Page 12 of A Mother for the Blind Duke’s Orphans

When she spoke again, some of the sharpness had left her voice. “And from that you arrived at marriage?”

“May I remind you that you insisted that the transition must be smooth for the girls.” He turned to her then, and his breath caught.

Hector could almost see her features clearly in the afternoon light that burst through the windows and landed gently on her face. She was truly beautiful; her hair framed her face perfectly, and her full lips seemed to be designed by a sculptor, but the color of her eyes remained a mystery.

Miss Norish looked back at him, and he heard a hitch in her breath too.

“I… I meant they should be prepared before they move in with you. They have to be visited and reassured. I did not mean that you should marry the nearest woman they happen to trust.” She exhaled, and he could almost taste her sweet breath.

Hector turned away from her, staring ahead at the entrance to the drawing room.

“You are not just the nearest woman, Miss Norish. You are the woman they trust; therefore, I trust you too.” His words settled, but he turned his gaze away because he could not be distracted by her again.

“Trust does not make me fit to marry you,” she muttered under her breath, and he briefly wondered why she would think so absurdly.

He did not like the thought of her making herself small. He also did not have time to indulge any dislike.

“I cannot allow them to remain in an orphanage longer than necessary,” he said.

The silence that followed was not empty. It was crowded with everything she did not say. Hector waited, and he disliked waiting, but he knew that forcing speech would cost him more than silence.

At last she said, “You have arranged my life very neatly, but the girls’ lives should not⁠—”

“No. I have proposed an arrangement that serves the girls.”

“And we are to simply step into it?”

He heard the first real tremor then, small but unmistakable.

“I would do anything for them,” she continued fiercely.

“I believe that.” He truly did.

“But marrying you—” she broke off. “Is another matter entirely.”

“I am aware.”

“Are you?” Her voice sharpened again, perhaps because anger was easier to manage than fear. “You speak as though the matter has already been settled. As though I am unreasonable for not accepting a future I did not know existed ten minutes ago. If I cannot accept being rushed into this, imagine how the girls feel?”

Hector leaned closer to her. “I do not think you unreasonable, but I do think you are smart and passionate.”

A sound came from her that might have been a gasp and a laugh.

She shook her head. “I need time to think.”

Hector leaned back against the couch. “You do not have time.”

The air changed again.

He knew before she answered that she would hear cruelty in the words.

Perhaps there is cruelty in them.

But he had seen what delay did. Delay allowed the children to be misplaced by organizations that had already failed them. Delay was the polite face of abandonment.

“I intend to request a special license immediately,” he said matter-of-factly.

“And if I refuse?” he could feel her glaring at him.