Page 33

Truly? Wasn’t there an inkling of regard left for the duke?

Not any that he’d felt in a very long while.

That truth sobered him all the more.

Eden draped her wrap over the foot of the bed, her face creased with silent concern.

“Have a drink of water, Dulcina,” Mattie said, extending a full glass.

After taking a sip, Miss Haverden passed it back. “I’m sure your father is delighted to have you home, my lord. Even when they’ve become adults, parents worry about their children.”

The love-filled glance she gifted Eden with caused a twinge of envy behind Chester’s breastbone.

Miss Haverden waved her blue-veined hand toward her daughter.

“Go on, Eglantina. I’m perfectly fine.”

Smoothing another quilt over her mother’s lap, Eden produced one of her famous infectious smiles, and despite the sobriety of the moment, Chester’s lips twitched in answer.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, Mama. I’ll bring tea too, and Jane sent hot cross buns for you.”

How Eden could command such poise when her brother had just turned her out and her mother had collapsed, Chester couldn’t fathom, but he admired her even more for her valor.

Once in the sitting room, he examined the furnishings again. Everywhere he looked, he observed signs of stark poverty. A blanket covered the sagging settee’s cushions, and except for two oval-framed dried flower arrangements, nothing decorated the stained and chipped walls. No gew-gaws cluttered the lone, sparsely filled bookshelf either.

Just then the squirrel, a small crust of bread in her mouth, zipped up his leg, over his torso, and onto his chest before becoming tangled in the folds of his neckcloth. The little beast’s frantic cries weren’t nearly as sharp as the claws trying to shred Chester’s cravat, his neck, or his chin.

“Acorn. No.”

Eden flew to Chester.

“Don’t move, my lord. I’ll untangle her. Can you tilt your chin up?”

And have the terrified vermin down his shirt in a trice?

God help him.

Obediently notching his chin toward the ceiling, he scrutinized the shabby roof that, if he wasn’t mistaken, badly needed repair. Bare beams supported the sagging structure. He swore he could see daylight between the cracks in a few places.

The sweet essence of roses and irises floated upward from Eden’s hair, and unable to resist, he glanced down.

“Acorn, hold still. You’re going to scratch his lordship.”

Too late.

Lower lip pinched between her white teeth, she worked to free her panicked pet. More than once her fingers brushed his neck and chin, and though the touch wasn’t in the least meant to be seductive, his body responded like a stag in rut.

A dip in the chilly lake was in order. As soon as possible.

“There we are.” Holding Acorn tucked below her chin, Eden met his eyes, her expression adorably contrite. “I beg your . . .”

Her gaze dropped to his mouth and lingered.

What would she do if he kissed her?

Right here? Right now?

For nearly twenty-four hours he’d imagined doing so. Ever since her mouth parted in surprise at the Fox and Falcon.