Page 49

“Give him time. He is merely testing you, the way he tests everyone.” Anna reached for the small dish of mashed pear Angelica had left for them and passed Hudson a spoon. “You may attempt to feed him. I shall see to Lucy.”

Hudson began to protest, but seemingly hesitated for a moment before he asked,

“Is there a particular technique you would prefer that I utilize?”

“Patience, mostly. And a willingness to accept defeat gracefully when it comes, as it inevitably will.”

“I do not accept defeat gracefully in any arena,” Hudson announced, accepting the spoon with grim determination, as though he were preparing for battle rather than feeding his children. “I shall have you know I once negotiated an entire shipping contract to a standstill rather than concede a single unfavorable term.”

“Timothy is rather less straightforward, in comparison, than you might hope,” Anna pointed out, already smiling in anticipation of what was to come.

What followed was, in Anna’s estimation, one of the more entertaining half hours she had spent for as long as she could remember.

Hudson approached the task of feeding his son with the same methodical focus he likely brought to all his matters of business and estate – a fact which quickly proved entirely useless against a four-month-old with very firm opinions about the pace at which he wished to be fed. Timothy turned his face away twice, just as Hudson had nearly nudged the spoon past his lips, resulting in a smear of pear across the child’s cheek. Once, with impressive aim, he managed to fling a small fistful of the mash directly onto the front of Hudson’s shirt.

“That was done purposely,” Hudson complained, staring down at the stain with an expression of such genuine betrayal that Anna could not help but laugh.

“I'm afraid he lacks the coordination for that sort of deliberate mischief, Your Grace,” she managed between giggles. “Though I confess, watching you attempt to reason with him as though he might apologize is rather worth the mess.”

“I was not reasoning with him. I was informing him of the consequences of his actions.” Hudson attempted to sound dignified and failed entirely, a small, reluctant smile tugging at his mouth as he wiped at his shirt with little success. “He is remarkably unbothered by consequence, for one so small.”

“He takes after his father in that regard, I think,” Anna said before she could stop herself.

Hudson glanced up at her, something flickering behind his eyes.

“Do you think so?”

“You were not terribly bothered by consequence either, as I recall, the night you had me dragged into your study,” Anna pointed out, though there was no bite left in the words, only the easy familiarity of an old grievance long since softened by time.

“A fair point,” Hudson conceded easily. “Though I would argue I have improved since then. Rowland, at least, has not made any further attempts to challenge me to a duel as of late.”

“He has simply begun to consider the idea of growing fond of you, though he would sooner eat his own cravat than admit it aloud,” Anna shrugged, knowing fully well that her husband was still on rather thin ice with her brother.

“I appreciate your efforts to motivate me into believing that your brother and I will ever be on cordial terms, duchess, but perhaps we should leave such wishful thoughts for when we need reasons to dream,” Hudson grumbled in a way that made her chuckle.

Lucy, finished with her own meal and evidently displeased at being ignored, let out a demanding squawk from Anna’s arms, and both of them turned their attention to her, momentarily united in the shared, helpless amusement of parents faced with their own children’s tyranny.

“She has your temperament, I think,” Hudson observed, watching Lucy’s small fists wave in the air. “Utterly certain that the world ought to arrange itself around her convenience.”

“I have never once been so unreasonable,” Anna scoffed, with as much dignity as she could summon while delicately wiping pear from her sleeve.

“You attempted to bite my finger off the day I proposed to you.”

“You put your thumb against my mouth to silence me. I consider my response entirely justified.”

“A curious sort of justice, biting a man who is attempting to make you his duchess.”

“I have always believed justice ought to be somewhat inconvenient for the party receiving it. Otherwise, what is the point?”

“And then I kissed you regardless,” Hudson pointed out, quieter now, something warmer threading through his voice.

Anna’s hands stilled over Lucy’s small blanket. It was the first time either of them had spoken of that moment directly since it happened – the rapid whirl of events that transpired before either of them understood what they were doing.

“You did,” she acknowledged carefully, not quite meeting his eyes.

“I have thought of it, now and again,” Hudson admitted, and not for the first time, Anna wondered what he was trying to accomplish with all these little truths he kept on revealing. “More than I ought to, given the circumstances under which our marriage began.”

Anna did not know what to say to that, so she said nothing at all, busying herself instead with settling Lucy more securely against her shoulder. But her heart was beating rather too quickly for the moment to have been as inconsequential as she wished it were, and when she dared glance up, she found Hudson watching her with an expression she recognized easily now – the same one she had seen across the breakfast table, the one she still had not found a name for.