Surely he wasn’t indifferent to her?
“Are you like Wick and don’t enjoy dancing?”
Sunny finally met her eyes with his brown ones.They appeared as indifferent as his words.“I did not attend the debutante ball because I have no intention of getting married any time soon.”
Her eyes filled with water, but she would not cry or make a scene.She was a lady.Sniffing, she tilted up her chin and cleared her throat.“Forgive my impertinence for asking.”
The boy she had once loved said nothing.He did nothing.
Then the Duke of Glastonbury saved her again.He rode up to them on a splendid black stallion.“Lady Mantheria, what a pleasure it is to see you in the park.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” Mantheria managed.
“May I escort you back to your brother?”
Wick was nearly fifty feet away from her.He was not being a very good companion or chaperone.Although she was grateful that her brother hadn’t overheard the embarrassing exchange with Sunny.Or her futile hopes for a future with him.
Mantheria gave the duke her best smile.“Nothing would please me more.”
1
May, 1805
Mantheria was dressed from her head to toes in unrelieved black.Her husband, Alexander, the Duke of Glastonbury, was dead.Although they had been legally separated for eight years, she still mourned his passing.Her son, Andrew, had barely spoken since the funeral.He was eleven years old, but he appeared younger with a sullen expression on his face.Andrew had inherited his father’s dark hair and her bright blue eyes—they were an arresting combination.Mantheria knew that he would become a handsome young man and steal many hearts like his father had before him.She only hoped that her son would prove more faithful to his wife.Her late husband had openly kept a mistress during their brief marriage and then lived with Lady Dutton after their separation.
She sat down on the sofa beside Andrew and bumped her shoulder against his.“You seem rather dour this morning, darling.”
Andrew huffed.“I hate mourning.I can’t do anything.”
He wasn’t wrong.Society’s rules of what was acceptable during mourning, especially for the death of a parent, were strict.For the next year of his life, Andrew would have to dress in black.He was not supposed to attend parties or other entertainments.But eleven-year-old boys were not meant to be somber.In Mantheria’s London home, Andrew needed to behave as befitted a new duke who had lost his father.
But none of her family followed the rules, and perhaps Andrew might have more fun at one of their houses today.
“What about a visit to Uncle Wick’s?I’m sure your little cousins would be happy to see you.”
Andrew folded his arms across his narrow chest and scowled.“They’re all babies.”
Mantheria’s eldest nephew would have been quite hurt at being considered a “baby.”But the differences between a boy of seven and one of eleven were rather large.Her brother Matthew only had little girls, and her sister Frederica’s son really was a baby.
Sighing, she leaned her head on top of her son’s.“How about we go visit Grandpa Stringham?We can see his tropical birds in the conservatory.”
“I don’t want to see bloody birds!”
Her eyes rose at Andrew’s use of a curse word.He’d never cussed before, and she wondered which member of her family had taught him it.She wanted to have awordwith them.“Then what do you want, darling?”
“I want to go and see Cressy.”
Mantheria sucked her cheeks in, feeling hot and cold all over—at the same time.Andrew’s late father had doted on him, as had his mistress, Lady Cressida Dutton, who had been more like a stepmother to him.Mantheria’s family and everyone in Society thought that the breakdown of her marriage was Lady Dutton’s fault.
It was not.
The fault had been entirely her own.
Yet Alexander had taken those secrets to his grave.And Mantheria meant for them to stay buried there forever.Which was why she didn’t want Andrew to spend time with “Cressy.”
“I’m afraid it would not be appropriate for you to see Lady Dutton now that your papa has gone to heaven,” Mantheria said carefully.“Remember,the rules of Society keep us safe,and that is why we must follow them.”
Andrew stood up and stomped his foot.“You never let me do anything that I want to do!I want to go home.”