He stopped arguing. “Good night, Maria.”
She slipped into the corridor. He closed the door quietly. She stood a moment, looking at the painted panel as if it could answer the questions he’d left deliberately unanswered.
A sister.The word rolled in her head like a coin too bright to spend. Where was she? Why had no one mentioned her?
CHAPTER 14
Violet and Nicholas had decided to come visit her.
“Sister,” Nicholas said. “Are you well?”
“I am well,” Maria said, laughing.
Nicholas held her at arm’s length, and something in his shoulders eased.
“Has the Duke treated you properly? If he hasn’t, I’ll throw him into his own fountain and then write a note of apology on his best paper.”
“Stephen has been…” She searched for the right word. “Decent. We have an arrangement.”
“I hate that word,” Nicholas said. “I prefer allegiance. But I’ll take decent until I can terrify him into devoted.”
Violet arched a brow. “Nicholas.”
“What? I’m being brotherly.” He glanced around. “Where is he?”
“In his study,” Maria said. “Writing letters or staring at them until they blink.”
“Good,” Nicholas said. “If you need anything, you tell me.”
“I know,” Maria said, and meant it.
Violet squeezed Maria’s hand. “How is the house?”
“It’s feeling more like home each passing day.”
Just then, Stephen entered with the butler, who announced refreshments. Stephen bowed to Violet, to Nicholas, to Maria, last of all. Maria watched her brother watch the duke.
“Verwood,” Nicholas said, bright as a blade being inspected. “We’ve come to see whether my sister is adjusting fine.”
“She is,” Stephen said. “The house is adjusting to keep up.”
Nicholas smiled a little. “We’ll see.”
Violet cut in. “We brought biscuits you can’t buy in this county and a terrible plan for the afternoon.”
“Tell me the plan, not the biscuits,” Maria said.
“Games,” Violet said. “Neighbors are gathering at three. Cards inside for those with sense. Blind Man’s Bluff on the lawn for those who pretend to have it.”
Maria felt the prickle she always felt at the mention of Blind Man’s Bluff. It was a game that involved the senses, and she was not entirely comfortable with the idea that she would have to be discovered by the shape of her.
It made her nervous, though she tried to hide her nervousness. It was a game that invited a girl to be known by what she could not hide.
Nicholas was already delighted, and no one else seemed to share the same discomfort as she did.
It will be okay,she told herself. It is not as though they do not know what her figure is like. It is not a secret, she told herself. But it did little to stop her heart from fluttering wildly.
“A duke with a blindfold has always been my ambition.”