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Lady Woolhastings stopped and lifted her hand. “Your Grace.”

“Yes, Lady Woolhastings?” Hugo strode to stand at Ophelia’s right shoulder. Viola was sucking her thumb, her head nestled on his shoulder. He had tucked her inside his greatcoat, so she must be toasty warm.

Viola blinked at Ophelia and said, “Snow,” before she closed her eyes.

“I ought to bring my daughter home,” Ophelia said, shoving away a keen pulse of regret. She knew that Hugo had the instincts of a good father; he was shopping for a third duchess for just that reason.

The fact that Viola looked so blissfully comfortable should not make her, Ophelia, feel prickly and sad. That was absurd.

“Your groom will have already instructed the carriage to meet you further up the Thames,” the duke said, his voice kind, but absolute. “Moreover, you and Viola cannot traverse the fair by yourselves.”

Ophelia turned to look for Lord Melton and realized that he was nowhere to be seen.

“Lord Melton remembered that he had another engagement and asked me to convey his regrets,” the duke said.

Ophelia felt herself turning red again. Likely, Lord Melton heard what Lady Woolhastings had said about marrying her and fled in horror. It was hard to tell whether that was more embarrassing than the duke’s quick defection.

Hugo apparently read her mind. “No,” he stated.

Lady Woolhastings was frowning at the crowd of noisy children and not paying attention.

“Lord Melton had temporarily forgotten that he was betrothed,” Hugo said. His eyes didn’t stray from hers but his voice dropped a register. “You can do that to a man.”

She flinched. Was he telling her that he had already had an understanding with Lady Woolhastings when they met?

“Hugo!”

An imposing lady was bustling toward them, followed by a stream of children. “There you are! We’ve been waiting for you.”

She was as tall as the duke, his age, with his angular features and marked eyebrows, albeit softened by a fashionable hat whose ribbons streamed in the wind.

She had to be the duke’s twin, Lady Knowe.

“Please give me Viola,” Ophelia said urgently, turning to Hugo.

He shook his head. “Your arms are aching, are they not?”

Lady Knowe and the children arrived before she could respond, milling about them and shouting, two grooms laden with parcels in the rear.

Lady Woolhastings and Lady Knowe were acquaintanced, and Ophelia watched with a rather jaundiced fascination as Lady Woolhastings dropped into a deep curtsy. Of course, Lady Knowe was to be her sister-in-law.

“Are these children all yours?” Lady Woolhastings asked a moment later. “I knew, of course, but there are so many!”

“Yes, they are,” the duke answered. “Lady Knowe, may I introduce Lady Astley? I am holding her daughter, Viola. And Lady Astley, this is my twin sister, Lady Knowe.”

Ophelia dropped into a curtsy.

“What a pleasure to meet you!” Lady Knowe said. She had an angular face; what was handsome in her brother looked somewhat incongruous shaped in womanly features. But when she smiled, her eyes lit up with true charm and she looked positively beautiful.

Ophelia beamed back at her. “I feel the same; your brother told me so much about you.”

“He has?” Lady Woolhastings drawled. “I was under the impression that my fiancé and you were scarcely acquainted.”

The word “fiancé” slid down Ophelia’s back like an icicle.

“Everyone loves to talk about me,” Lady Knowe said, turning to Lady Woolhastings and smiling. “Come, Edith, you know perfectly well that my brother has the habit of chatting about me in moments when he has nothing else to say. Eccentric relatives are such a gift to polite conversation.”

Ophelia put on a serene expression and said, “Certainly I couldn’t describe my relationship with the duke as more than casual, since we recently met for the first time, and yet I am aware that you live mostly in the country and have kindly cared for His Grace’s children, Lady Knowe.”