Charming the Duke (3 page)

“Quiet,” Athena and Thornsby said in unison.

Thornsby turned to his sister. “Mother and Father told you this?”

Athena nodded.

“When?”

“I don’t remember the specific day,” Athena said.

Thornsby was shocked. His parents had been politely distant from his accounting. “What say you, Athena? Mother and Father in love? They went along together tolerably enough, but love?”

“Yes, in love. You were away at school most of the time. And when you were home, you were far too busy staying out late and racing your horses to notice. Father grieved most deeply when Mother passed. His health deteriorated quickly after that.”

“But they hardly spoke. Hardly in the same room together as I remember,” Thornsby said with a shake of his head.

“They were in one room of the house together enough,” Athena said quietly. Her face colored.

Andrew howled. “This is rich. So you think they, um well, fancied each other quite often, Athena?”

“Enough, Smithly. That’s my mother you’re going on about,” Thornsby shouted. He leaned across the carriage seat, facing his sister. “You’re serious about this?”

“Well, yes, Freddy. They were deeply in love. Just not showy and modern about it. They had their individual interests, granted, but they had their own quiet conversations together and ways of showing each other how much they cared.”

“I am flummoxed, truly, Athena,” Thornsby said. His parents, kind and dutiful, and above all, traditional, had been in love. He knew most certainly that Athena did not exaggerate or speak without care. His sister never did. It must have been true. “What ways, Athena?”

“Hmm?” she said as she fixed her skirts.

“What ways did they show each other?” Thornsby asked.

“Do you really want to talk about something so personal in front of,” Athena jerked her head Andrew’s way, “him?”

“Wait one second, old girl. Many confidences your brother and I share. Nay a one has ever been revealed. Why I’d go to my grave . . .”

“Perhaps not intentionally,” Athena interrupted. “But discretion is hardly one of your fortes. Fact of the matter I can’t seem to recall any fortes associated with you.”

Andrew crossed his arms over his chest. “My fencing is superb. I have as fine a seat on a horse as you’ll see in England. No fortes?”

Thornsby stared at Andrew. “Not a word of this. Do you hear me? Not by plan or by chance.”

“Of course,” Andrew said and turned to glare at Athena.

Thornsby actually expected Smithly to stick out his tongue at Athena, just as he had done when they were children. “Now go on, Athena. What ways did Mother and Father . . . well, what ways?”

Athena smiled a soft smile as she gazed out the window. Thornsby waited patiently. Andrew, finally quiet, was staring at Athena in the strangest way.

“It was mostly in the way they looked at each other, I suppose. As if they actually
saw
each other. Her insistence that everything was done in the household for his happiness. His indulgence of her with his time and his money.” Athena turned to stare at her brother. “Father had every clock in the house unwound while Mother was ill, you know. Said he didn’t want her hearing the time ticking away.”

Athena touched a finger to the corner of her eye. Thornsby had never in his life seen a tear on his sister’s face. But he thought she may be right about his parents. Things he had never noticed or understood were clear to him with Athena’s words.

“Father told me he never had a mistress. Never would embarrass Mother like that. I always assumed he valued his honor too much,” Thornsby said quietly.

“I believe, dear brother, our father valued her too much.”

Thornsby sank back on his seat.

“Hell of a story to tell a man about to pick a wife with an eye for expedience,” Andrew said.

“What did you say?” Athena asked.

Andrew flustered his hand in Thornsby’s direction. “Hardly the type of fairy story to tell a man when he’s being led down the walkway to the matrimonial gallows. He’s out to pick a chit he can bed without gagging. That will politely and quietly disappear from his life shortly thereafter.” Andrew looked at Thornsby. “Isn’t that right, old boy?”

Thornsby looked from his sister to Andrew. What Andrew described was exactly what he’d been planning. But somehow his sister’s words had clouded the issue. His plan seemed shallow and . . . and small, and quite unlike what his parents had apparently wished for. The tree lined drive of the Bisset estate loomed ahead.

* * *

“Fitz,” Matilda said as she kissed her brother’s cheek. “How is Oxford?”

“Capital, Matilda, just capital,” Fitz replied.

Frances Sheldon reached her arm through the crook of her son’s elbow. “There you are, Matilda. Everything is just fine.” She patted her youngest son’s neck cloth and smiled.

