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James's expression changed. "Yes."

Olivia turned fully toward him. "Well?"

"No one is looking for him." The words were quiet, but they landed heavily. "No one has reported a missing child. No one has come searching. He is completely alone."

Olivia lowered her eyes, unable to find a response that did not sound like grief. "Who knows about him?" she asked after a moment.

James stepped closer. "For now, only my trusted servants. They are caring for him discreetly."

Olivia nodded, imagining the tiny boy somewhere within Glenmore Manor, surrounded by strangers who were nevertheless kinder than those who had left him.

"My proposal still stands," James reminded her gently. "Unless, of course, you have discovered that you truly like Lord Boulton … or being a maid"

Olivia looked at him. "I do not."

"I am relieved." His faint smile returned. "I would hate to have lost to a man with a paunch."

Olivia covered a laugh with her hand. "You really ought not to say such things about him."

"Why not? He has probably said worse about me."

"Perhaps." She set the cloth down. "But before I answer you, there are things I need to understand."

James's expression became serious. "Ask."

"Why do you need to lie about the baby's parentage?" Olivia asked. "Why can you not simply say that he was abandoned, and you took him in?"

James studied her carefully before answering. "I suppose you should know, because whatever I tell you will affect you too." His voice lowered. "I have no intention of fathering a child of my own."

Olivia's breath caught. "So, if you had hoped to carry a child one day, that is out of the question." Something inside her broke quietly.

She looked away. Perhaps this was what her mother had always meant when she told Olivia she was not made for motherhood. She would never know what it was like to feel a child move inside her, never know the wonder of carrying a life beneath her heart. She had always dismissed her mother's cruel predictions, but hearing James say it so plainly made the possibility suddenly real. There was an ache in her chest that she could not explain, and she hated herself for feeling it.

"And the second reason?" she asked softly.

"My father left an inconvenient heir clause," James replied. "I need to resolve it as quickly as possible."

Olivia nodded slowly, forcing herself back to the practical matter. "Then if we marry, my twin Louiza comes with us. You will sponsor her in society but never force her to marry"

James did not hesitate. "I have no objection."

"She will live with us, and she will be under your protection."

"Agreed." Olivia looked directly at him. "And no matter what we decide, I am apparently being taken to Gretna Green in four days to marry Lord Boulton."

"Then we simply have to be faster than they are," James said.

Something about the certainty in his voice sent Olivia's heart racing. He came closer, his gaze never leaving hers.

"If you say yes, I will make it happen."

Olivia could barely breathe. She tried to make peace with the thought that she would never experience carrying a child, telling herself that the abandoned little boy could become the child she had been denied. Maybe that would be enough.

Then footsteps sounded outside.

"Your Grace?" Lady Charnley's voice called from the corridor. "Where are you?"

Olivia's eyes widened. James reacted instantly, taking her hand and pulling her behind the heavy library curtains. They pressed themselves into the narrow space between the fabric and the wall, barely moving as Lady Charnley entered.