“You will both go to stay with my cousin in Richmond,” the Duke announced. “Lady Jackson is already expecting you, Miss Holt, and I’m confident that Miss Mary will also be made welcome. We shall go there directly so that I can make the appropriate introductions.”
Cecily and Mary both looked at him with wide eyes, Cecily’s heart skipping a beat and Mary’s weeping temporarily silenced.
“Do you know Lady Jackson, Cecily?” Mary asked, confused. “Did she invite you to stay?”
“Lady Jackson is His Grace’s cousin,” Cecily answered evasively. “He has been kind enough to secure me an invitation.”
As the Duke caught her eyes, a small smile played on his handsome features under his unruly dark hair. That fire was in his sapphire eyes again, and her core seemed to quiver with its heat. She knew without being told that he still wished to marry her.
There would be no easy escape from becoming the Duchess of Greyhaven. Worse, a large part of Cecily didn’t want to escape.
“It is a very proper arrangement,” the Duke said, holding her gaze as though daring her to tell Mary of their engagement before he did. “I cannot host you both at Greyhaven Park, not while I am still an unmarried man…”
Despite the growing tension in the air between them, Mary seemed to notice nothing.
“How kind you are, Your Grace,” she chattered. “I shall be glad to make Lady Jackson’s acquaintance. What is Richmond like, Cecily? I don’t really care where we are as long as Uncle Preston can’t find us and I never have to see Patrick again.”
“Mary!” Cecily chided her. “Remember, Patrick is His Grace’s brother.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” the Duke replied, waving away her concerns. “I frequently feel that I never want to see Patrick again, and still he turns up and makes the most of my hospitality, whether invited or not, rather like a spoilt dog.”
Despite herself, Cecily spluttered with laughter at this description, before gathering her composure. The Duke might say what he wished about his brother, but she would rather not encourage Mary to do the same.
Unfortunately, Mary needed no encouragement to disparage Patrick.
“Spoilt! Yes, that is the word for him, Your Grace. I thought Patrick loved me. He said he loved me, but it was all just a dream. I think I hate him now. He could not say where we would make our home or how we could support ourselves or our children…”
Cecily cleared her throat and caught the Duke’s eye. “Your Grace, they did not…”
Flushing self-consciously, she did not finish her sentence, but he understood her meaning anyway.
“I know.” He nodded. “Patrick told me the same.”
“Oh! But why do you keep bringing that up, Cecily?” Mary complained. “I keep telling you that Patrick was a perfect gentleman. You seem to think he’s some kind of rake, but he’s not. He was only trying to rescue me, and you ought not to cast such aspersions on him.”
“I thought you hated him?” the Duke reminded her, clearly amused.
“Oh, I do hate him,” Mary insisted immediately, without any trace of irony. “Your brother is irresponsible and reckless, and I never, ever want to see him again.”
“Oh dear,” the Duke drawled, meeting Cecily’s eyes again. “That is very unfortunate, given the circumstances.”
Cecily swallowed and then cleared her throat. Remembering how the Duke had informed his young daughter of their impending marriage, she decided it was probably better that Mary heard the news from her.
“Mary, you may have to see Patrick more often than you would like,” she began. “There is no way around it, I’m afraid.”
“Why? What do you mean?” Mary demanded, looking from one to the other in confusion. “Why should I see him? He is nothing to me.”
“I am engaged to be married to His Grace, Mary,” Cecily revealed, the words sounding farfetched even to her own ears as she said them aloud for the first time. “Patrick is to be my brother-in-law.”
“Engaged? To be married? But you can’t be!” Mary gaped at them.
“I assure you, your sister speaks the truth. I have the marriage license with me, if you should wish to see it. Well, I hope you can bear to be around Patrick at least for the wedding, Miss Mary. You may please yourself as to keeping his company otherwise.”
“I still don’t understand,” Mary blurted out, her bafflement ever greater the longer she considered the news. “Cecily, how can this be? You’ve never mentioned His Grace to me before. You’ve never mentioned anyone. You even said you would never marry!”
“I’ll explain later,” Cecily whispered to her, knowing that any explanation she gave would elicit more questions from Mary and more attention from the handsome man sitting only a few inches away. “Don’t ask me now.”
It wasn’t until they stopped to eat some of the food from Mrs. Barnes’ hamper that the two sisters finally had a chance to speak properly. The Duke had gone over to talk to the driver about routes, leaving them with the horses, which had been released from their harnesses and were cropping the long grass.
