“I also have a number of burly footmen under instruction not to let any strangers into the house,” Lady Jackson assured Mary, seeing the fear on her face. “You will be quite safe, Miss Mary. Once your sister is the Duchess of Greyhaven, no one will be able to touch you.”
“You really have been most kind, Lady Jackson,” Cecily told her gratefully. “If you hadn’t taken us in, I don’t know where I would have taken Mary.”
“It is my pleasure to have your company, my dears. Now, let us talk about something more pleasant. Your trousseau ought to be ordered as soon as possible, Miss Holt. I understand that this will not be a long engagement, and a duchess’s wardrobe should not be stinted upon.”
“I have no idea what should be in a trousseau,” Cecily admitted. “My mother is dead, and I never thought I would marry.”
Lady Jackson smiled pleasantly. “As a mother of only boys, it will be my pleasure to assist you. Since we cannot go around inLondon at the moment, I have already invited two dressmakers to visit the house with samples and patterns.”
“How exciting,” Mary remarked with shining eyes. “Can I help you choose your wedding dress, Cecily?”
“There must be a wedding dress, court dress, day dresses, evening dresses, ballgowns, linens, stockings, petticoats, nightgowns,” Lady Jackson told them with a sweeping gesture of her hand, smiling when she saw the doubt on Cecily’s face. “Nathaniel will wish his Duchess to be well-dressed, and you must not think of the expense.”
Cecily smiled back, although she still felt a little lost.
“I do not doubt His Grace’s generosity, but I did not have the impression that he cared very much for clothes,” she commented, much to Lady Jackson’s amusement.
“Oh, take no notice of that,” she chuckled. “Nathaniel would have the world believe that he cares for nothing and no one, but I know him better. His wardrobe is all of the best quality and cut, even if he does not take the trouble to button and pin it. It is the same in other matters. He is much more than what he seems.”
“Imagine the ballgowns you could have,” Mary breathed, enthralled, seeming to have swiftly forgotten her own chagrin over the nature of Cecily’s marriage. “I can’t wait to see the patterns and fabrics.”
“Well, it seems I will definitely need all the help I can get,” Cecily said, both with regard to the trousseau and her future husband.
* * *
A full week went by at Epworth House without any real disturbance. Cecily assisted Lady Jackson in preparing for a small garden party for friends and neighbors scheduled for the following week. Lord Jackson returned home, and his two sons, Harry and Oliver—cheerful youths of sixteen and eighteen—came back from boarding school for the summer.
The house was alive with laughter and jokes. The men proved as welcoming as Lady Jackson, and Cecily was glad of the chance to distract herself with Pall Mall or other games in the garden with the two boys and Mary. The experience of ordering her trousseau proved fascinating but a little overwhelming.
“Has Nathaniel written to you yet?” Lady Jackson asked her over tea in the garden one afternoon as they watched Mary, Harry, and Oliver practicing archery on one of the lower lawns. “I really must have a wedding date to give the dressmakers. They need to know what to prioritize and what can be finished in a shorter time.”
Cecily shook her head and sipped her tea. “No, he has not written to me,” she replied quietly.
She had already remarked silently to herself on the Duke’s lack of visits or communication and wondered what to make of it.
It seemed foolish to complain. In many ways, she appreciated the calm and peace of the Epworth estate, with its quiet greenery, easygoing family, and no darkly handsome men luring her or Mary into acts of extreme recklessness.
At the same time, she was filled with restless anticipation that seeped even into her dreams. Sometimes she woke hot and sweating with her nightdress around her waist, her hand between her thighs, and her mind full of images of a tall, dark man with compelling blue eyes.
Cecily both longed to see the Duke again and hesitated at the thought, knowing he would not be satisfied with kisses alone for very long.
“Hmm. I shall write to my cousin directly in that case,” Lady Jackson said. “He might well be busy with wedding business, and there are certainly all kinds of legal matters to be settled, but I do need an answer on dates.”
“Maybe he has changed his mind,” Cecily suggested. “Maybe he has changed his mind and decided he does not wish to marry me.”
At that, Lady Jackson laughed and laid a hand over Cecily’s on the table. “My cousin does not change his mind so lightly once his course is set,” she told her. “I have known him since he was a boy. Nathaniel might be careless and impatient with society’s niceties, but he is no dilettante or weathercock. When he intends something, he does it.”
“I can imagine he does,” Cecily replied, blushing a little.
“Nor have I ever known Nathaniel to break a promise, although he rarely makes them either,” Lady Jackson added, before falling into reminiscences. “What a peculiar child he was! Stubborn, moody, opinionated, and independent to a fault, long before he should have been.”
“Like Lilian,” Cecily hazarded a guess. “I only met her for a few minutes, but she made a strong impression.”
Lady Jackson looked at her shrewdly and nodded. “Yes, perhaps like his daughter. You must not think it is all in the blood, however. There is much that comes from upbringing.”
“Lilian seemed desperate for his company,” Cecily reflected. “He told me that she had everything she could want at Greyhaven, but she does not have her father’s attention, and she knows it.”
“You see things all too clearly there,” Lady Jackson sighed. “If only you could make Nathaniel see it too. Lilian will not seek his company forever. One day, she will give up on him, and it will be like a candle burning out. I’ve seen it happen with Nathaniel himself, and around this age too.”
