A Duke of Her Own(97)

"At this rate, everyone will be discussing the treasure hunt for the next month," Anne said, confirming Eleanor's anxiety. "I am very happy that I accompanied you. I shall be so popular."

"Perhaps we should give Mother an extra laudanum dose that morning," Eleanor said. And she was half-serious.

"If Astley has decided that you are worth more than the world's opinion," Villiers said, his voice very even, "your mother will simply have to get used to that fact. I don't expect he will wait for a full year of mourning before marrying you."

"He must," Eleanor said firmly. "He's Ada's only close family member, since her father passed away last year."

"He won't."

"Why not?" Anne put in. "My sense is that he is making sure Eleanor doesn't end up married to you while his back is turned. But he seemed genuinely fond of his wife, in a lukewarm kind of way."

"Astley is in the grip of passion," Villiers said. "Yes, I will take some of that lamb now, Popper.

Thank you."

"Passion needn't last more than a week," Anne said with her usual cynicism.

Villiers glanced at Eleanor. "It will in this case."

"A tiresome subject of conversation," Eleanor said. "How are your daughters settling in, Villiers?"

But Anne wasn't diverted. "Why do you think Astley won't settle down and wait once he is certain that Eleanor won't marry you?"

"Because he's had a few years to realize what he threw away."

Back to the immeasurable charms of the Whore of Babylon, Eleanor thought dismally.

Anne was relentless. "What exactly do you think he's realized?"

"He thinks that there's no reason to eat breakfast unless Eleanor is there to give him that silly wide grin of hers. He wants to have an argument with her just so he can kiss her into a good mood again.

He wants to sleep with her every night, see her holding a baby with brandy-colored hair like hers."

Eleanor's mouth fell open.



"He wants her forever," Villiers continued. Their eyes met and his were as cool as ever. "He can't bear the idea that she might ever love another man. I'd bet my entire estate that he will arrive tomorrow."

Anne sighed. "If I wasn't so prodigiously fond of my husband, I'd probably fall in love with you just for that description, Villiers."

Eleanor's mind was whirling. If his face hadn't been so impassive, so composed, she would have thought...

"Since you inquired about my daughters," he said, turning to Eleanor, "Lisette spent several hours with them today. I expect they will be very sad when we return to London."

"You ought to leave soon, before she tires of them," Anne said, proving her voice could be just as emotionless as Villiers's.

"That seems an unnecessarily unkind assessment," Villiers said. "I believe that Lisette genuinely enjoys the girls. And she is looking forward to being their mother."

Eleanor shot Anne her most ferocious look, the one copied from their mother. Anne twitched an eyebrow but said in a sweetly musical voice, "Of course it will all be different this time, Villiers. I quite forgot that the two of you are to be married."

"Don't try for a life on the stage," Villiers said flatly.

"I think we should go back to discussing Astley," Anne said. "That's afar more fascinating subject than your marital mishaps." "There is no marriage yet," he snapped.

"Then we can save the discussion of your unhappiness for the next time we meet," she said brightly.

Eleanor rose. "If you'll excuse me."

"Do tell me that you're going to succor some orphans," Anne said, fluttering her eyelashes. "Or perhaps you plan to distribute food among the starving villagers?"

"I am retiring to my chamber," Eleanor said, with what she considered a masterful control of her temper. "I plan a tedious night with a bath and my book."

"Ah, Shakespeare's sonnets," Villiers said. "Love that lasts ages, into which category we must now place the Duke of Astley. A good choice."

Eleanor managed to get herself out of the room without saying something she might later regret.

The two people remaining at the dining table stared at each other. Then Villiers looked at Popper and jerked his head, so the butler and his footmen quickly left.

"A touch of the bourgeois," Eleanor's sister said mockingly. "I didn't know you cared about servants'

talk, Duke."

He ignored that. "I was under the impression that you were not in favor of my suit."



"What suit?" Anne said. "You're marrying Lisette. And, in case I haven't said it already, congratulations. Your life is certainly going to be interesting."