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I didn’t get far, however. Just as I started to round a particularly tall boxwood hedge, two voices stopped me in my tracks.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Frederick was saying. “He’s married her. The ceremony was a bit unorthodox, but perfectly legal. It’s done.”
“But itcan’tbe done.” Imogene’s voice was shrill and shaking, almost like she was crying. “She must have tricked him somehow. I’m sure of it.”
“I’m very sorry to inform you, but there are no tricks involved. And you must have heard the rumors.”
“Bah. What rumors?”
There was an awkward pause. “They are…expecting. Or so Mother has suggested. Don’t ask me how she knows—I haven’t the foggiest.”
I peeked around the hedge just in time to see Imogene’s jaw practically drop onto her lap where she was sitting on a bench, facing Frederick. She was too surprised to spot me, so I popped back safely behind my boxwood, shamelessly listening in. Honestly, after what she’d done, I had no qualms about a little eavesdropping.
“But there’s been no announcement,” she said. “And she doesn’tlookpregnant.”
“Yes, but…”
“But what?” Imogene sounded for all the world like a little girl who’d been told she couldn’t have ice cream before bed.
I could practically hear Frederick’s nonchalant shrug in return. “Well, I was at the wedding. And the reception. And I noticed the bride failed to partake in any of the libations.”
“She didn’t?”
“Nor did Xavier.”
“No!”
“And then, of course, there’s the fact that her family isn’t exactly discreet. I’m afraid there were several toasts to the bride, groom, and their, er, children. Plural. To great applause, I might add.”
At that, Imogene didn’t appear to have an answer at all.
I smirked to myself.Take that, you brat.
“My God,” she said. “So she’s really done it? Forced her way in and produced an heir all in one go. That is the next duke in her belly, isn’t it?”
“Not if Mother has anything to do with it,” Frederick remarked wryly. “It’s why they’re here, you know.”
I made a face. Oh, wedefinitelyknew. These stupid Parliamentary shenanigans were replacing my honeymoon, and I was not happy about it.
“Oh, please,” Imogene argued. “Papa told me all about that, andhesays the committee thinks it’s a joke. They’ve only agreed to call the meeting as a ruse to please the old guard. They’ll snap at him a bit, but then they’ll let him go because the one thing theyreallywant is for Xavier to take his father’s spot in the House of Lords next year.”
“Mmmph,” Frederick replied.
Imogene just rattled on. “Papa said the Earl of Lonsbury, in particular, has had his eye on Xavier since your stepfather passed. One of only ninety-two hereditary peerages—they won’t let him squander it. They want him to take his place, not to mention help modernize the party. Golly, can you just imagine it? Someone who looks likeXavierfor the Tories?”
My mouth curled. I could practically taste the lust dripping off every syllable when she spoke about him. Clearly,shehad imagined it plenty of times. With herself on his arm.
“You might want to try sounding a little less excited about the prospect. It’s not polite to salivate.”
I snorted. Frederick’s dry tone matched the sardonic comments I’d been silently making to myself throughout the exchange.
“Did you hear that?” Imogene wondered.
“Not at all,” Frederick said as I stepped farther behind my hedge.
“Are you saying you don’t believe me?” she pressed. “Papaison the committee, after all.”
“I just wouldn’t be so sure,” Frederick replied. “Mama hasn’t played all the cards up her sleeve. Lonsbury might want him, but there are plenty who don’t. And if there is anything I’ve learned as Georgina Parker’s son, it’sneverunderestimate a Parker woman. The men are hapless dogs, but the women are wolves to the core.”
