He shook his head, setting the paper aside. “Darling, I wasn’t serious.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Well I am. And I would very much like something to do that involves the use of the languages I know.” She leaned back in her chair. “Shall we discuss terms?”
Seeing the vehemence in her eyes, the pink tinge on her cheeks and how her chest heaved, Daniel thought she looked delectable. He stepped forward to take her into his arms and ravish her lips when her eyes suddenly widened. He jerked to a halt. She gasped and placed her hands over her stomach.
Fear knifed through him. He lowered to his haunches beside her chair. “Silver? What is—?”
“I just felt the baby move,” she said, a smile spreading across her lips.
Closing his eyes, he drew in a deep gulp of air, his heart starting to beat once again. “God’s truth, madam, don’t ever scare me like that again,” he stated softly, opening his eyes.
Silver’s amused expression did nothing to lighten his mood. She took his hand and placed it low over her slightly-rounded middle. “It’s as though a couple of butterflies are trapped in there. Can you feel it?”
He shook his head, disappointed. “It’s this thick velvet gown you’re wearing.”
A dark auburn brow arched. “Indeed? Well, something must be done about that.”
Her low, husky voice sent a shiver racing down the center of his back. Passion darkened her eyes and her lips parted in silent invitation. In an instant, his manhood swelled rock-solid and strained against the front of his pants. He leaned forward and placed his lips over hers.
Daniel groaned when she broke off the kiss. “I think someone is trying to gain our attention.”
Only then did he hear the ruddy knocking at the door.
Keeping the swear word firmly behind his clenched teeth, he straightened and called to enter. Hopefully, he thought as the silver knob began turning, his dark pants would not reveal his current state.
Larkin opened the door. “Beg pardon, Your Grace, there is a Mrs. Katrina Whitmore here to see Her Grace.”
Daniel swore silently as he helped Silver to her feet. “Is she in the drawing room, Larkin?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Please have some tea prepared,” Silver said while he hid his grimace.
The butler bowed. “Right away, Your Grace.”
“You are actually going to see her?”
She turned and nodded, her brows drawn. “Something might have happened to Aunt Caroline or Uncle Edward.” She paused to sigh. “My mother and Caroline were sisters. I know they treated me horribly, but to not see if something were wrong would dishonor my mother.”
He held his hand out. “Then come, my darling, let us face this together.”
Godfrey bowed and opened the drawing room door as they approached.
Daniel found Katrina Whitmore inspecting a solid gold chess piece when they entered. He narrowed his eyes, recalling the things his wife told him when she had the high fever. Awful, spiteful things. From stealing Silver’s presents sent from her brothers to putting dead animals in her bed. What could the Whitmore chit be up to?
“Katrina, has something happened?” Silver asked as they approached.
Whirling around with a lacy gloved hand splayed over her breast, the girl gave a small gasp. “Oh, Silver, you frightened me so.” Then her round blue eyes focused on Daniel and lit with admiration. Her smile turned coy and her voice smooth as honey. “It is indeed a pleasure to see you again, Your Grace,” she purred.
He gave a stiff nod. “Mrs. Whitmore.”
“Oh, do call me Katrina, Your Grace.” She smiled, her eyelids fluttering several times. “We are family now.” Then her expression turned expectant, as if waiting for him to return the offer of informal address.
Liking the girl less and less, he did not take the bait. “Mrs. Whitmore,” he said, trying to temp back his impatience, “may I ask about the nature of your visit?”
The tea arrived before the chit could answer. Silver offered her cousin a seat and a steamy cup of tea, then settled on the opposite green and gold silk sofa. Daniel joined her, and she poured him a cup.
Just as his wife placed the teapot back on the tray, the door opened. He noticed Mrs. Whitmore’s unease, how she shifted restlessly, as Prudence and Grandmother joined them.
“Tea, Grandmother, Aunt?” Silver offered.
Prudence gave a sniff, her narrowed eyes on the newcomer. So, he wasn’t the only one who didn’t trust the girl. “Yes, I think we ought,” she indicated.
