Page 7 of A Baby to Seal the Duke’s Fate

The baby made a small sound against his shoulder and tightened her grip on his coat with a sleepy fist.

Leopold looked down at her.

“You have made a serious error,” he told the child quietly.

She did not wake.

“I am not equipped for this.”

No response.

He stood there a second longer, then turned back toward the hall.

Wilfred was waiting at the door. He looked, Leopold thought, exactly like a man who had opted to survive the day by refusing to comment on it.

Leopold paused on the threshold. “Send someone for Mrs. Pritchard.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“And have her fetch a maid who is good with children.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“And tea.”

“I thought you had already had tea.”

Leopold glanced down at the sleeping baby. “That was before.”

Wilfred inclined his head once and stepped aside.

Leopold crossed the hall with the child still in his arms. She did not stir.

Barnaby was already heading toward the library, one hand lifted to summon paper, pen, and whatever patience the day would require. Leopold could hear him muttering to himself about records and family linen and the stupidity of the world.

Leopold went to the study instead.

He laid the baby on the settee with a cushion under her head. She gave a little sigh, turned onto her side, and stayed asleep with complete trust that he would still be there when she woke.

Leopold stood over her, then glanced at the empty basket one of the footmen had brought in, the shawl folded over the armchair, and the booties he had placed carefully on the desk.

Cecily.

Someone had named her before leaving her.

Someone had dressed her in Belgrave wool.

Someone had brought her to his door in the dark and vanished into the morning.

Leopold looked at the child, then at the shawl, then at the ledger still open on his desk with the black stain of ink spreading through his father’s careful lines of numbers.

He had spent half the night trying to preserve order.

Now chaos had arrived on his doorstep in a basket.

It was a baby.

And for the first time since inheriting Belgrave, Leopold had no idea what the correct next step was.