She could not bear to hear another comment about gentlemanly duty andnoblesse oblige, not when she had climbed him like a bloody ladder.
“Don’t,” she said. “Please. I am... I am just going to go.”
She went, feeling like the most irredeemable coward.
Saints above, what waswrongwith her? She had not always been stupid, had she? Wasn’t there a time when she’d been considered quite clever, actually?
What was it about this man that she found so impossible to resist?
Yes, he was handsome. Anyone with eyes knew that. And goodness, he was charming too. But she had known plenty of handsome, charming men before, and she’d always ignored them. She’d kept as much distance from them as she could manage. And that was when the handsome charmer in question was a local groom!
This man was aduke, and while that might be considered a point in his favor for a well-bred lady looking to make an advantageous marriage, it was certainlynotsomething that Letty wanted to let herself get involved with.
By the time she made it back to her room, she had called herself just about every bad word she had ever heard. It didn’t help, of course.
There was a small table that she used for a writing desk. Letty didn’t have many correspondents—aside from Clio Warson—Letitia mostly used the table to prepare lessons for Iris.
Now, though, she spotted a neatly folded letter waiting for her, sealed with an unmarked daub of blue wax.
Letitia frowned. Cliodidwrite frequently, as she was practically feral with boredom during her confinement out in the countryside, but Letty had only sent her response to the last missive a day or so prior. And Clio would have used her own special signet to seal the letter, as she always did. And, aside from Sarah, who had no reason to write to her, nobody else even knew Letitia was here.
Still, she needed the distraction with a desperation she’d never before experienced, so she grabbed the letter and flicked open the seal.
It only took a few words for her blood to run cold.
My darling Letitia,
So long we have been parted! It was very naughty of you to spend a whole year hiding out in the country, cowering behind the Lightholder name. And were you really so frightened of me that you gave up your position rather than return to our beloved Belgium? You have always been a foolish, headstrong girl who needs a strong hand like mine to bring you to heel. I know you know it as well as I do.
Fear not, my pet. I know you are back in London now, and I am making arrangements for us to be reunited soon. There is nothing more you need to do. I will come for you, as I always promised I would. There will be consequences for your disobedience, of course, but after that, everything will be as wonderful between us as I always promised. You will be mine, forevermore, and nothing will ever part us again.
Await me, my precious girl. Soon, I shall have you all to myself.
-P
Letty laid down the letter with shaking hands, staring at it as though it might literally explode. She took one step back, then another.
Then she spun around and vomited her lunch directly into her chamber pot.
CHAPTER 12
“Hello.”
Ezra was just on his way out for the evening when a small voice stopped him as he crossed his entryway, hat and walking stick already in hand.
He looked around, briefly confused. Then, he heard a giggle and looked up. Iris sat up on the landing, crouched low, her face peeking out between two of the banister railings.
Ezra smiled, though there was a part of him that went on alert, all too aware that Iris and her governess were often in close proximity to one another.
And he didnotwant to see Letitia.
Well, hedid.
But that was a problem, so, in another way, he did not. Not at all.
On the other hand, he did want to spend time with Iris. The little girl had been warming up to him over the past week, even though most of their meetings had been without her governess present. Usually, this happened when she and Hermes had a new “trick” to show him, a term he used loosely since the dog almost always refused to perform anything he could discern.
But he wasn’t a fool. If Iris came to him to present something—anything—he was going to cheer and applaud and do whatever it took to make her feel that he was someone safe. That he wasn’t frightening.