After everyone had taken a seat, Silver poured their tea then introduced her cousin to Gran.
“So tell me, Katrina, why have you come?” his wife asked.
Mrs. Whitmore set her empty cup onto the table, her hand trembling slightly. “Colin is missing, and so is Victor. Mother is frantic. She is utterly convinced something terrible has happened to them.”
Daniel frowned. From what Silver had told him, Victor and Colin were friends. But both were missing? He knew Victor had been taken aboard the Mary Alice, but what happened to Colin? Perhaps they had been together at the time of the capture. Had Connor’s men taken him, too? He had better find out. “Where is your husband, Mrs. Whitmore, shouldn’t he be with you?”
Her face fell into her palms, and she burst into tears. “Robin hates me because I’m barren,” the chit wailed.
Bloody hell.
After Daniel rushed off to check on one of his horses and Molly escorted Katrina up to one of the guestrooms to refresh herself, Silver decided to remain with Gran and her aunt to assist them with sewing baby clothes. Most of the time, the thought of being hunched over a needle and thread made her quiver with revulsion, but now that she would become a mother, making clothes for her baby with her own hands pleased her.
“Well, I would have thrown the gel out on her bum. Tit for tat, Silver.”
She smiled at Grandmother’s words but didn’t comment.
“Katrina was horrid to you the entire time you lived with Edward and Caroline,” Prudence said. “Remember when she tried setting your hair on fire?”
Silver grimaced and nodded.
Anne gasped. “She didn’t!”
“Oh, but she did.”
“The antics of youth,” the dowager said with a smile. “Why, I remember once when Daniel was about eight years old, he sneaked downstairs before dinner and brushed tree sap over every chair in the dining hall.”
Silver choked back her laughter. “He put tree sap on the chairs?”
“Indeed he did,” Anne said as she threaded a needle. “And it wouldn’t have been the disaster it was had my son and daughter-in-law not been entertaining that night.”
She pressed her lips together to conceal her laughter. But she couldn’t stop her shoulders from shaking.
The dowager glanced up, her eyes crinkled at the corners. “I admit it was a sight to see the loftiest of the ton trying to rise to their feet with a chair glued to their bottoms.”
Unable to resist, Silver erupted with laughter. Prudence joined in, and even Anne chuckled a bit.
When the laughter died down, she swiped the wetness from her eyes and took some deep breaths. “Was Daniel truly so mischievous, Gran?”
“Oh, my, yes. Undoubtedly, you’ll find out soon enough.” She held up the tiny white shirt, inspecting the seam. “Now what about your cousin setting your hair on fire? How old were you?”
Silver poked her finger with a needle and grimaced.
“That happened year before last,” Prudence said.
Gran’s fingers stilled, and she glanced up, her gray eyes stormy. “Then it wasn’t a mere childhood jest?”
Her aunt shook her head. “Katrina has always been jealous of Silver.”
Frowning, she shrugged her shoulders. “It’s true Katrina felt no love for me, but I’m not certain she was jealous.”
“Bosh. The chit was jealous. And in any case, I don’t see why you aren’t demanding she return
home.”
She sighed and returned to her sewing. “I admit my first thought was to deny her request to stay.” She inspected the row of uneven stitches with a frown. “But seeing how unhappy Katrina is, I just couldn’t do it.”
“You’ve a soft heart, child,” Prudence said, sewing a bit of lace around the small pink dress in her lap.
She snipped the thread and tied it into a knot, then folded the tiny garment and added it to the growing stack within the small chest beside her chair. She heard Gran’s comment to Aunt Prudence.
“You’re wasting your time sewing dresses. This babe is a boy.”
“She is a girl, I say.”
“My first great-grandchild is most certainly going to be male.”
Silver lifted her eyes to the painted ceiling and began to count. In Latin.
Before the argument escalated any further, the door opened and Katrina strolled into the room in a cloud of pink chiffon, filling the air with an overly-sweet smell of honeysuckle. Although Silver no longer suffered with being sick all the time, certain smells still triggered nausea. That perfume seemed to do it. Her stomach twisted as her cousin neared and the scent grew stronger.
