Page 19 of An Innocent Bride for the Duke

The duke did not complete his sentence, but looked meaningfully across the table to Lady Esher instead. For some reason, Louisa found herself blushing at this question, or maybe at the fact that he was again apparently treating her more like a child than an adult woman.

“Ash was the stallion who serviced Storm, yes,” confirmed Lady Esher crisply with all the pragmatism of the no-nonsense countrywoman. “We are not squeamish about correct terminology in the stables, are we, Louisa?”

Louisa shook her head although her face was burning like a schoolgirl’s at this conversation.

Why am I being so childish?

Was it even Louisa’s own fault that the duke treated her as he did? She usually had no qualms at all about listening to aunt discussing the breeding of horses or dogs with the head groom or gamekeeper. Somehow it was not the same with this man; it felt so very different and she couldn’t understand why.

It was an echo of the same bewildering and almost overwhelming sensation that had sent Louisa fleeing from the duke’s bedroom door last night…

“Fanny, Ezra, there you are!” Louisa babbled, jumping up from her seat as a nursemaid brought the two children in to the breakfast room, both now washed, brushed and neatly dressed. “I was beginning to think you had gone back to bed again. You must be very hungry indeed.”

Fanny returned Louisa’s hug but Ezra toddled straight over to the Duke of Northwick and began demanding to be picked up as he had often done in the dining rooms at the inns on their journey.

“Gertie,” Lady Esher began to say, “His Grace is still eating his breakfast. Can you please…”

“Never mind,” the duke interrupted, sighing as he lifted the little boy onto his lap and hiding the hint of a smile at his lips. “Ezra is here now. Let’s not fuss. You may go until we ring for you, Gertie.”

“Are you sure, Your Grace?” asked Lady Esher with some hesitation. “We shall make sure there is a little more time for you to breakfast tomorrow before the children invade.”

“I’ll get Ezra some bread, cake and milk,” Louisa quickly offered. “Ezra, no, do not take that roll. It isn’t yours.”

“Never mind that either,” chuckled the Duke of Northwick as the small boy began chewing on the half-eaten morning roll from his plate. “There are plenty more. I dare say this little chap will be out playing for the rest of the day and I won’t see him again until tomorrow. We might as well have a morning chat now.”

Ezra answered only by leaning comfortably back against the duke’s chest and taking another bite of bread. Fanny gave a very disapproving big-sisterly huff as she took her seat beside Lady Esher where Louisa had placed a large cushion to reach the table.

“You shouldn’t eat from other people’s plates, Ezra,” she lectured her brother. “Mama and Papa would not be happy. You should eat like Aunt Beatrice and Louisa.”

Ezra ignored Fanny entirely, just as he ignored the smaller plate Louisa had set before him. The duke’s buttered roll was apparently of far more interest than his own breakfast. In contrast, Fanny politely accepted the milk, egg and bread offered to her by Lady Esher and began to eat hungrily but tidily.

“If you eat some of the food on his plate, Your Grace, I dare say Ezra might too,” suggested Louisa after a few minutes of observation. “I believe he is copying you again.”

Seeming amused by this idea, the Duke of Northwick did as Louisa said and then guffawed to see Ezra’s pudgy little hand reaching for his cake just as she had predicted. He raised the milk cup to his mouth and set it down, only for Ezra to reach for it a moment later and drain it entirely.

The duke’s contrasting eyes met Louisa’s as he grinned and she responded automatically in kind.

“I must be careful what I say and do at Rosemere, if I have such a faithful young follower,” he said.

“Yes,” Louisa agreed simply, wishing that she could make up her mind about the Duke of Northwick.

One moment, he was kind and solicitous and the next careless or rude. Sometimes Louisa was sure that he was a good man and she liked him, but at other times, the roiling in her heart and body that he seemed to provoke was so strong that it made her wonder if she hated him. It did not really feel like hatred, but she had never hated anyone before.

“I told Seraphine that I would get the children a new suit of summer clothes each while they are here,” announced Aunt Beatrice conversationally, as she poured herself another cup of coffee. “I thought we could take them to the village today to be measured by Mrs. Shaw, Louisa. She will be expecting us to call this week.”

“Yes, of course,” agreed Louisa. “Mrs. Shaw is so good with children’s clothes. Her mother was a seamstress too and used to make all my dresses when I was young.”

These last words were spoken to the duke, who only nodded rather blandly in response, likely having no interest in children’s clothing.

“My dolls need new ribbons,” Fanny put in. “Does Mrs. Shaw have ribbons for dolls?”

“She does have a good collection of ribbons, but only shows them to little girls who eat all their breakfast,” replied Aunt Beatrice with a smile. “I’m sure we could persuade her to sell us a few. The weather is good and we can walk to the village as soon we’re done with breakfast.”

Fanny nodded and drank her milk swiftly after swallowing a last bite of bread.

“I’ve eaten all my breakfast, Aunt Beatrice,” she blurted out. “Can my dolls have ribbons now?”

“I shall let you and Louisa inspect the ribbons while Ezra is being measured,” agreed the older lady with an indulgent smile. “Now, how is Ezra getting on with his breakfast?”