And now, here they were.
David whimpered again, and she raised him up.
You must be hungry, little worm.
She held him close to her chest and walked out into the hall toward the chamber at the end where Mrs. Holt and her little daughter were installed.
The woman opened the door, already dressed.
“My Lady,” she said with a smile and extended her hands, “here is the little duke.”
“Indeed. He slept well. He woke twice in the night but went back to sleep after I walked him.”
The woman nodded. Her hair was in a bun at the back of her head, but a brown curl had escaped. She looked young in the morning light, younger than Clara had thought at first.
She was perhaps two-and-twenty or perhaps a little more. Her eyes were bright green and lovely.
“Thank you for taking care of him.”
She smiled. “I have more than enough, and there is nothing wrong with sharing. Besides, I am grateful for the work. It’s just me and the little one.”
She paused. “What about your husband?”
A shadow fell over the woman’s face. “The baby’s father is gone.”
The way she said it made it clear at once. There was no father at all. Well, there was in the sense that it took two to create a child, but she suspected the man had not been her husband.
“I see.”
She wanted to ask her more—where did the man go? Was he married? Had she been taken advantage of? But she did not.
“I am grateful,” Mrs. Holt repeated.
Just as Clara was about to turn and leave, she felt the woman’s hand on her arm. “I know His Grace’s cousin, by the way.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “Yes, a lovely young girl she is. And she spoke so highly of you.”
“Where do you know her from?” she asked at once, but the other woman just shrugged.
“It was some time ago. I do not know her well, but I am glad to be able to be of service to her family, for she showed me a great kindness once.”
Something in the way she said it gave Clara pause. A kindness? What kind of kindness? She wanted to ask more, but the woman had already stepped back and was closing the door.
Somewhere outside, a rooster crowed, and she took a deep breath.
It was time to get ready for her wedding.
CHAPTER 14
Clara made her way down the stairs to where the cook had dished up breakfast. She paused in the doorway and saw Julian sitting there already, a newspaper in hand. He smiled up at her, his teeth flashing as he did.
“Good morning, My Lady. I’m afraid breakfast is not much today. Cook lives in town, so I sent her a note, and she came to cook with whatever supplies we had at hand.”
“You did not move your cook from here to London?”
She tipped her head to one side. Her father usually moved the entire household staff from the London house to their country seat when they moved, but this seemed not to be the case here.
