Page 9 of The Duchess’ Little Miracle

“Mostly? You were caught by the master of the house!” Leonora threw her hands up, her dark curls shaking. “I cannot believe this. A man who could have sent you to prison without blinking! We have resources, Seraphina. We have an entire household. We could have gone to Lady Byron for help. You said you were going to. She knows how to deal with these people. She has spent her whole life managing the dangerous social circles of London.”

Seraphina froze. “What would I tell her? That I let someone get past our guard? That our family name is being threatened by a blackmailer because of my newspaper articles?” Seraphina turned to face her sister. “You know exactly how she would look at me. She always says, ‘The oldest must protect the rest, Seraphina. If you fail, the family breaks.’ I am the one who is supposed to handle the danger, Leo. Not her, and certainly not Euphemia.”

Leonora’s expression softened just a bit, but she kept that stubborn glare she had worn since they were children. “Lady Byron raised us to be smart, not reckless. She taught us to plan our moves, not to throw ourselves into danger just because we are too proud to ask for help.”

“It wasn’t pride,” Seraphina said, finally ripping the maid’s cap from her hair and letting her pins drop onto the dressing table. “It was the only logical choice. I found his crest. I knew his name. If he was the one sending the letters, I needed to find the evidence before he could hurt us. How was I supposed to know he was just a dedicated reader who keeps my articles stacked neatly on his desk?”

Leonora stared at her, her mouth dropping open. “He collects your articles?”

“Every single one,” Seraphina said, a small, involuntary smile touching her lips before she quickly hid it. “I think we breezed past that too quickly. I should have asked him why he collected them.”

“Seraphina, you worry me!” Leonora shook her head. “I do not like to worry. You are the practical one. Effie is the one who acts with her heart but you used to be the one who saw things logically.”

Seraphina shut her eyes. “All right. It was stupid, but everything is fine now. Can we stop this?”

“No.” Leonora shook her head, though she finally sat down on the edge of the mattress, the tension leaving her shoulders in a long sigh. “Where did you even get that uniform anyway?”

“The back of the laundry room at the inn down the lane. I borrowed it while the maid was hanging the sheets.” Seraphina pulled the dress over her head, incredibly glad to be out of the scratchy fabric. “I left two shillings on the table. It was a fair trade.”

“It was stealing.”

“It was a temporary loan.” Seraphina sat down at her dressing table, staring at herself in the glass. Away from the wood and tobacco scent that filled the Duke’s study, away from those eyes that tracked her every movement, her mind was finally clearing up. The strange spell of his presence was fading, replaced by a reality. “The main point is, he isn’t the blackmailer. Someone stole his personal stamp. He is just as angry about the letters as I am.”

“So he let you go? Just like that?”

“Not just like that,” Seraphina murmured. Her skin grew warm as she remembered the feeling of his hand locking her wrists against the wall. The memory made her heart skip a beat in a way that had nothing to do with fear of the law. “We made a deal. He will use his position to find the person using his crest. In exchange, I have to help him with a domestic problem.”

Leonora leaned forward, her eyebrows raising. “A domestic problem? Like what?”

“A little girl. A child named Alice who has recently come to live with him. He has absolutely no idea how to take care of a child.”

The room went completely quiet. Then, Leonora let out a sound that was half-choke and half-laugh.

“Alice?” Leonora asked, her eyes lighting up with amusement. “A child? He wants you to help him with a little girl?”

“I don’t see what is so funny,” Seraphina said, straightening her back.

“Seraphina, you are amazing with a printing press. You can take apart a politician’s argument in four sentences. But you are, without a doubt, the most awkward person in the world whenever a child walks into the room.”

“That is a complete lie.”

“Is it?” Leonora stood up, acting out a small child’s posture. “Do you remember when Euphemia’s friend, Emily, brought her little boy around? The boy just wanted to show you his wooden toy horse, and you looked at him like he was handing you a loaded pistol. You held the toy by the very tip of the tail and asked him if his mother had checked the safety of the paint!”

“It was a very good question! Cheap paint is dangerous,” Seraphina defended herself, her face turning red.

“It couldn’t have been cheap paint. Emily is a duchess!”

“Well, I don’t know why I asked. It just felt right to do so.”

“What about Euphemia’s stepchildren? The twins?” Leonora continued, laughing now. “One time, when we visited them, they came running into the hallway, and you immediately hid behind a large statue.”

“That kind of... jolly can be overwhelming,” Seraphina muttered, looking away.

“Children do not always like you, Seraphina. They can feel the pure panic behind your eyes. You have no idea how to talk to them unless they can read a textbook.”

“That is because children make absolutely no sense,” Seraphina said, her voice dropping into a serious tone. She was trying to convince herself as much as her sister. “They do not follow logic. You cannot argue with them. If you tell a regular adult to sit down, they look at the room and sit down. If you tell a six-year-old to sit down, they look at the floor and start rolling on it.”

“Exactly, and now you have promised a Duke that you will take care of his ward?”