Page 81 of A Baby to Seal the Duke’s Fate

Phoebe recovered so fast it would have been impressive if she hadn’t looked so flustered. “You mean Lord Belgrave. I am not...” She stopped, started again, and then let out a quiet breath that sounded as though she wished the floor might open beneath her. “I am not the duchess.”

The woman’s face sharpened into embarrassed understanding. “Of course. Forgive me. I was…I did not notice your…” She paused, gesturing down her body as if pointing out her own dress. “How foolish of me. I should have realized…”

Phoebe nodded once, still pink in the cheeks. “It is quite all right.”

Leopold, who had been standing by the doorway with Cecily on his hip, found himself smiling before he could stop it.

It was a small thing. Only that. A brief, unguarded smile at her embarrassment.

Phoebe looked up and caught him at it.

Her eyes widened a little.

Then she looked away at once, though not before he saw the color in her face deepen.

Leopold turned his attention to the shelves as if he had not just amused himself at her expense. It did not help. He was still thinking about it when they finished making their purchases and stepped back into the cold.

They stopped at the village green on the way home.

Cecily had begun to make small restless sounds in Phoebe’s arms, and Phoebe, after a glance at the patch of grass near the edge of the green, said, “Let me set her down.”

Leopold nodded.

She spread the blanket she had brought, placed Cecily carefully in the center of it, and sat beside her in the grass. The baby immediately reached for the daisies nearby with great concentration, pulling at the stems and then patting the flowers as though they were people she needed to question.

A dog crossed the green at a distance, and Cecily gave a pleased babble in its direction.

Phoebe watched her with open fondness.

Leopold sat down beside them.

For a moment, there was no speech at all. Only the village moving quietly around them at a distance, the faint sound of a cart farther down the lane, the occasional call of someone opening a door. The green was empty enough to feel private despite the world around it.

Cecily crawled toward one of the daisies and attempted to stuff the blossom into her mouth.

Phoebe gently removed it. “No.”

The baby frowned, then looked toward Leopold as if expecting a more favorable ruling from the higher authority seated beside her.

Leopold looked at the daisy, then at her. “I suspect your nursemaid is correct.”

Cecily made a small indignant sound and slapped the blanket.

Phoebe’s mouth twitched. “She is not accustomed to being denied.”

“That is a problem in the making.”

Phoebe looked at him. “She gets that from you.”

He let out a quiet breath that was almost a laugh. “That seems unfair.”

“It is accurate.”

He turned his head toward her. “You are beginning to sound very comfortable making judgments about me.”

Phoebe lowered her eyes to Cecily, who was now absorbed in the movement of her own fingers. “You are very easy to judge.”

He smiled despite himself. “A cruel assessment.”