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Watching her freckled face cringe, he almost laughed. “Yes? The children?”
“They can’t all be…”
“Mine?”
“Well, yes. I had heard you were eight when you left for America, and that was only twenty years ago…”
He walked toward a large room as she attempted to determine the source of all the children. Glancing around the room, his gaze focused on the gilt furnishings. He remembered very little of his life in England, and this was one part he must have forgotten. The opulence of the room astounded him. Red silk wallpaper lined the walls of the room, vast gilt frames with oil paintings and portraits hung from the walls. He had only heard of such wealth. Not even Abigail’s family had this much.
God, he missed her already. He had to get this nasty business completed as quickly as possible.
“Your Grace?”
“Oh, yes, the children. Perhaps I had an early start,” he said with a smile. His innocent cousin’s eyes widened.
Slowly, her lips tilted upward. “That must have been an extremely early start.”
“Considering Ellie’s nearly twenty, I do believe eight is just a bit young.”
“Your siblings, then?”
“All seven of them, plus Alicia, who stayed behind with her new husband.” Will walked farther into the room and ran his hand over the soft velvet of a wingback chair.
“Nine children? And they all survived infancy.”
He only nodded at the sound of amazement in her voice. He chuckled softly. “They include four stepbrothers from my father’s second wife.”
“Would you like something to eat, Your Grace?”
He turned back toward her and frowned. “Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Your Grace?”
“Yes.”
“Because you are the duke. If you were an earl, I would have addressed you as ‘my lord’.”
He shook his head. “Well, stop. I will never understand this country and its odd penchant for titles.”
She stood upright and quickly brushed a red lock back from her forehead. “It is not an odd system of titles. How long did you live in Virginia before moving to Canada?”
“Ten years. Then my father was reassigned to another diplomatic position in York near Lake Ontario, just before the war broke out.”
“I think you must have forgotten how English Society works. After all, you lived in that heathen country where no man needs a title.”
“Perhaps. But at least there, every man has the chance to better himself without needing a title to get ahead,” he said before sitting in the wingback chair.
“Your Gr—” She halted abruptly when he glared at her. Throwing up her hands in the air, she said, “Then what do I call you?”
“William, or better yet, Will.”
“Very well, William. Would you like me to awaken the cook for a quick meal?”
“I wouldn’t wish to disturb the servants.”
“The servants are here for your every convenience. Besides, I must wake the maids to make up the bedrooms. Mine is the only one ready.”
“Then yes, I would love a little something to eat. The food on the ship was not the best.”
