Page 55 of How to Capture a Duke

Catherine’s face beamed like he’d given her a bag of silver. “See?”

“Her mother will be concerned,” Olivia said.

“You won’t tell her, will you?” Tristan asked.

Olivia’s heart thudded in her chest at his grin.

The carriage came to a stop outside a Bond Street shop. He leaped out, and not waiting for the coachman, he lowered the step himself and lifted the children out.

When it was her turn, he took Olivia’s arm and helped her alight. “What is it?”

She clutched the straps of her reticule. “My niece and nephew adore you.”

“I like them, too.”

Suddenly, the pleasure of the afternoon left her, and a sadness tightened in her chest. He was exceptional with the children, but he was also determined to deny himself the gift of fatherhood. She wished there was something she could do to help him see that the risk was well worth the reward. He would make a wonderful father.

“Come along,” he urged, “before Alexander drags us inside searching for his toy train.”

A wooden sign that read Smithy’s swung noisily on ungreased hinges.

“How do you know there are toys here?” Olivia asked.

“You’ll see.”

The little bell chimed when they entered the establishment. An old man with a white beard was behind a wooden counter. “How may I help—” His eyes twinkled when he spotted Tristan. “Your Grace! How wonderful to see you. Do you require another bookcase for your study?”

“Hello, Mr. Smithy. No bookcase t…t-oday. We are in search of a wooden train, similar to the one you made for me many years ago. Do you have such an item?”

Mr. Smithy rubbed his hands together. “Not only do I have one, I have two. Would you like to see them both and pick?”

“Yes!” Alexander said as he stood on tip-toe to glimpse the proprietor as he reached for items on crowded shelves.

Two wooden trains were placed on the counter. Alexander ran each one back and forth across the counter.

“Which one do you like, son?” Mr. Smithy asked.

“I can’t decide,” Alexander said, never taking his eyes off the trains.

“We’ll take both,” Tristan said.

“Both?” Alexander whirled to Tristan.

“You needn’t do that,” Olivia said.

“I know I needn’t. I want to.” Tristan turned to the proprietor. “One more item. A doll.”

Mr. Smithy nodded and turned back to the shelves. Catherine was quick to catch on and stepped up to the counter. When the man handed her a wooden doll with a painted face and wearing a muslin dress, she was ecstatic. “Thank you!”

Tristan paid for both trains and the doll. “What good is the dukedom’s wealth if I cannot give small gifts to make those I care for happy?”

Olivia’s heart pounded in her chest. Her feelings for him were intensifying, along with a frightening need that filled the empty chambers of her heart. She felt lost, like a sailor at sea. For a woman who’d been determined to protect herself from heartache, it was a most terrifying feeling.

Chapter Nineteen

They stopped at Hyde Park on the way home, and the children ran off to play. Tristan led Olivia to a wooden bench beneath a shady oak. It was still early afternoon, and sunlight shone through the leaves and the chirping of birds filled the air. The promenade hour wouldn’t start until five o’clock, and it was lovely and calm. Hours later, ladies wearing new hats or bonnets and gentlemen and dandies in the latest fashionable attire would drive their phaetons and carriages around the track in order to be seen more than to enjoy the park.

“I know what you did for me,” Tristan said, breaking the silence.