A Duke of Her Own(63)

"He said he was going home," Lucinda put in, looking up from the dog. This was unexpected. All eyes turned to the little girl. "You know Tobias?" Eleanor asked.

Lucinda grinned, and Villiers looked past the streaked dirt and dog spit and who knows what to discover that his daughter was an extraordinarily beautiful girl. "He got us outta the sty this morning," she said. "We heard a banging."

"We thought it was Mrs. Minchem coming again," Phyllinda said, her voice high and thready.

He tightened his hold on her. "Mrs. Minchem is incarcerated." "Where's that?" Lucinda asked.



"The Clink," Eleanor explained. "And she's not coming out either."

"Tobias unlocked the sty and took you out," Villiers said, rather stunned. "And then he stowed you in the blanket box."

"He put the blanket down and said as we should just go to sleep and he'd walk home and then sneak us out of the box later."

"So you've been asleep?" Villiers asked, suddenly remembering talk of virginity in the carriage.

"We couldn't sleep last night because of that old sow," Lucinda said. "But I would have just kicked her good if she tried to bite us!" "I was too scared," Phyllinda whimpered.

"We stayed awake all night instead," Lucinda said. "An' then we slept in that box until we heard this doggie barking."

"Don't let Oyster lick your mouth," Eleanor told Lucinda. "Your cheek is all right, but your mouth, no."

"Send someone out on horseback to look for Tobias," Villiers said to Popper. "It's quite a few miles, and he has to have stowed the girls after Lisette sent the carriage back."

"Why didn't he just climb in the carriage and wait for us?" Eleanor said. "He could have told any of the groomsmen and they would have fetched us."

"It's a surprise," Phyllinda whispered against Villiers's cheek. "We weren't supposed to move even after the carriage stopped."

"Why not?"

"We was going to have a bath first," Lucinda said. "We still needs to have that bath. He said our pa won't like us if we aren't clean." She gave Oyster a final pat. "If you don't mind, mister, we'd better have that bath because our pa might be along at any moment."

The entire household went utterly quiet, every eye fixed on Villiers.

He looked down at Lucinda. She stood almost as high as his waist. She had one hand on her hip, and she looked five going on forty. Phyllinda was staring at him expectantly.

"What on earth is going on out here?" Lisette cried, bouncing down the front steps and waving at her maid. "Beatrice, I've been looking for you everywhere! Please fetch my painting materials; I had a fancy to paint a portrait of young children." She smiled at Eleanor. "How could one not want to paint youth, after seeing those beaming faces this morning?"

"Yes, well," Eleanor said, "they did beam after we dispatched with Mrs. Minchem, of course."

"Their joy was wonderful," Lisette said, sighing.

Eleanor turned away and Villiers noticed that she had a remarkably jaundiced look on her face, which wasn't quite fair. Lisette had no way of knowing the particular conversation she was interrupting.



He pulled himself together. "I am your father," he stated, looking first at Lucinda and then at Phyllinda.

Lucinda's eyes narrowed, and Phyllinda's eyes grew round, and Villiers thought he learned quite a lot about each of his daughters in that moment.

He learned even more just seconds later when Tobias appeared around the edge of the carriage, limping slightly. Lucinda dashed over and threw her arms around him, and Phyllinda began struggling and gave Villiers a solid kick before he realized that she wanted to get down.

From a safe position behind Tobias, Lucinda shook her head. "You're not our pa," she said. "We've got the same one as Tobias. He promised us, and so—" "Sorry," Phyllinda said to Villiers, peeking around from behind Lucinda. "He is your father," Tobias said cheerfully.

"is he?" Lisette said, turning her large eyes on Villiers. "My goodness, but you're very virile, Leopold." There was a little snigger from one of the footmen, which died instantly.

Villiers tried to arrange his face into what he imagined to be a nicely paternal expression. "I am your father. I accidentally lost you when you were quite small, and only found you today."

"You lost both of us," Lucinda said pointedly.

Phyllinda was hiding behind Lucinda, who was behind Tobias. "Yes," Villiers said, trying to meet Phyllinda's eyes. "I lost both of you at the same time, of course." "Remarkably careless," Lisette put in, not helpfully.