Page 26 of The Duchess Debt

“That’s what I think, too.” He was pleased that they agreed on that much, at least. It would make presenting a united front much easier when it came to raising Alice. If not…well, their marriage contract would assure it. After all, she’d agreed to leave all decisions regarding Alice to him, and he would hold her to it, if he had to. “But as you said, Alice is part of their family. We can’t keep her from them forever. Besides, she deserves to know her cousins, aunts, and uncles.”

“Perhaps,” Helena grudgingly agreed, adding in a grumble, “when she’s eighteen and introduced to society.”

Gabe smiled faintly. “Then we’re agreed. I’ll reply to Wentworth that next season isn’t the best time for us to bring Alice to London.”

“Good.” She paused. “And the other—the kind of education she should have? What kind of governess should we hire? What skills and talents should we encourage?”

“We will discuss all of that when the time comes.” He nodded at Alice, who had stripped off her shoes and stockings to wade in the water up to her knees, dampening the hem of her dress. “But for now, let’s just let her be four.”

Helena said nothing, her gaze lingering on him for a long while before turning to Alice. Clearly, she wasn’t content with his answers, but they were the only ones he planned on giving for now.

Besides, he had something more important to do right then.

He reached into the pocket of his waistcoat and fished out a small silver ring. Diamond chips encircled a single white pearl and glittered in the sunlight as he held it up in front of him.

Beside him, Helena caught her breath.

“It was my mother’s engagement ring,” he explained quietly. “There wasn’t time to purchase a new one for you before you arrived. I hope it will do for our engagement.”

Her eyes fixed on the ring, but when she didn’t say anything, he tightened his jaw. Was she waiting for him to drop onto one knee and propose? If so, she wouldn’t get it. He’d sworn never to propose to another woman again. The last time he’d proposed had been to Clarissa; even though he hadn’t had a choice in the matter, he had at least wanted to start their marriage as traditionally as possible. Instead of seeing the gesture for what it was, Clarissa had broken down in tears that he didn’t have a ring at the ready to slide onto her finger.

“If that ring’s not grand enough for you,” he continued, keeping the bitterness from his voice that Helena might be more like Clarissa than he wanted to admit, “I can ride into Canterbury tomorrow and buy you a new one.”

“No,” she choked out in a rasping whisper, emotion thick in her voice. “I don’t want a different ring. It’s…beautiful.”

Tendrils of the old frustration he remembered from life with Clarissa tightened in his belly. “Then what’s wrong with it?”

“I don’t want anything that belonged to Clarissa,” she explained softly, lowering her watery eyes to the blanket. “If you gave it to her, then it should go to Alice.”

“I never offered it to Clarissa.” Not that she would have liked it anyway. It wasn’t grand enough for her, not expensive enough…not special enough to command attention and remind everyone that she was a duchess. Instead, he explained simply, “It would have been too small for her.”

“I think it will fit me perfectly,” Helena whispered as she rapidly blinked back the threatening tears, misunderstanding his comment. “I would be honored to wear it.”

He wordlessly took her hand, and her fingers trembled in his as he slid the ring into place. Then he released her hand and turned back to watch Alice.There.The moment which had held so much promise for awkwardness was over, and he was glad of it.

Then he felt it…the soft warmth of Helena’s hand covering his as it rested on the blanket, followed by the hard rub of the ring as she laced her fingers through his.

He gave her hand a slight squeeze, but he didn’t dare look at her for fear of what she might see in his eyes—rather, what shewouldn’tsee…any love for her. He could give her this moment of affection, but they would never again have the love they’d once shared. Those days were gone, and he didn’t dare trust another woman enough to open his heart and soul to that kind of wounding again.

Not even Helena.

CHAPTER EIGHT

23 Days Until the Wedding

Helena stared straight ahead at the vicar. She knew every pair of eyes in the old village church was focused on her, could hear the whispers rustling around her, could see from the corner of her eye how everyone in the congregation craned their necks for a better view of her. Her hands were clammy, but she didn’t dare to rub her palms down her skirt for fear that anyone watching would think her nervous.

Butof course,she was. After all, today was her public debut as the Duke of Thurston’s fiancée. And of all the places to make it, of all the occasions…here, for the first reading of the banns. She couldn’t have picked a more thorough way to spread news of her arrival and their engagement than this.

The vicar stood in the carved pulpit, fully enshrined in his white and green vestments, and read from the paper in front of him. “I publish the banns of marriage between Gabriel, Duke of Thurston, of our home parish of St Mary’s here inChatham,and Miss Helena Sinfell of St George’s parish in Mayfair, London.”

Reverend Barlow looked up to smile at Helena and Gabe, who sat with Verity and Alice in the very middle of the church in the Cavanaugh family pew box. The vicar seemed perfectly oblivious to the craning necks as the villagers strained to get a better look at her. One woman in the front unashamedly stood up to see over the pews.

“This is the first time of asking,” the vicar continued. “If any of you know cause or just impediment why these two persons should not be joined together in Holy Matrimony, ye are to declare it.”

Helena held her breath as the reverend paused, then took an excruciatingly long time to move his gaze over the congregation. She kept waiting for someone to shout out from the pews that her marriage would be a sham, that Gabe didn’t love her, or—God help her—that she didn’t deserve to be a duchess.

When Reverend Barlow smiled and went on with the rest of the week’s announcements, Helena let out a silent sigh and eased down her shoulders.