laughs. “We have, of course, taken out the other notes and returned them to the wives so that they may spend them. I figured you’d want the vase.”

“I’m quite good without it.”

“Come now,” he chides with a soft chuckle. “It’s a family vase.”

“Then wouldn’t it look good in your house?”

“Gentlemen,” I laugh as I slide in between the two of them. “This is not Gentleman Jackson’s. The ladies and I will take tea in the garden. Be sure not to tear the house apart while we’re gone.”

Charles gives me an indulgent smile as he brings me close. “You heard the duchess.”

“We heard,” the men murmur as they go back toward Charles’s study.

Worry gnaws at my insides as we step into the cool, crisp air and sit at the nearby tables. Once the maids set out the tea and snacks, they go back inside so that we may have a bit of privacy. The others carry on, still laughing about and planning the sheer shifts they plan to surprise their husbands with.

“Penelope said there is to be a gathering at Midsummer,” I offer. “Perhaps we should all purchase a few scandalous bits and baubles made with this miracle fabric and wear them there. Won’t it be a lark if they talk with one another, speaking of our daring and prowess only to have it be us all?”

Augusta, of course, finds the most joy in this plan. She claps her hands in excitement as she takes up the charge, leading the conversation. I, on the other hand, sit and mull over what Charles told me this morning. I clutch little Thomas close, holding him as I bounce a bit.

“Cynthia,” Teresa calls out. “Are you well?”

“As well as I can be, I suppose.”

“Are you worried about the letters?” she asks, her face taking on a sympathetic smile.

The others take on a somber appearance, causing a flare of irritation to slide down my spine and wrap around my insides. “You all knew?”

They nod.

“And I didn’t until today.”

“To be fair,” Augusta chimes in, taking a cup of tea from one of the servants. “Things like this have been going on for far longer than you’ve been married. They’ve just been targeting you now.”

“I suppose. It does still feel wrong to not have heard a whisper of it.”