She turned.
“I promise we’ll both be here when you return.”
“Don’t make promises you aren’t sure you can keep.”
“I intend to keep every vow I ever made to you…especially the ’til death do we part.”
He scooped Mercy up from the bed, then buried his fingers into his fur. He’d thought watching her walk away had been the hardest thing he’d ever done.
Voluntarily walking away from her was far worse.
*
Cassie arrived atRavenswood Hall only to discover that Eliza, Adrian, her sisters, and their guests, Lord Neville and Lord Asquith, who remained guardian to her younger sisters, had all gone to dine at a neighbor’s home.
Her sister’s housekeeper, however, delivered her to a suite of chambers, exclaiming all the while at the remarkable resemblance between her and Lady Redver. Her cheeks hurt from maintaining a false smile throughout the conversation. Alone again, she opened her valise, looked down at her hairbrush, and only just managed to holdback a sob.
And then, the door flew open.
“Cassie! The porter told me you’d come and come alone, but I didn’t believe him. Where is…”
Cassie turned.
Eliza raised her hand to her mouth.
“Oh,dearest!” Eliza exclaimed between her fingers.
The familiar sound of Eliza’s voice—her twin sister’s voice—nearly reopened the floodgates.
Cassie held up her hand. “Don’t.”
Eliza closed the door behind her and then held out her arms. “Come here.”
Cassie stepped quietly into the welcome circle of her sister’s embrace. “Don’tfeel sorry for me,” she warned. “Anddon’tsay I told you so.”
“I would nev—” Eliza stopped herself. “Well, actually, I would absolutely sayI told you so.”
Cassie snorted reluctantly. “You have done often enough.”
“Yes, well, I couldn’t in this case. Little more than a month of marriage is hardly enough time to make any sort of judgment about compatibility. Besides, you two make a handsome couple. And I’ve grown accustomed to sayingmy sister, the Duchesswith an air of great importance.”
Cassandra responded with a half-hearted chuckle.
“And with my husband as close as brothers to yours, we’re sisters twice over,” Eliza continued. “Plus, Harbury’s estate ishuge. And—”
“Stoptrying to make me feel better!”
“What would you like me to do, then?”
Cassie wiped the damp from her eyes and glanced sheepishly through her lashes. “Hate him?”
“Oh, let’s!” Eliza clapped her hands together. “Let’shatethe Duke of Harbury.”
Cassie chuckled half-heartedly.
“He’s horrid.Hideous!On the inside, of course. To make a proper assessment, we will ignore, for the moment, his Adonis face. But theremustbe some evidence of perfidy on his person.” Eliza squinted. “Did you get a look at his feet? I’d wager ten to one he’s got cloven hooves instead of toes.”
Cassie wrinkled her nose as Eliza mimicked the clip-clop of hooves with her hands.
