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“Oh,” he replied. “It’s very dangerous out. I—I hope you haven’t been out on your own.”

“I never would, Your Grace,” she replied, happy to prove herself well-behaved.

“Good, good,” he said nodding.

She waited for him to bring up the next topic, ready to entertain him with a little anecdote about her visit to Lady Morton, earlier that day. But he was silent. When she glanced over at him, he seemed deep in thought.

“What are you thinking of, Your Grace?” she asked, curiously.

He blinked, suddenly brought out of whatever reverie had him so distracted. “What did you say, My Lady?”

“I was wondering what it could be that has you so thoughtful,” she said.

“Nothing, My Lady.” He shook his head, looking down at his hand. His lashes were so dark against his cheek. Leah thought of how her children might have lashes like that.

He stood up suddenly. “Well, Lord Kirby. I’ve intruded for too long on your evening.”

“Don’t be so formal, Your Grace,” the Earl said. “You’re going to be family soon. You’re most welcome to stay, for as long as you like.”

“I must be going, My Lord.”

“Do not forget, Your Grace,” Leah said. “You promised to take me riding on your estate tomorrow.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” he replied. “And Lady Selina is coming as well, is she not?” He glanced over to where she sat, beside Leah’s mother.

“I am, indeed, Your Grace,” Selina replied.

Leah felt annoyance, and she looked over at her father. “Is she allowed out? After her behavior, the other day?” she asked.

“You will be accompanied, so there’s no reason that I can think of,” the Earl said, to Leah’s disappointment. Leah smiled at the Duke, anyway.

“I will send the barouche-landau, to bring you both to Gillingham,” he said.

“How kind of you,” Leah said, twirling one of her curls, then curtsying to him. He bowed low.

And then, he was gone.

Leah sat down. There. They had to have made some progress. Not as much as she’d hoped, but these things took time. The horse-riding, no doubt, would prove fruitful. She’d make sure to be near him, there to dazzle him with her gentility, when set beside Selina, who was proving herself wild.

* * *

Selina felt mortified. She stared at the pianoforte’s keyboard, her face hot. How could Leah have humiliated her thus? Especially after the hurt look on Jasper’s face, when he saw her, sitting there. She knew that he was confused, perhaps even hurt. And there was not a thing she could do to assuage it.

She stood up. “Excuse me, Aunt Georgiana,” she said. “I’m feeling tired.”

“Of course, dear. You do look flushed.”

Selina held up her skirts, so she could walk as quickly as she could. She practically broke into a run as she made her way down the hall to her room. She entered, closing the door behind her.

She made it to the window, just in time to see him, riding away. He was on a different horse, one that she’d never seen before.

She watched him, until he disappeared from view, thinking of the way that he’d looked at her—as though she’d slapped him, and she wasn’t able to doanythingto reassure him that her affections were unchanged.

Selina breathed a long sigh. Her chest ached in the space beneath her sternum. She was caught. Completely unable to do anything.

She knocked on the door to Faith’s small room that was beside her own. “Faith?” she called out. There was no answer. When she peered inside, her maid was gone, likely down in the kitchen, eating her own dinner.

She closed the door. When faced with her solitary room, she burst into tears of frustration. She knelt down on the floor, her face in her hands.

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