“What is going on?”
“Sewing.”
Katrina turned to Prudence and frowned. “I can see that. What are you sewing?”
“Clothes for my first great-grandson,” Anne said as she held up the tiny garment. “He’ll arrive late spring.”
Katrina swirled around, releasing more of that ghastly odor. “You mean…?”
“Yes, the duke and I are having a baby.” Silver truly hoped she didn’t sound too superior. Then she recalled what her cousin had done to the little bird she had rescued from Caroline’s cat two years ago. She nearly had the poor thing healed and ready to release when she found Katrina leaving her room. Of course, she rushed in and found the bird dead, its neck twisted by cruel little fingers.
Katrina crossed her arms, her eyes shooting sparks, and her pink lips dipped down. Then she turned in a huff and stormed from the room. Silver lifted her needle. Perhaps Prudence had been right about the jealously.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Silver smiled as she watched Torie climb the ladder and add a magnificent gold star to the very top of the fir tree that had been set in the corner of the room. She wondered why the family would bring a tree of all things into the house and asked Daniel. He explained a German friend of his father’s had spent a Christmas with the family years ago and began the tradition. Their tree, Daniel told her, started out much smaller and sat on a tabletop, but grew in size with each passing year.
Torie straightened the star and Silver gave a contented sigh. She was glad she had discussed with Daniel the poor girl’s worry about being betrothed to a man she didn’t wish to marry. Without any cajoling at all, he had promised not to sign a betrothal contract without his sister’s consent. For the first time in many years, she felt loved and as though she belonged somewhere. She turned to her brother-in-law. “I am so grateful the storm eased, allowing you and Torie to return from London in time for Christmas.”
Andrew nodded. “That amount of snowfall was quite unexpected. It reminded me of when the Thames last froze. Called it Freezeland Street, we did. Even skated over it.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.” His topaz eyes lit with a question. “Ever been skating?”
Silver shook her head.
“Never?” he asked with disbelief.
She laughed. “No, never. Why?”
“The lake behind Huntington freezes.” He paused and shrugged. “When we were children, we used to skate on it after opening our Christmas presents.”
“That sounds like another delightful tradition.” She turned to watch Daniel assist Torie from the ladder. Being part of this family brought more joy than she ever thought possible for ten lifetimes. And it continued to get better.
She gazed up to the tree in wonder. Blown glass figurines were intermingled with crude wooden horses, stars, and angles Daniel, Andrew, and Torie had made as children. Her hands went to her stomach, cupping the mound there. In the years to come, her children would tie their own decorations onto the branches. Her and Daniel’s children.
The thought caused a lump of emotion to form in her throat quite suddenly.
Feeling eyes on her, Silver glanced to her left and watched her cousin turn away. But Katrina hadn’t been swift enough to hide the jealousy and pain twisting those lovely features.
“She seems upset,” Andrew said softly, following the direction of her gaze.
She nodded, recalling the reason her cousin had come for a visit. Katrina would never have children. No doubt, Lady Longley, not so much the girl’s husband, had been the one to cause such havoc about the fact. And since the girl had been brought up to think she could do no wrong and was perfect in every way, this certainly had to be a difficult blow.
With a sad shake to her head, she turned from the sight of her disheartened cousin and found her husband walking toward her, worry shadowing his green eyes. He placed an arm around her waist, drawing her to his warm body. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said as Mrs. Birch, Larkin, and Godfrey began lighting the tapers that had been carefully placed on many of the branches.
“You didn’t look fine just now.”
She took note of his worried eyes and smiled, loving the man above reason. “The simple truth is I was considering Katrina’s sadness.”
His eyes flickered to her cousin. He nodded, the worry gone, and turned back to the tree. “How much longer is she going to stay?”
