Courtesan's Kiss (37 page)

“Oh my.” Garrett laughed. “And I thought that Olivia was the most naive woman in the world.” They walked on in silence until the door to the old castle was in sight. “The duke once used that line on me, the one about being the seduced or the seducer, or something close enough to it that I relived it when he used it today.”

David could not have cared less.

“It must make him feel very old when he hears the
same words come out of his mouth over and over.” Garrett laughed again at the thought.

“Maybe he should keep his mouth shut. He is my brother, not my father. The dukedom has made him old before his time. I’d be afraid to meet him in the ring now. He’d probably fight like he’s sixty instead of forty.”

“Once Elena is safely delivered of her child his good humor will return,” Garrett insisted. “In the meantime, David, try for patience.”

David shook his head. “Not if he continues to insult Mia.”

They pushed their way through the doors that led to the oldest part of the castle and the boxing ring set up in the old forecourt. Garrett pulled the door closed behind them and followed David to the ring. “I do feel sorry for Romero.”

“B
UT WHY IS THE DUKE
so mean to you?” Janina collapsed onto the chair. “The duke is a man, and all men like you.”

“He saw how much trouble I made for Elena last year, before you came. He thinks me rude, selfish, every bad word you can think of.”

“That’s not fair. There are many good things about you, too.”

“I hope so, Janina, but the duke does not know me any other way. Lord David treated me the same at first. I suppose it is only fair, after I made Elena’s life so difficult.”
And William’s. And now David’s
.

“What will you do?” Janina’s question was filled with despair.

Mia faced her sister, afraid that she would lose her, too. “I am going to leave as soon as Elena has given birth
and recovered. I will see if I can go back to Sandleton and wait there until my majority. If Elena will not trust me that far, then I will ask to live in the gatehouse until I can claim my money and leave.”

She dreaded the next year. It would feel like a punishment, but it was a punishment she deserved if she had ruined David’s chance at success.

“When the time is right, I think I will still go to Bath. Definitely not to London. And I will find a lady to act as chaperone.” She would find a way to assert her independence, even if it meant a compromise.

“Romero and I will go with you.” Janina covered Mia’s clasped hands with her own.

“Thank you, Nina. But perhaps you should talk to Romero first.”

“We have talked. He knows that you are my only family and I will not abandon you. Not ever.”

It meant everything to Mia to have that commitment from Janina, even when her sister had no idea what she would do with her life.

“But before I do anything else I have to find out what the duke decided about the mill. If the duke will not support him I have to find a way to change his mind. I have to come up with a plan.”

She was spared the task when one of the younger maids came into the room, breathless from running or from excitement. “The duchess is in labor! The babe is coming!”

E
VERYONE IN THE CASTLE
settled in to wait. The first three hours were uneventful. The servants completed the essential tasks of the day, but then one of the housemaids dropped a vase and a footman knocked over a suit of armor. Into the fourth hour, two maids argued each other into tears and one of the kitchen maids burned her hand.

At the end of the fifth hour, with half a workday left, Winthrop allowed the servants who lived at home to leave and sent the rest to the servants’ hall to help the housekeeper with mending and polishing silver in shifts. Not a one complained.

Hanging like a pall that dampened any excitement was the memory of the last birth in this family. The first duchess had not survived the night.

As the house grew quieter, Mia realized that the child’s birth touched all their lives, not just the duke and his wife. That everyone under this roof and in the town of Pennsford was praying for the safe delivery of the next Pennistan.

She and Janina waited in her sitting room, trying to convince each other that Elena would have no trouble at all giving birth. Women did it every day without a threat to their lives. But as Mr. Novins had said, women understood too well that life and death were only a breath apart.

Each time Nina said something encouraging, Mia would remember the Regent’s daughter, who had died in childbirth, and Mia’s own mother, who had never fully recovered from her birth.

With dinner still hours away, Mia announced that she
was going to the nursery to see how Alicia and Rexton were preparing for a new brother or sister.

The nursery was a bright and airy suite of rooms that even on a rainy day seemed welcoming. The main room was filled with serviceable furniture and a large open space, the floor covered with an old thick rug that was obviously a perfect spot to roll and tumble and otherwise play. Had David spent his childhood playing here? Mia tried to picture him as a boy and wondered if he had always been serious or if his time in Mexico had made him so.

There was an alcove with a cozy fire and a table and chairs where the duke’s son and heir, Rexton, was working with his tutor. Disappointment showed when he realized that his caller was not his father.

“Papa comes every day, but he is with the duchess and might be late.” The boy was pretending not to worry right along with everyone else.

Mia wondered if Rexton remembered that his mother had died just after her lying-in. She wasn’t sure how old he was, surely more than ten, so he would recall in his own right the day his mother died. For the first time in her life Mia found herself relieved that she had not been old enough to know or even really miss her own mother.

The tutor seemed to welcome her addition to the circle, and so she sat down next to the boy who would someday be the Duke of Meryon.

“I know I am a poor substitute for your papa, but do tell me what you are studying today.”