“Frances?” a guest called out.

Both her mother and father turned and raised a hand in greeting. Juliet, Alexandra and Fitz looked at each other and giggled. Francis and Frances Sheldon. Her siblings laughed each time this sort of situation occurred. Even her oldest brother and his fiancé, Franklin and Suann tittered in the background. Matilda’s jaw was clenched.

Juliet and Alexandra stood beside Matilda preparing to greet guests. Their father, Francis Sheldon, stepped in front of them. “You girls are a vision. As absolutely beautiful as you could possibly be.” Francis’s eyes strayed to his future daughter-in-law. “Suann, my dear, stunning as well. Franklin,” Francis said with a nod to his son. “Fine cut of a coat I’d say.”

“Dapper yourself, Father.” Franklin patted Suann’s hand on his arm. “She is just a peach, isn’t she, Father? Just a peach.”

Francis kissed each of Suann’s cheeks. “A real peach.”

“Sir Arthur,” Frances said with a wide smile, a pat to her upswept hair, and an outstretched hand to a new arrival. “So very glad to have you.”

Matilda groaned inwardly. And so began a long three days of this business. Nearly two hours later all the guests were situated in the correct room. A stand-up buffet was to be served at eight o’clock, giving Matilda three hours alone. Mother was fussing with Cook over some calamity. Father had taken a few old compatriots to the stables, and her sisters were napping. Matilda was heading towards the stairs when the footman opened the door once more.

A tall, dark haired man entered with a thin woman on his arm. A blond man came behind them and whistled as his gaze cleared the three-story ceiling of the entranceway.
Damnation.
These were the guests Mother had been fussing about, wondering what had held them up. No Mother. No Father. No Franklin and the peach. No Juliet or Alexandra. Not even Fitz about. Matilda stepped forward and curtsied.

“Good day, Sirs and Madam.”

The dark-haired man swept a look up and down the entranceway, even down to the marble floors before handing his hat and cane to Matilda.

“Tell your Mistress the Duke of Thornsby has arrived.”

“Right away, sir,” Matilda said.

The thin woman rushed forward. “How silly my brother can be,” she said and stole a glance over her shoulder at the dark haired man. “Aren’t you the middle daughter of the Earl?”

The blond man laughed uproariously. Matilda quelled him with a stare. “Matilda Sheldon. Welcome to Maplewood.”

“I am Lady Athena. I believe we’ve met quite some time ago. This is Mr. Andrew Smithly. And this,” she said as she grabbed the dark haired man’s arm, “is my brother, the Duke of Thornsby.”

Thornsby bowed over her hand. “Terribly sorry, my dear. I just, well . . . my fault. My apologies. Terrible mistake. Terrible.”

Matilda leaned forward. She’d had her daily allowance of stupidity as she greeted guests all afternoon. There really was only so much she could take and remain stoic. “How do you characterize this auspicious start? Would you term it,” Matilda lifted her shoulders in a shrug, “terrible, by chance?”

The Duke pulled at his waistcoat. “I did apologize, Miss Sheldon. Was a harmless mistake on my part. I heard your family described in one fashion, and you standing there just didn’t put me in mind that you were part of the Sheldon clan.”

The sister groaned.

“And how, sir, did you hear my family described?” Matilda asked.

“Got you in a neat box, old boy,” the other man said.

“Everyone said they were blond and beau . . .”

Matilda’s brows rose. She was aware of the comparisons made between her and her sisters and mother. Her sister-in-law to be as well. Just not in the entrance to her home by a man she’d never met. She bellowed over her shoulder to the butler.

“James. Fetch Mother. The Duke of Thorny has arrived.” Matilda schooled her features. “Lady Athena, Mr. Smithly, enjoy your stay.”

* * *

The three watched the girl storm up the staircase. Her heel caught on the hem of her gown near the top step. She recovered and disappeared.

“This is what happens when you encourage him to speak, Athena. Any other introduction would be done with a crisp nod and silence. But what a sight to see,” Andrew said and took a deep breath. “What a sight to see.”

Athena groaned and hit her brother with her fan. “How absolutely poor, Freddy! If I recall, she’s the only sister with an ounce of brains. You’ve gone and done it now.”