She struggled to keep from grimacing. “I haven’t a clue.” She had hoped Katrina would have returned home by now. The thought couldn’t have been anything but selfish, wanting to spend Christmas with her new family without her cousin’s presence to remind her of those unpleasant years. But she couldn’t help it. Three weeks had passed and the girl showed no signs of returning. Surely, she didn’t mean to stay forever? Silver expelled a long sigh.
“I could have her escorted back, if that is your wish.” Daniel kept his eyes on the tree lighting.
Oh, how she wanted to say yes! Unfortunately, she couldn’t force the word to pass her lips. How could she possibly have a happy Christmas after throwing Katrina out?
He turned and lifted a brow, waiting for an answer to his question.
Rot! Rot! Rot!
With a sigh, she shook her head. “No, not yet.” She hoped she would not regret those words later.
“The lamps, Larkin,” Grandmother stated, gaining her attention.
The room dimmed, and Silver’s breath caught. Tiny flames danced and flickered on the green branches, bouncing off of the glass ornaments. The refracted light looked like stars splintering in every direction and in every color of the rainbow. Never had she beheld anything so beautiful.
Her aunt, uncle, and cousins always spent Christmas with the baron and baroness. She and Prudence remained at Pennington Manor alone.
And in that instant, Silver knew the true gift Daniel had given her. Their love made everything in her life special, even down to the smallest things. The air smelled sweeter, the food tasted better, and everything was more beautiful.
Snuggling close to her husband’s side, her eyes grew misty. She silently thanked God for already receiving the best Christmas gift she could have ever hoped for. Her husband.
“Damn thing’s crooked.”
Silver hid a grin as she turned to Daniel’s great-uncle. The man glared up at the tree. She quite liked the crotchety old fellow, and the fact that Prudence was over the moon for him made him even more endearing.
“The tree is perfectly straight, George,” Prudence said at his side, her words calm.
Uncle George scrunched his eyelids together for a moment, squinting up at the tree, then shook his head. “Damn thing’s going to topple over, Purdie.”
“George, you blind old goat,” Anne said from the other side of Silver.
“The tree is stuck in that position like a boulder. Now quit scaring Victoria and cease your prattle.”
Laughing softly, Daniel shook his head. “Every year it’s the same with Uncle George.”
“What’s the same?”
His gaze flickered to the old fellow and back. “Every year he swears the tree is going to fall and burn the house down.” He smiled at the man with true affection. “I think he just wants us to move into that drafty old mausoleum with him.”
“You mean he’s lonely?” she asked, a bit saddened by the thought.
He nodded.
She frowned. “Then why don’t you invite him to come and live here?”
“I’ve asked countless times, but he always refuses.”
Silver turned back to Uncle George. Watching the man casually slip his hand into Aunt Prudence’s, she felt a smile lift the corners of her mouth. “Something tells me he might not refuse again.”
Daniel turned to the elderly couple and agreed with a chuckle.
****
Connor couldn’t believe his ears. “Ye’re sure?”
“Captain Redding told me himself just moments ago. Merrick probably won’t last the night. His fever is too high.”
The north wind raged outside, rocking the ship to and fro over massive waves. Connor paid little attention. He studied the captain, sensing a hesitation in the man, even though no outward appearance showed. “There’s more. What?”
Jack’s obsidian eyes narrowed a fraction before he answered. “Captain Redding told me from the moment the man regained consciousness after being dumped aboard the Mary Alice, he insisted his name is not Victor Merrick.”
A bad feeling twisted Connor’s innards. He frowned and turned to the window.
“That isn’t exactly the reaction I was expecting, First Mate,” the captain stated. “It isn’t uncommon for a man to insist on being another when placed in this sort of situation.”
He turned from studying the large ship anchored beside them, his gaze clashing with dark, questioning eyes. “Och, Capt’n, I dinna ken why I feel tha’ sommat is wrong. I just dae.”
The captain furrowed his brows, his fingers steepling together. Finally, he said, “Your instincts have always been incredibly accurate, Connor. Perhaps we should board the Mary Alice together and learn what is wrong.”
Duchess Beware (Secrets & Scandals Book 2) Page 29