“The meaning of names,” the young earl answered promptly.

“And what is the most interesting thing you’ve learned today?”

“That the name Miles means soldier,” Rexton answered. “I always liked that name above all others.”

“I wanted to change my name to Damiana or Julietta.” She still thought Mia a rather unimpressive name. “What does Rexton mean, my lord?”

“It’s my mother’s maiden name,” Rexton explained to her. “It’s a Pennistan tradition for the firstborn.”

Well
, Mia thought,
that explains the odd choice of Lynford for the duke’s first name
. “But, my lord, what will happen if you marry someone from Germany whose last name is, for example, Baumgardner? Or someone from Italy with a name like Castellano? What do you think of those for a given name?”

Rexton thought for a minute. The tutor showed his value by waiting for a comment and not offering his own before the boy could consider it.

“I do not wish to be rude,” Rexton said.

Much too adult a sentiment for a young boy. Did they not live to be rude?

“Baumgardner Pennistan would certainly be a mouthful,” Mia said, prompting the boy with her own frank assessment. “And Castellano Pennistan makes even me want to laugh out loud.”

The tutor tried to control the way his lips twitched. “What I suspect would happen, my lord and Miss Castellano, is that your heir, my lord, would be given the traditional name but be called by some more conventional name among the family.”

Rexton seemed relieved at that solution, and they played the “weird name game” for another few minutes until the boy was snorting with laughter. The tutor nodded his approval, but remained above the silliness that in Mia’s opinion was just what the boy needed.

After twenty minutes of nonsense, Mia decided she had been the entertainment long enough. With a curtsy she went into the day nursery to find that little Alicia was taking a nap. How nice that at least one member of the family was not at all worried about what was happening in the duchess’s suite.

Mia refused to look at any of the clocks she passed. Time had lost its usual meaning. Every minute was more like an hour. She was sure that time was now measured by Elena’s breaths.

With a little help she found the Long Gallery. The steady rain outside made it the only place to walk and pray and walk some more.

All the chandeliers and sconces had been lit and the room was warmed by four fireplaces, making it almost comfortable despite its size.

Mia took her time, examining the portraits. How many of these men had been afraid their wives would die, and how many wished they would? How many thought life a great adventure, and how many wished it would end so the misery would go away?

Mia stood in front of the painting of Rowena Rexton Pennistan, the first wife of the current duke. The elegant pose didn’t convey much of the woman’s strengths or
weaknesses, nor could Mia imagine how this woman looked when she went to God. Much too soon.

She bent her head and began to cry. Tears welled in her eyes and ran down her cheeks in a river of sorrow and loss that was a mix of both groundless fears and what was all too true.

Mia allowed the tears, hoping God would see them as proof of her love for Elena and not her selfish fear that she would lose someone else she loved. She prayed and promised that she would do anything if Elena survived.

“The first duchess was a very sweet woman. The artist missed that completely.”

Mia recognized Michael Garrett’s voice, her eyes too filled with water to actually see him. She nodded. “Should you not be with your wife?”

“She is with Elena and the midwife.”

“The duke must need you.”

“No, he is in the chapel and prefers to be alone with his fears.” She could hear him coming closer to her as he spoke. “I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

Mia nodded and kept on crying, still not looking at him. He stayed next to her, rubbed her back, and waited. When it hurt to swallow, Mia made herself stop crying but did not move away. “I am so selfish. I am crying because I do not know what I will do if Elena dies.”

“We all feel that way. You are the only one to admit it aloud.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged a little. “The duke must be so afraid. It is the worst thing in the world to lose someone you love. Grief is one thing I understand. If Elena dies I
know it will break his heart. And there is nothing he can do to save her.” The tears escaped again and she concentrated on slowing them.

“We are all praying.”

At her shock of guilt for not praying at this very moment, he patted her arm.

“In times like this, Mia, our very thoughts are prayers.”

She relaxed a little.

“Tell me about David.”

“Dio mio
, how could I forget! What did the duke tell him?”

“I don’t think the decision will be final for a while yet.”

“Do you think if I spoke to the duke it would help?”

Garrett took her hand and kissed it. “You are not the heart of the problem.”

“How can that be? I’m the one who seduced David.”

“Tell me about him.”

She swallowed hard and took a moment to think. “I wish he loved me.”

“Mia, dear, that tells me about you. What I asked is for you to tell me about David.”

“He is a hard man to have a conversation with. If he would talk in more than one-word sentences then I would know him better.”

“Yes, I suspect that terseness is the first thing one notices about him.”

“Well, Mr. Garrett—” Mia stopped and folded her arms as she considered how honest to be with him. “I
think what women first notice is how handsome he is and not at all aware of it, and his quiet then makes him very mysterious. He is hard for a woman to resist.”

“Hmmm,” Garrett, said which apparently meant she was to go on.

“He is immensely capable in all situations. He can rescue a coach from a disaster and calm people who are afraid of plague by knowing exactly what to do. He will comfort you when you are ill. Is that not every kind of situation?”