“How does a girl that plain land in a family that is by all accounts, beautiful,” he said. “I think it was an easily-made mistake and anyone could have thought the same.”

Andrew pulled a hand on his hip and mocked Athena. “My silly brother.” He straightened. “I thought there for a moment you might swoon. I can’t recall ever seeing you act quite as dim as you did a moment ago.”

Athena turned on Andrew. “Someone had to cover up his insults. You did nothing but laugh. If he is to marry . . .”

“I thought you would want him to marry for love. Isn’t that what you were spouting on our ride here to Maplewood?” Andrew asked.

Athena stared at Andrew. “What would you know about love?”

Andrew shrugged. He stared at the butler nearly running down the hall when he answered. “More than you know, Athena. More than you know.”

* * *

Matilda slammed the door of her bedroom. Another pompous, stupid guest to contend with. The sister was gracious and bright, if a little stuffy, if she remembered correctly, but the brother, what a bore. The blond, Smithly, seemed pleasant enough. Matilda sat at her desk to review her lists of what supplies would be necessary to refurbish the orphanage house. She lifted her head and spoke aloud in a deep, affected voice. “Terrible, dear. Blond and beautiful.”

The Duke was handsome enough, Matilda would admit that. But she had firsthand knowledge, being a sibling to Juliet and Alexandra, that beauty did not belie any other traits. It was just what it was. And a fickle attribute as well. Changing with a queen’s whim or a dressmaker’s mistake. Matilda sat her head in her hand and looked out the window. The Duke’s beauty, she admitted reluctantly, would be as obvious in the halls Cleopatra roamed as today or in a millennium. Clad in black trousers and waistcoat with a full black cape over his shoulders, he was devastatingly handsome. Heart stopping really. Shiny black hair, green eyes and broad shoulders.
How
charming would he be
? Matilda colored and glanced about the room as if someone could read her thoughts.

Chapter Four

T
hornsby found his sister’s room and knocked. Were those voices he heard inside? A man’s voice? He plied the knob and it turned in his hand. “Smithly! What are you doing in Athena’s room?” he shouted.

Athena jumped from the chair she was seated on. “Keep your voice down. Do want everyone to hear your bellows?” She turned back to the mirror. “Smithly and I have concluded our chat. You may leave, Andrew.”

“Dismissed like a footman. I say, Athena, I deserve more respect than that.”

“I am waiting to hear you reasons, Smithly, best friend or not, for being in the boudoir of my unmarried sister,” Thornsby growled.

“He’s been underfoot since you brought him home from school, Freddy, when you were just youngsters. He’s been in my rooms over the years.” Athena repined an errant hair. “Usually putting a toad or other odious creature in my bed.”

“Twas a mouse, Athena.” Smithly smiled. “The look on your face with all that dreadful cream all over your cheeks and your hair up in rags, well, it was a triumph,” Andrew said.

Thornsby closed the distance to Smithly in two steps. “You have been in my sister’s rooms before?”

“I’ve been in your household months at a time. I’ve been in every other room of the house,” Andrew said.

“But in this house or mine, Athena’s bedroom holds an unmarried woman, Smithly.” His best friend would not meet his eye.

“Really Freddy, you act as though Andrew were out to seduce me,” Athena said as she stood and came to lay a hand on her brother’s arm. He looked at her. “We were just talking,” she added.

Athena went through the door to her dressing room. Thornsby turned to Andrew to give him the scolding and warning he deserved. The guilty look on his friend’s face shocked him. “Don’t ever let me find you in . . .” Thornsby growled to a red-faced Andrew, now retreating to the door.

Athena returned and Thornsby looked at her. He heard the click of Andrew’s escape. Athena was more innocent than she let on. “What were the two of you talking about?”

Athena looked up. “Well, you, of course.”

“Me?”

Athena went to the dresser and opened her reticule. “I do think we may be able to recover from your faux pas when we first arrived. You must be charming to a fault to Matilda. I believe her opinion matters greatly in this house. And if you mean to win one sister you must make amends with the other.” Athena whirled around. “Now is the time to allow all that charisma you have used in past conquests to come forth.”

Thornsby tilted his head. “Is there something between you and Andrew that I am unaware of?”

Athena looked up quickly. “Certainly not. We were arguing, as we are wont to do often on the best means for recovery for you in the eyes of the Sheldons.”